A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW OF THE STRUCTURE OF EPIC-THE MAHABHARATA: BEYOND A RELIGIOUS TEXT

The Mahabharata is not only a religious text that is associated with a sect called ‗Hindu‘ rather it is a storehouse of the multiple topics of all segments of life in every aspect. Hence the present review of available literature will open up a paradigm of answers to the questions of everyday lives and triggering the imaginative capability of students in English classroom setups. This paper is a review of existing literature related to the Mahabharata as a text of universal connections and provides exuberant aid to the teachers to teach and the researchers to explore. The study has been made through the research papers available in the Scopus database from the last five years (2018-2022) using the epic‘s title the Mahabharata. Our research strategy generated 256 results in total, out of which 85 articles were published between 2018 and 2022. But after careful analysis, finally, 37 articles were included in the review by following “Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA), 2020”. The results opened up multiple key terms such as weapons, animals, women, masculinity, human agency, non-violence, anthropocentric and common welfare i.e. param dharma. All these terms are found prevalent in the research database and exploration based on character representation imbibing the predetermined views of human life. The said terms identify the characters of the epic presenting universal messages throughout and the subjects of the epic are not only imaginary but rather a source of maintaining value and ethics in society. This systematic literature review is the first attempt of its type on the research papers on the Mahabharata available in the Scopus database in which we have organized the results into five clusters that would be mechanically meaningful for the researchers and academicians writing and exploring the Mahabharata from the perspectives of the research in different disciplines. Future research will enrich the field by investigating the remaining untouched areas of the Mahabharata like human aspirations, avarice, patriarchy, male chauvinism, women as men's counterparts, wildlife, struggle and consolidation of strength, Krishna as a character or God, the Mahabharata as a cultural, folkloric and anthropological text, and especially as a text guiding for spiritual well-being. Keywords: Epic, Mahabharata, Indian Culture, SLR, English teaching