The great Indian epic, 'Mahabharata', was the work of many poets over hundreds of years, up to the 5th century AD.
It refers back to a legendary war, supposedly thousands of years earlier; archaeologists consider that it is actually woven around events of about the 9th century BC.
This war developed between the Kurus and the Pandavas, rivals for the kingship of Kurukshetra. Other kingdoms, from as far afield as western India, were drawn into the conflict which came to a head in a great ten day battle, from which the Pandavas emerged victorious.
Here an eyewitness, Samjaya, describes the moments before the battle begins.
