Discover the Epic Mahabharata: History and Legacy The Mahabharata is the longest epic poem in the world and is believed to have been composed as early as the 4th century BCE or even earlier by the sage Vyasa who was also a character in the story As a whole the Mahabharata is about ten times the length of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey put together and the Bhagavad Gita which is only one section of the whole epic is considered one of the most important Hindu scriptures The story is still popular in In