1.109
काव्यस्य लेखनार्थाय गणेशः स्मर्यतां मुने।
kāvyasya lekhanārthāya gaṇeśaḥ smaryatāṃ mune।
Mahabharata · Adi Parva
Did Lord Ganesha write the Mahabharata?
Tradition tells how Vyasa asked Ganesha to write the epic as he recited it. Ganesha agreed if Vyasa never paused; Vyasa asked him to understand each verse before writing. Read the passage in Sanskrit with IAST, beside its English prose rendering.
Original passage
Sanskrit · IAST transliteration
Adi Parva · Anukramanika · Adhyaya 1
1.111
ततः सस्मार हेरम्बं व्यासः सत्यवतीसुतः॥
tataḥ sasmāra herambaṃ vyāsaḥ satyavatīsutaḥ॥
1.112
स्मृतमात्रो गणेशानो भक्तचिन्तितपूरकः। तत्राजगाम विघ्नेशो वेदव्यासो यतः स्थितः॥
smṛtamātro gaṇeśāno bhaktacintitapūrakaḥ। tatrājagāma vighneśo vedavyāso yataḥ sthitaḥ॥
1.113
पूजितश्चोपविष्टश्च व्यासेनोक्तस्तदानघ। लेखको भारतस्यास्य भव त्वं गणनायक॥
pūjitaścopaviṣṭaśca vyāsenoktastadānagha। lekhako bhāratasyāsya bhava tvaṃ gaṇanāyaka॥
1.114
श्रुत्वैतत्प्राह विघ्नेशो यदि मे लेखनी क्षणम्। लिखतो नावतिष्ठेत तदा स्यां लेखको ह्यहम्॥
śrutvaitatprāha vighneśo yadi me lekhanī kṣaṇam। likhato nāvatiṣṭheta tadā syāṃ lekhako hyaham॥
1.115
व्यासोऽप्युवाच तं देवमबुद्ध्वा मा लिख क्वचित्। ओमित्युक्त्वा गणेशोपि बभूव किल लेखकः॥
vyāso'pyuvāca taṃ devamabuddhvā mā likha kvacit। omityuktvā gaṇeśopi babhūva kila lekhakaḥ॥
1.116
ग्रन्थग्रन्थिं तदा चक्रे मुनिर्गूढं कुतूहलात्। यस्मिन्प्रतिज्ञया प्राह मुनिर्द्वैपायनस्त्विदम्॥
granthagranthiṃ tadā cakre munirgūḍhaṃ kutūhalāt। yasminpratijñayā prāha munirdvaipāyanastvidam॥
1.117
अष्टौ श्लोकसहस्राणि अष्टौ श्लोकशतानि च। अहं वेद्मि शुको वेत्ति संजयो वेत्ति वा न वा॥
aṣṭau ślokasahasrāṇi aṣṭau ślokaśatāni ca। ahaṃ vedmi śuko vetti saṃjayo vetti vā na vā॥
English rendering
The passage as a whole
This prose follows the passage; it is not a word-for-word translation of each numbered shloka.
"Let Ganesha be remembered, O sage, for the writing of this poem."
Sauti said, "Brahma, having said this, returned to his own home.
Then Vyasa began to think of Ganesha.
And Ganesha, the remover of obstacles, ever ready to fulfil his devotees' wishes, came the moment he was remembered, to the place where Vyasa sat.
When he had been greeted and was seated, Vyasa said to him, 'O leader of the Ganas! Be the writer of this Bharata, which I have composed in my mind and am about to recite.'
Hearing this, Ganesha answered, 'I will become the writer of your work — provided my pen does not stop, even for a moment, as I write.'
And Vyasa said to the god, 'Wherever there is anything you do not understand, stop writing there.'
Ganesha agreed, and saying 'Om,' he began to write. Then Vyasa, as a clever device, tied the knots of his composition very tight — and in this way dictated the whole work, just as he had promised.
"I myself know eight thousand eight hundred verses," Sauti went on, "and so does Suka; Sanjaya, perhaps, knows them too.
Because their meaning is so hidden, no one to this day can unravel those tightly knit, difficult shlokas.
Even all-knowing Ganesha paused a moment to consider them — while Vyasa, in that pause, composed many more verses."
English: Lipi's modernised rendering, adapted from the public-domain translation by Kisari Mohan Ganguli, The Mahabharata (1883–1896). Archaic pronouns were updated for today's readers. The prose renders this passage as a whole, beside the corresponding shlokas.