Which ancient Indian epic describes the Kurukshetra War?

The ancient Indian epic that describes the Kurukshetra War is the Mahabharata.

The epic presents the conflict as a dynastic struggle between the five Pandava brothers and their Kaurava cousins, both branches of the Kuru royal family. The battlefield is Kurukshetra, traditionally identified with a region in present-day Haryana. The Pandavas ultimately prevail after an 18-day war, though their victory comes at enormous personal and political cost.

The Bhagavad Gita appears within the Mahabharata’s sixth book, the Bhishma Parva. It records Krishna’s counsel to the warrior Arjuna, who hesitates before fighting relatives, teachers, and friends. The Mahabharata is traditionally attributed to the sage Vyasa and is one of Hinduism’s two major Sanskrit epics, alongside the Ramayana.

A common mix-up is to treat the Bhagavad Gita as a separate epic or to confuse the two great epics. The Gita is a philosophical section of the Mahabharata, while the Ramayana tells the story of Rama, Sita, and the battle against Ravana. The war’s historical basis and date remain debated, even though its literary identity is clear.