This famous and marvellous Sanskrit poem occurs as an episode of the Mahabharata in the sixth-or "Bhishma"-Parva of the great Hindu epic. It enjoys immense popularity and authority in India where it is reckoned as one of the "Five Jewels " -pancharatnani- of Devanagiri literature. In plain but noble language it unfolds a philosophical system which remains to this day the prevailing Brahmanic belief blending as it does the doctrines of Kapila Patanjali and the Vedas.