The ancient Indian epic Mahabharata was first composed in Sanskrit and then rendered into Indian vernaculars as well as other Asian and European languages. The Mahabharata in Global Political and Social Thought positions the epic as an influential political text and explores its role in shaping the global history of ideas and modern social, political, and religious thought across India, Europe, Japan, China, Thailand, Iran, and the Arab world. Drawing on methodologies of global intellectual and religious history, contributing authors to this volume study how kings and peasants, statesmen and revolutionaries, intellectuals and activists have invoked the epic to forge their political visions over the past centuries.