Dear Anand, you have misunderstood the context in which I had referred to those books. We do not tell anybody that such and such things are written in Gulliver's Travels, Aesop's Fables, Panchatantra or Mulla Naziruddin Stories and are therefore gospel truths. What I meant was that there is no need to treat the so-called holy books also more seriously.
I have read the complete Mahabharata (Srimad Bhagavadgita is a part of the same). It contains some universal truth but is not a guide for conducting every day life for all times to come. If we treat the same as more than good advice, we also fall into the dogmas of Semitic religions (they consider Torah, Bible and Koran as revealed by the Almighty and irrefutable).
The Mahabharata, Ramayana, etc are epics containing moral stories. They are meant for refining the reader's character. A good portion of Mahabharata contains stories (sub-plots) narrated by the well-wishers visiting the Pandavas to lighten their suffering in exile and make them understand that many others also suffered like them earlier (e.g. story of Nala & Damayanti) and as such they should not lose heart.
The Author of Mahabharata was partial to one family. It is a debateable point as to whether the Pandavas or the Kauravas had the right to inherit the throne. The Pandavas were not sons of Pandus whereas the Kauravas were the sons of Dritarashtra (albight thru the division of the foetus by Ved Vyas).
