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Is the Virata War considered an interpolation according to BORI scholars?

In the Mahabharata, there are varying accounts regarding the Virata War. As I understand, Vyasa mentions that there was no fight between Karna and Arjuna after the former received Vasavi Shakti. However, other characters like Bhishma, Kripa, Shalya, and Dhritarashtra narrate instances of Karna's failures in the Virata War.

Interestingly, other versions of the Mahabharata, such as Jaimini Bharata and Kumara Vyasa Mahabharata, do not mention the Virata War. According to Romesh C. Dutt's translation, Arjuna simply defeated Duryodhana while avoiding confrontation with other warriors.

On this Facebook page, they mention some versions that do not contain the Virata War, and mention that Washburn Hopkins considers most of the Virata War or the entire parva to be an interpolation.

Although the Virata War is included in the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) Critical Edition, I want to know if BORI scholars, based on their studies and publications, acknowledge the possibility that this event could be an interpolation. Specifically, I'm interested in citations from studies, books, or indexes authored by BORI scholars. What are the scholarly arguments or evidence supporting this perspective?

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  • AFAIK there is no ISKCON version. What you may be referring to is summary of Mahabharata where in they skip lot of things.
    – user16618
    Commented Dec 17, 2018 at 4:38
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    'according to the BORI scholars' - please add this to title. Your question already links to an FB post which argues it's an interpolation. So asking if it's an interpolation in the title is misleading.
    – Say No To Censorship
    Commented Dec 18, 2018 at 2:48
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    many of the Western scholars have said for the last 150 years that it was an interpolation. But among Indian sanskrit scholars, the sanskrit and general tenor of the writing is in accord with the Mahabharata.
    – Swami Vishwananda
    Commented Dec 18, 2018 at 5:13
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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because user doesn't want answer from scriptures.
    – YDS
    Commented Dec 21, 2018 at 16:30
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    Not sure why this is closed. Voting to reopen. @GabrielAlexanderGonzalezAgu - You can click the reopen button if you want this reopened. Also, explain a bit more on what exactly you to see in the answer. There is too much going on in the question. You can also add 'history' tag to it.
    – Say No To Censorship
    Commented Jan 31, 2019 at 22:19

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Virata war is NOT an interpolation according to the BORI scholars. Beacause Critical Edition Prepared by Scholars at Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute BORI > Devanagari (and other Indian scripts from each sarga page) > ४ विराटपर्वम् > ५६ contains the below verse:

वैशम्पायन उवाच||

ततो वैकर्तनं जित्वा पार्थो वैराटिमब्रवीत् |

एतन्मां प्रापयानीकं यत्र तालो हिरण्मयः ||१||

अत्र शान्तनवो भीष्मो रथेऽस्माकं पितामहः |

काङ्क्षमाणो मया युद्धं तिष्ठत्यमरदर्शनः ||२||

It's translation would be

Vaisampayana said, 'Having defeated Vikartana's son [i.e Karna], Arjuna said unto the son of Virata, 'Take me towards that division where yonder device of a golden palmyra is seen. There our grandfather, Santanu's son, like unto a celestial, waiteth, desirous of an encounter with me.'

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    It does not answer exactly to my question, I wanted to be cited from studies of BORI scholars, in other words, books or indexes of BORI scholars.
    – Gabriel Alexander Gonzalez Agu
    Commented Dec 18, 2018 at 23:44

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