Which of the following statements are correct?

(A) Mahabharata has over 1,00,000 verses.

(B) Mahabharata was written by Valmiki.

C) V.S. Sukthankar is associated with the critical edition of Mahabharata.

(D) The critical edition of Mahabharata took 47 years to complete.

(E) The critical edition of Mahabharata ran into over 13,000 pages.

Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

The correct answer is (A), (C), (D) and (E) only.

Let us analyze each statement step-by-step to understand why they are correct or incorrect:

Statement (A): Mahabharata has over 1,00,000 verses.
This statement is correct. In its present form, the Mahabharata is an epic poem consisting of over 100,000 verses (shlokas), making it one of the longest epic poems in the world.

Statement (B): Mahabharata was written by Valmiki.
This statement is incorrect. The Mahabharata is traditionally compiled by the sage Vyasa (Ved Vyasa). Valmiki is the sage traditionally associated with composing the other major Indian epic, the Ramayana.

Statement (C): V.S. Sukthankar is associated with the critical edition of Mahabharata.
This statement is correct. In 1919, under the leadership of the renowned Sanskrit scholar Vishnu Sitaram Sukthankar, a team of scholars at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in Pune initiated the monumental task of preparing a critical edition of the Mahabharata.

Statement (D): The critical edition of Mahabharata took 47 years to complete.
This statement is correct. The colossal project of collating various manuscripts from different parts of the country, analyzing the variations, and compiling the critical edition took 47 years of meticulous work, finally being completed in 1966.

Statement (E): The critical edition of Mahabharata ran into over 13,000 pages.
This statement is correct. The final critical edition was published in 19 volumes, spanning more than 13,000 pages in total.

Therefore, statements (A), (C), (D), and (E) are correct, which matches the chosen option.