The Mahabharata is an ancient Indian epic that tells the story of a dynastic struggle for the throne of Hastinapura between two groups of cousins, the Kauravas and Pandavas. It contains over 100,000 verses and is one of the longest epic poems in world literature. The story tells of the battles and peace between the Kauravas and the Pandavas which culminates in a great battle where the Pandavas eventually emerge victorious. The epic explores important philosophical and spiritual issues and is considered one of the most important works of Hindu literature.

1. MAHABHARATA

2. MAHABHARATA
-Is an epic that comprises one hundred thousand stanzas
of verse divided into eighteen books, or parvas.
- It is the largest single literary work in existence.
Originally composed in the ancient language of
Sanskrit sometime between 400 BC and 400 AD.
The original “author” was Vyasa who tried to tell
about the Great War between the Pandavas and
the Kauravas - cousins who claimed to be the
rightful rulers of a kingdom

3. King Santanu married a strange woman he found by
the river named Ganga.
They had many children, ( 7 childrens) and she
drowned all of them in the river. So The king stopped
her from drowning the last child named Devavratha
but later on called Bhisma, and question her wife.
She then said she was a goddess and that this child
was a god but had to remain on earth as punishment
for stealing a sacred cow in a past life.

4. One day he fell in love with a woman who ran a
ferry, her name was Satyavathi. King Santanu
asked her father if he could marry her, and he
said yes, but only if Satyavathi’s children inherit,
leaving poor Bhisma out in the cold.
King Santanu after this came back home and
thought carefully about what he should do to get
satyavathi, but as the day went by when he
thought of a possible solution, he developed a
fever and Bhisma noticed it immediately and
asked his father what the problem was.

5. After Bhisma found out about his father's problem,
he immediately went to Satyavati's father's place
and immediately found out about his condition.
Because of Bhishma's love for his father, he made
a vow and promised that he would not have a wife
or child so that he would not become the ruler of
the kingdom of Hastinapur. After the vow of
Bhisma, the gods came out of heaven and called
Devavratha, Bhishma to die only if he asked. the
Gods awarded this to Bhishma because of his
great love for his father.

6. Thus, King Santanu
and ferry woman Satyavathi married. They had
two boys, one had no children and died in battle
named Chitrangada, and one Vichitravirya grew
to adulthood and married two women Ambika
and Ambalika, But before either of his wives had
children, Vichitravirya died and not long after
that King Santanu also died. Thus, the only
surviving member of the royal family was
Bhishma who had taken a vow of celibacy and
refused to break it.

7. What Queen Satyavathi’s had not told
anyone that before she was married she had
actually encounter with a sage and given
birth to a son named Vyasa. So even though
Vyasa isn’t exactly the heir, he can still kind
of inherit. Everyone agreed that Vyasa
should sleep with Vichitravirya’s two wives
and their
children would inherit.

8. Ambika gave birth to a boy named
Dhritarashtra. He was a nice enough guy
and should have became king, but he was
born blind. Meanwhile, Vichitravirya’s other
wife gave birth to a boy named Pandu.
Dhritarashtra, being blind, realizes he can’t
really rule, so he gives his kingdom to his
brother Pandu.

9. Pandu is a pretty nice guy and loves to hunt. One
day he is out hunting and he kills a deer while it is
in the middle of “love play.” Turns out this is no
ordinary deer but a god who curses Pandu and
says essentially that since you interrupted me, I’m
going to mess with you. The curse states that if
you have sex you’ll die. Pandu has no kids at this
time, but he does have two wives, Kunthi and
Madri. He decides that he can’t rule, so he and his
wives hang out in the woods.

10. One day Kunthi calls out for the sun god. He
actually appears and she is freaked out. He
says, don’t call me unless you want me. He
essentially ravishes her, though it’s presented
in the book as somewhat consensual. She
gives birth to a boy names Karna but sends him
down the river in a basket. He is discovered
and raised by a soldier and his wife. He comes
back later as force to be reckoned with.

11. Pandu thinks that maybe things will work for him if he
plays the system. He tells Kunthi to have relations with
some other gods and have children. Kunthi gets with
Yama (god of death and justice) and she gives birth to
Yudhistira. Then she gets with Vayu (god of the wind)
and has Bhimasena. Finally she does the deed with
Indra (chief god) and gives birth to Arjuna. Meanwhile,
Pandu’s second wife, Madri, entices the gods Aswins
and has twins Nakua and Sahadeva. They are all boys,
they are all awesome and they are collectively known as
the Pandavas. The epic focuses on these guys.

12. While Pandu was out in the woods with his two wives
avoiding sex. Pandu just can’t resist his urges and tries to
have sex with his wife Madri. He dies in her arms and she
flings herself on his funeral pyre. Kunthi (Pandu’s other
wife) takes the boys to the blind brother of Pandu,
Dhritarashtra, so they can be raised to inherit the kingdom.
Meanwhile, Dhritarashtra (Pandu’s blind brother) married
the princess Gandharai and becomes a blind king (not a
desirable leader but a nice enough guy). She blindfolds
herself in sympathy of his blindness and never sees again.

13. Dhritarashtra became king, and he and Gandharai had 100
sons (I think they are all born from a metal ball that she
harbors in her womb for years. When the ball “drops” she
wacks it with a stick and out pop the boys). These sons are
not good boys and fight with their cousins all the time. The
oldest of these children is named Duryodhana and he’s a
real baddy. This collection of boys is called the Kauravas.
All 105 boys are looked after by Bhishma who is constantly
trying to train them and have them get along. The epic is
essentially an ongoing feud between the Kauravas and the
Pandavas. If you haven’t figured it out, the Pandavas are
the good guys.

14. The evil brothers were envious of their cousin
Yudhistira and started scheming to
dethrone him. Their first attempt to kill the
Pandavas was by burning them inside a
palace. The Pandavas managed to escape, but
then the evil brothers once again attempted
to gain control. One challenged the eldest
brother Yudhisthira to a game of dice which
led Yudhisthira to lose everything, including his
and his brothers' wife, Draupadi.

15. He, along with his brothers and their wife
Draupadi, were exiled from the kingdom.
For twelve years they had to live in the
forest and upon the thirteenth year they
were to hide in a city in disguise. It was
during those thirteen years that the
brothers grew to learn what it was like to
live with the bare minimum and became
more knowledgeable.

16. After the thirteenth year Duryodhana decided that he
would fight against them which led to a huge war
(Kurukshetra War) and the deaths of many. Many died
from both sides and after the war, they realized that
nothing was really gained.
The most dramatic figure of the entire Mahabharata,
however, was Krishna who was the supreme
personality of Godhead himself, descended to earth in
human form to reestablish his devotees as care takers
of the earth, and who practiced Dharma.

17. Krishna was the cousin of both parties, but he was a friend and
advisor to the Pandavas, became the brother-in-law of Arjuna, and
served as Arjuna's mentor and charioteer in the Great War. Krishna
is portrayed several times as eager to see the war occur, and in
many ways the Pandavas were his human instruments for fulfilling
that end.
Throughout their lives and the terrible Great War, there were
examples of the ethical gaps between men which were never
resolved. In the aftermath of the war, Yudhishthira alone was terribly
troubled, but his sense of the war's wrongfulness persisted to the
end of the text. This was in spite of the fact that everyone else, from
his wife to Krishna, told him the war was right; even the dying
patriarch, Bhishma, lectured him at length on all aspects of the
Good Law (the Duties and Responsibilities of Kings).

18. In the years that followed the Great War, the only survivors
on the part of the Kauravas, Duryodhana's parents, King
Dhritarashtra and his queen, Gandhari lived a life of
asceticism in a forest retreat and died with yogic calm in a
forest fire. Kunti, the mother of the Pandavas was with them
too. Krishna departed from this earth thirty-six years after
the Great War. When they learned of this, the Pandavas
believed it was time for them to leave this world too and they
embarked upon the 'Great Journey,' which involved walking
north toward the polar mountain that is toward the heavenly
worlds, until one's body dropped dead.

19. One by one, beginning with Draupadi, the Pandavas died
along the way until Yudhishthira was left alone with a dog
that had accompanied him from the start. Yudhishthira made
it to the gates of heaven and there refused the order to drive
the dog back, at which point the dog was revealed to be an
incarnate form of the God Dharma (the God who was
Yudhishthira's actual, physical father), who was there to test
Yudhishthira's virtue. Once in heaven Yudhishthira faced one
final test of his virtue: He saw only the Dhirtarashtra Clan in
heaven, and he was told that his brothers were in hell. He
insisted on joining his brothers in hell, if that were the case! It
was then revealed that they were really in heaven, that this
illusion had been one final test for him.

20. In essence, the epic story represents an
extended exploration of the responsibilities set
forth by the code of dharma. In addition to
recounting a heroic tale, the Mahabharata
contains a collection of writings on a broad
spectrum of human learning, including ethics,
law, philosophy, history, geography,
genealogy, and religion. It also features a
number of legends, moral stories, and local
tales all woven into an elaborate narrative.

22. KING SANTANU - the ruler of the Kuru Kingdom with his capital at Hastinapur.
GANGA – FIRST WIFE OF KING SANTANU/MOTHER OF DEVAVRATHA
SATYAVATHI – 2ND WIFE OF SANTANU/ the queen of the Kuru.
DEVAVRATHA (BHISMA) – SON OF KING SANTANU & GANGA.
- the step-brother of Vyasa, the grandfather of both the Pandavas and the Kauravas.
VYASA- FIRST SON OF SATYAVATI WHO CAME FROM THE SAGE
CHITRANGADA – THE ONLY DAUGHTER OF KING SANTANU & SATYAVATHI, THE ONE WHO DIED IN
BATTLE.
VICHITRAVIRYA- YOUNGEST SON OF KING SANTANU & GANGA, WHO RULE THE KINGDOM OF
HASTINAPUR.
AMBIKA- WIFE OF VICHITRAVIRYA/ MOTHER OF DRITARASHTRA
AMBALIKA- WIFE OF VICHITRAVIRYA/ MOTHER OF PANDU
DRITARSHTRA -the King of Kuru Kingdom with its capital Hastinapur and was born blind and
became father to 100 sons.
GANDHARI- the wife of Dhritrashtra, the blind king of Hastinapura, and the mother of a hundred
sons, the Kauravas.
PANDU- the king of Hastinapur, the son of Ambalika and Vichitravirya. And the father of
the Pandavas.
KUNTHI/KUNTI-She was married to King Pandu of Hastinapur and was the mother of Karna and
the Pandavas Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna.
MADRI-second wife of Pandu and the mother of two sons: Nakula and Sahadeva.
KARNA-he was the spiritual son of Surya (the Sun deity) and son of princess Kunti (later the
Pandu's queen).
SURYA- the gods of the sun.

23. YAMA/DHARMA-the spiritual father of Yudhishthira.
YUDHISTRIA- 1st among the five Pandavas and was blessed by death god Yama
to Pandu and Kunti.
VAJU-the god of wind.
BHIMA- (2nd)He was the son of Pandu and Kunti and spiritual son of Vayu.
INDRA- the god of thunder.
ARJUNA-(3rd)the son of Pandu and Kunti in the Kuru Kingdom. He was the spiritual son of Indra.
ASHVINS-a pair of twin gods. The gods of medicine.
NAKULA- (4th)twins born to Madri, who had invoked the Ashvins.
SAHADEVA-(5th)wins born to Madri, who had invoked the Ashvins.
DURYODHANAS-the eldest of the Kauravas, the hundred sons of a blind king Dhritarashtra and
Queen Gandhari.
DRAUPADI-She was the common wife of the Pandavas, who fought their cousins, the Kauravas in
the great Kurukshetra War.
VASUDEVA- He was the son of the Yadava king Shurasena. His sister Kunti was married to Pandu.
KRISHNA-is a Hindu deity.He was an eighth avatar of lord Vishnu/Narayana.During
the Kurukshetra War, he became strategist of Padavas and charioteer of Arjuna.
SUBHADRA-wife of Arjuna and mother of Abhimanyu and grandmother of Parikshit.
PARIKSHIT -He was the son of Abhimanyu (Arjuna's son) and Uttarā.He was crowned as the new
king.