2. The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India.
Traditionally, the authorship of the Mahabharata is attributed to the great
sage Veda Vyasa, also known as Krsna Dvaipayana.
3. With about one hundred thousand verses, long prose passages, or about 1.8 million words
in total, the Mahabharata is roughly ten times the length of the Iliad and Odyssey combined
or about four times the length of the Ramayana.
4. It has been called Mahabharata due to the immense size and its dealing
with the story of the people of the race descended from the ancient
emperor Bharata, culminating in the war.
5. Shantanu, king of Hastinapura, was married to the beautiful Ganga, who was the river
goddess in disguise. She agreed to live with him as long as he never questioned her actions.
She left him, along with his 8th son “Bhisma”, after he questioned about drowned 7 sons.
6. Shantanu married again with Satyavati, mother of Vyasa, but the conditions of the marriage
were that the second wife would be the mother of a king someday.Honoring his father's
wishes, Bhishma makes his vow, guaranteeing that neither he nor a son of his will challenge
the claim to the throne.
7. Bhishma abducted 3 sisters, Amba, Ambika, and Ambalika. Later Amba was left to her city
but her betrothed abandoned, so she returned to Bhishma asked him to marry her. Ever
faithful to his vow, Bhishma refused. Amba then vowed that one day she would kill him.
8. There are no other men in the family besides Bhishma, and he has renounced women. So
Satyavati, the king's second wife, asks her first-born son, Vyasa the poet, to give children to
the two princesses, Ambika and Ambalika.
9. The princesses disliked him, for as an ascetic who has taken a vow of poverty, he was
filthy and smells. He explained to them that the first child would be born blind because the
1st princess closed her eyes when seeing him, and the 2nd child will be pale-skinned
because the 2nd princess became pale at his touch.
10. Ambika gave birth to the blind son called Dhritarashtra, and Ambalika
gave birth to the pale one called Pandu.
Dhritarashtra Pandu
11. Pandu shoots a gazelle of a brahmin, so he cursed him that should Pandu make love to
either of his two wives (Kunti and Madri), he would die instantly. Pandu resigns the throne,
and goes to live with his wives in the mountains.
12. Kunti, his first wife, informs him that she possesses a magic power, and three sons are born
to her: Yudhisthira, the first-born, truthful and virtuous, son of the god Dharma,
13. Bhima, the strongest of men, son of Vayu, god of the wind and the elder
brother of Hanuman.
15. Madri, Pandu's second wife, makes use of this power too. She gives birth to twin sons,
Nakula and Sahadeva. Thanks to his two wives, Pandu now has five sons directly
descended from the gods, the Pandavas, the heroes of the epic.
16. Years later, Pandu one day surrenders to his passion for Madri.Fearing for his life, Madri
tries to push him away but her struggles only inflame his desire more.Once they make love,
Pandu falls dead, fulfilling the curse, and Madri, devoted to him always, joins him on the
funeral pyre.
17. After Pandu died, Dhritarashtra has become king, despite his blindness. He
weds Gandhari in an arranged marriage.
18. After an abnormally long pregnancy of two years, she gives birth to a ball of flesh. Vyasa
tells Gandhari to split up the ball into 100 parts and put them in jars of ghee ; in this way
she becomes the mother of one hundred sons, the Kauravas and one daughter.
Duryodhana
19. Dhritarashtra is told that his first son brings hate and destruction into the world. He
will one day destroy their race. Vidura urges the king to get rid of the child, but the king
ignores his advice.
20. Dhritarashtra is a weak ruler. He allows physical blindness to become a refusal to
face reality and unwillingness to confront hard decisions, being easily led by
Duryodhana in later years.
21. Bhisma advised Dhritarashtra to declare Yudishthira as the crown prince of
Hastinapur since he was the eldest and endowed with fine qualities of a king.
22. Out of anger, Duryodhana planned to kill the Pandavas so that he can ascend
the throne of Hastinapur.
23. The Pandavas narrowly escape a plot by Duryodhana to burn them in a house made of
highly flammable materials. For months afterward, they live in the forest.
24. The Pandavas attend the swayamvara of Draupadi, a ceremony where she will pick her
husband from a number of suitors. Arjuna wins the archery contest easily and Draupadi
chooses him.
25. When Arjuna announces to his mother that he has won the “prize,” Kunti tells him to
share with his brothers, before seeing Draupadi.Like an irrevocable vow, her statement,
can’t be undone, so all five brothers marry Draupadi, the daughter of Drupada.
26. As tension mounts between the cousins, Krishna makes his appearance. It is said he may be
an incarnation of the god Vishnu, the preserver, come down to save the earth from chaos.
27. On Krishna's advice the Pandavas present themselves to the blind king. To make peace,
Dhritarashtra offers them half the kingdom, but in a region which was nothing but jungle
and desert.Yudhisthira accepts his offer in the hope of averting a war.
28. Living in their new territory of Indraprastha, Yudhishthira turns poor land into a wealthy
kingdom, and declares himself King of Kings. Duryodhana is jealous and humiliated on his
visit to the magnificent palace
29. Duryodhana follows the advice of his uncle, the cunning Shakuni, an infamous dice player,
and invites Yudhishthira to a game, knowing full well that gambling is his cousin's one
weakness. Yudhishthira accepts.
30. Yudhishthira wagers and loses all that he possesses:his lands, his kingdom, his brothers,
even himself, and eventually Draupadi, who is dragged before the company by her hair, a
special insult since a married woman’s hair was sacred.
31. Duryodhana seeks to entice her by uncovering his thigh. Draupadi is about to be stripped
naked when she invokes Krishna, who comes to her rescue and creates an endless supply of
cloth around her. She swears that one day she will be avenged.
32. Duryodhana insists on one more throw of the dice. Yudhishthira agrees to a final game,
but once again, he loses.
33. The Pandavas and Draupadi are condemned to spend twelve years in exile in the forest,
and a thirteenth year in an unknown place, disguised so that no one may recognize them. If
anyone does, then they must spend another twelve years in exile.
34. For the twelve years of living in the forest, preceding the great war. The Pandavas are not
alone in the wilderness but are followed by many loyal brahmins and servants. The gods
give them an inexhaustible plate of food to feed all of them.
35. Draupadi and Bhima reproach Yudhisthira for his inaction and resigned passivity. Since it
is obvious that Shakuni cheated at dice, wouldn't it be better to stand up and fight?
Yudhishthira flatly refuses.He will keep his word: he resolves to follow his dharma.
36. Arjuna then leaves, aiming for the highest mountains to look for the celestial weapons they
will need during the war. He meets the god Shiva who gives him powerful weapons. Arjuna
then spends five years with his father the divine Indra learning to use the weapons fighting
demons.
37. One day, four of the Pandavas are killed by drinking the water from a poisonous lake.
However Yudhishthira brings his brothers back to life by correctly answering the questions
which Dharma, disguised as a crane, puts to him.
38. Meanwhile Duryodhana has launched an attack on Virata's kingdom. Draupadi, who seeks
war with the Kauravas at all costs, points out Arjuna as the world's best charioteer.Arjuna
cannot refuse to fight and is decisively victorious, one man against countless armies.
39. Duryodhana refuses to give his cousins back their kingdom because he claims they came
out of hiding before the appointed time.
40. Krishna offers Arjuna first choice: either he can have all of Krishna’s armies, or he can have
Krishna alone. Arjuna chooses Krishna, allowing Duryodhana to have the armies.When
Arjuna asks him to drive his chariot, Krishna accepts.
41. Dhritarashtra sends an envoy to Yudhisthira and begs not to fight since he loves
righteousness. Yudhisthira responds that each caste has its own duty, and he is a
warrior/king, not a brahmin/beggar.
42. Krishna pleads with Dhritarashtra one last time to restore to the Pandavas their
rightful kingdom.
43. Duryodhana convinces himself that since the gods had not blessed the Pandavas thus far,
they would not protect them during the war. “I can sacrifice my life, my wealth, my
kingdom, my everything, but I can never live in peace with the Pandavas.”
44. Duryodhana , was unwilling to restore the Pandavas to their half of the kingdom when the
thirteen years had expired.Both sides then called upon their many allies and two large
armies arrayed themselves on 'Kuru's Field'
45. The Kauravas have eleven divisions to stand against the seven of the Pandavas.The two
armies are described as two oceans, crashing against each other.
46. Both sides agree to abide by certain rules of war: no fighting humans with celestial weapons,
no fighting at night, do not strike someone who's retreating or unarmed, or on the back or
legs. All these rules will eventually be broken.
47. Arjuna thinks before he acts. Arjuna hesitates before such killing, wanting to retreat from
life and responsibility (tension between dharma and moksha).
48. Krishna then reveals his divine, universal nature to Arjuna in a magnificent vision of a
multitude of gods, stretching out to infinity.
49. Krishna tells him as a warrior it's his dharma to fight. The real conflict today is with the
self on the “battlefield of the soul.
50. Resolved now to perform his duty to his lord, Arjuna leads his troops
into battle.
51. Before the battle, Yudhishthira goes to both his teachers, Bhishma and Drona: “I bow to
you. We will fight with you. Please grant us your permission and give us your blessing.”
For this sign of respect, both men pray for the Pandavas’ victory, even though they must
out of loyalty fight on the side of the Kauravas.
52. On the first day, Bhisma leads the Kuaravas army to enter the battle and he
wins the war.
53. No one cannot fight with Bhisma, because he was blessed with the power
to choose his time of death.
54. Ajuna was advised to bring Sikhandi at the front line of army. The next day, confronted by
Sikhandi, Bhishma refuses to fight a woman, and he abandons his weapons. Bhisma is shot
by thousands of arrows.In fact, Sikhandi is the reincarnation of Amba, who cursed Bhisma.
55. Drona takes command instead, but later Drupada's son Dhrishtadyumna
cuts off Drona's head, having sworn to avenge his father's humiliation.
56. Abhimanyu, the son of Arjuna, fought bravely at the battle. Later he was killed by the
Karavas, because Jayadratha tries to fight with Ajuna and he could not help his son.
57. When Arjuna beheads Jayadratha, he does it so skillfully that the head falls straight into the
lap of his father who was sitting under a tree. His father is shocked and stands up, causing
Jayadratha's head to fall to earth. Thus his father is killed immediately.
58. Duryodhana asks Karna to avenge his brother Duhsasana, and he finally meets Arjuna in
the decisive confrontation. As he struggles to release his chariot, he cries out to Arjuna, but
Krishna commands Arjuna to shoot, and Karna dies.
59. Bhima kills most of the 100 Kauravas, who were demons incarnate.
60. The war spent for 18 days long between the Pandavas army and
the Kauravas army.
61. Ever the gambler, Yudhishthira tells Duryodhana that he can fight any brother he
chooses, and if he wins, the kingdom will be his again. Duryodhana choose to
fight with Bhima
62. Bhima wins only by treacherously striking Duryodhana on the legs.
Duryodhana died.
63. Krishna reveals that the gods allowed this war to relieve Earth of her great burden (similar
to Troy).Duryodhana was the incarnation of Kali, lord of the 4th age.
64. After the Pandavas won the war, they all come to see Bhisma’s body laying on the arrow.
Bhisma lies on a bed of arrows and waits for the right moment to shed his mortal coil
65. In his dying speech, pierced by many arrows, Bhishma tells Yudhishthira, “If one fights
against trickery, one should oppose him with trickery.But if one fights lawfully, one should
check him with dharma ...
66. One should conquer evil with good. Death by dharma is better than victory
by evil deeds.” He asks Yudhishthira to rule the kingdom.
67. Yudhishthira reports the death toll at six million within 18 days. Appalled at such losses, he
has a personal crisis similar to Arjuna before the battle. He doesn't want to rule because it
requires the use of force and more violence.
68. In the years that follow the war Dhritarashtra and his queen Gandhari , and Kunti , the
mother of the Pandavas, lived a life of asceticism in a forest retreat and died with yogic
calm in a forest fire.
70. When they learned of this, the Pandavas believed it 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.
71. Yudhishthira arrives at the entrance to paradise, carrying a dog in his arms.His brothers
and Draupadi, who left the earth with him, have fallen from the mountains into the abyss
along the way.
72. One by one Draupadi and the younger Pandavas died along the way until Yudhishthira was
left alone with a dog that had followed him all the way.
73. A gatekeeper tells him to abandon the dog if he wants to enter paradise.He refuses to leave
a creature so faithful, and is permitted to enter, for this was a test, the dog was the god
Dharma in disguise.
74. In paradise, Yudhisthira saw his enemies are there, smiling and contented. He decides to
stay with his loved ones, Draupadi in hell, rather than enjoy the delights of heaven with his
enemies. This too was a test, the “final illusion.” They are all permitted to enter paradise.
