Monday, March 31, 2014

Lord Shiva weeps for peace

Pilgrims at the pond.
Devotees offering puja.
An overview of the temple compound.

Chakwal can generate religious tourism through the mystically wonderful Katas Raj, a holy destination for Hindus around the world.

In Chakwal, Punjab, bells and chimes ring around the corridors of the temple complex, Katas Raj. There are tears too: pilgrims from India have the privilege of celebrating Shivaratri — a festival celebrated in reverence of Lord Shiva — at the “home” of Lord Shiva. And then there is Rajshari Jain, diligently scribbling away in her little notebook:
Eid Ho Har Din Hamara
Diwali Har Rat Ho
Dil Ko Dil Se Jeet Len Ham
Nahin Dil Ki Mat Ho
(Every day should be Eid,
Every night Diwali
Let’s win the battle of hearts
Without defeating any heart)
Jain is part of the 157-member pilgrim party who made the journey from India to Chakwal this February for Shivaratri. She has but one complaint: “I want to visit all of Pakistan, but my visa restricts me.”
Pilgrims who arrive for Shivaratri at Katas Raj are typically allowed very strict visa terms: Lahore, Chakwal and back. This isn’t ideal for for pilgrims such as Bhagwandas Sehtia, who had arrived with a desire to walk the streets of Bahawalpur again, where he spent his childhood. In fact, the pilgrims’ annual arrival heralds the time of the year when Katas Raj is open to public. The rest of the year, the temple complex remains shut.
In reality, Chakwal loses out when the mystically wonderful Katas Raj is shut: the heritage site is sacred for millions of Hindus around the world. As such, it is the type of international holy destination that can drive a booming religious tourism economy in the Chakwal district of Punjab. “Katas Raj is as sacred for Hindus as the Holy Kaaba is for Muslims,” explains Dr Ramesh Kumar, president of the Pakistan Hindus Council (PHC).
Situated about 40 kilometres south of Chakwal city, on Kallar Kahar-Choa Saidan Shah Road, Katas Raj is popularly known as Sat Garha. The temple complex now houses seven temples, a stupa of the Buddhist Era, the Hari Singh Haveli, ruins of some other temples, and a police picket — all constructed around a ‘Holy Pond’.
Legend has it that the pond was formed when Lord Shiva shed two tears at the sudden demise of his beloved wife, Sati. As the teardrops landed, they gave birth to two ponds, one in Chakwal and the other at Pushkar in Ajmer, India. For this very reason, 19th century British archaeologist, Sir Alexander Cunningham, found that the original name of today’s Katas Raj was “Kataksha” — a Sanskrit word which means rainy eyes.
Hindu pilgrims bathe in the Holy Pond (“Ishnan”) to have their sins pardoned and to attain salvation. They worship the Linga Stone (a symbolical phallus of Lord Shiva) to seek the end of their sufferings and the fulfilment of their longstanding desires. Women and men with conception problems bow before the Linga Stone, with a firm belief that their infertility will be reversed.
The history and the legend of Katas Raj are as revered as they are enduring: as per the Mahabharata (written around 300BC), renowned warriors, Pandava brothers, spent four years out of their 14 in exile here. Most temples are constructed on quadrangular platforms. The elevation of the sub-shrines seems to form a series of cornices, with small rows of pillars that are crowned by a corrugated dome.
In undivided India, Katas Raj was a place of lively activity and everyday bustle. The partition of the subcontinent in 1947 and the ensuing acrimony between the governments of Pakistan and India brought a deserted look to “The Home of Lord Shiva”. This continued till 1982, after which Hindu pilgrims from India were permitted to visit Katas Raj, albeit in small numbers and travelling as part of pilgrim caravans.
“Thousands of Hindus want to visit Katas Raj but visa restrictions are a major impediment,” argues Shiv Partab Bajaj, who has been leading the caravan of pilgrims for last many years.
But Katas Raj isn’t just a holy place for Hindu pilgrims from India; Pakistan too has a sizeable Hindu population. Local representatives of the community argue that Pakistani Hindus are denied their right to worship not only on Shivaratri but also the rest of the year: the temple complex is only open to public on the occasion of Shivaratri, but locals are barred from going on the pretext of “security”.
“Many pilgrims from Pakistan are left dejected on Shivratri every year. We are told that we can’t enter Katas Raj, as pilgrims from India are worshipping there and the government needs to provide security to them,” says Amarnath Randhawa, president of Hindu Sudhar Sabha (HSS) in Lahore. “Pilgrims from Sindh and other areas want to visit Katas Raj, but the temples are locked the rest of the year.”
Among Hindu representative groups, a pervasive sentiment is that they have no say in running Katas Raj, neither during the festival nor during the year. This is a state of affairs that has caused confusion, disappointment and despair.
“According to the Liaquat–Nehru Pact that was signed in 1950, the chairperson of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) was to be a Hindu, since the trust was formed to look after the sacred properties of Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan. The current chairman is a Muslim,” moans Dr Kumar.
“The incumbent ETPB chairman only visits Katas Raj whenever a Hindu dignitary or pilgrims from India arrive. The site wears a deserted look the rest of the year and the temples all remain shut,” alleges Dr Kumar. “How can a Muslim look after a place of Hindu worship in the same way as a Hindu would do?”
The treatment meted out to Katas Raj under the current regime means that perennial issues around upkeep, maintenance, boarding and lodging all remain unresolved.
“The duration of the festival is a day and a night. The Great Night of Shiva is very significant for us, as we have to worship during the night, but there are no boarding and lodging facilities to accommodate Hindus pilgrims from Pakistan,” claims Randhawa.
“The Shiva complex needs to be widened, a dining hall must be built, there needs be some filtration mechanism for potable water, washrooms need to be built — the span and scale of development work that needs to be carried out is immense,” Randhawa argues.
Last summer, the sacred pond inside the Katas Raj complex dried up, but due to the efforts of the Punjab government, water was restored to the pond. Some restoration work has also been carried out. Back in November 2012, visiting dignitary Nitish Kumar, the chief minister of the Indian state of Bihar, was clearly impressed with what he saw. He reaffirmed hope in the “desire to restore that spirit of cultural oneness” and “strengthening cross-cultural relations between the two countries”.
Meanwhile, people like Sehtia can only pray. “The governments of India and Pakisan should take some urgent steps, at least for old people like me, who are still being haunted by memories of Partition. We want to visit our homeland, just once more,” craves Sehtia.
For now, Lord Shiva continues to shed his tears for peace, but his teardrops are yet to reach the rulers of Pakistan and India.

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Sakina itoo forcing an old man

Sakina itoo forcing an old man

Sakina itoo forcing an old man

Sakina itoo forcing an old man

NAVREH

NAVREH

The New Year Day in Kashmir

- P.N. Ganhar
Koshur Samachar
 NAVREH is the lunar new year which is celebrated in Kashmir and many other parts of the country. This coincides with the first day of the Chaitra (spring) Navratras. It is the first day of 5074 of the Sapath Rishi Samvat which falls on March 29, 1998, this year and is the oldest new year. It is this calendar, according to which Hindus generally celebrate their birthdays, anniversaries, festivals and other religious functions. This day finds mention in Rajtarangini and Nilamat Purana of Kashmir and is regarded as sacred in Kashmir as the Shivratri. The celebrated Arab scholar Alberuni has written that Kashmiris celebrate the second of Navaratras to commemorate victory of their greatest and famous king - Lalitaditya - with great festivity, pomp and gaiety. The first was a festival as the New Year in its own right. Srivara, the famous poet- historian of mediaeval Kashmir, has also mentioned this Chaitra festival in his Rajtarangini. Late Pt. Zinda Koul, popularly known as Masterjee, has written a poem on Navreh and the message it brings.
 It is observed as the New Year's day in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka (as Ogadi), in Maharashtra and Goa as (Gaudi Parva), by Sindhis as Cheti-Chand and in the northern parts of India as Chaitra Shukla Di i.e. the first day of the lunar fortnight of Chaitra. In Delhi and northern parts of India, parohits in temples release before the assembled devotees the new almanac after morning prayers and dwell upon its highlight.
 In Kashmir, the day is celebrated with great enthusiasm and sanctity. It is on the eve of Navreh that the Kulguru of a Pandit family gets a new almanac (nachipatra - Sanskrit: Nakshetra-patri) and an illustrated scroll (Kreel Pach) with a sacred picture of Ma Sharika on it and some sacred verses. Formerly the Nachipatri used to be in the form of a tolled scroll but now it has taken the form of a small booklet known as Jantari. Just one day before Navreh, Kashmiri Pandits in Srinagar visit a sacred spring Vichar Nag (downtown) and take a holy dip in its waters to cast off the wintery sloth and impurities. After returning home from Vichar Nag round pieces of Wye herb are taken along with homemade rice powder cakes as prasad before breakfast. In olden times, astrologers and astronomers would assemble here to discuss and prepare a new almanac. May be this is the reason why this place is known as Vichar Nag.
 Late in the evening, the housewife gets a big Thali (metal-plate) and fills it up with rice or paddy. In villages, mostly paddy is used. After arranging it nicely, the new almanac and Kreel-pach are placed on the rice. Besides dry flowers, a few fresh flowers are also placed on the rice. Wye, a special weed which resembles arabi in shape and which grows in the marshes and is regarded to be very sacred and pure, is also kept on the thali. Among other things placed on the thali are newly sprouted grass, a little curd, walnuts in odd numbers and their kernels, a pen, inkpot and pen-holders and a pot containing a little salt are placed on the thali alongwith silver and gold coin and a lump of cooked rice in a small pot, a wheat cake and a small bread made of rice powder are also placed on this rice. All these things are arranged aesthetically on this small mound of rice. This Thali is then covered with another metal plate for the night. Formerly, the flowers and herb W'ye used to be provided by a florist who was known as Push after Pushap, i.e. the flower, and he used to be a Muslim. He was paid in cash and kind on the ensuing New Year day. Now all these things are procured from the market.
 Early morning on the New Year day, a boy or a girl gets up at dawn and, after taking the lid off the thali, takes it to the head of the family and his wife and then to others in such a way that every member of the family gets a glimpse of the things kept in the plate and looks into the mirror as the first thing in the morning. This signifies as prayer for food, wealth and knowledge in the coming year. The bearer of the plate gets a rupee or more from every member of family.
 Every member picks up a few walnuts kept in the thali and drops them in the river, where he goes to take a bath. This seems to be a thanks giving affair
that the people have come out of the dreary wintry cold and its allied ordeals safe and sound as the Maharashtarians do when they drop coconuts into the sea on Rakshabandhan day which is turbulent during the rainy season. After a bath and donning new clothes and a new sacred thread, Hindus in the city throng temples, especially the Hari Parbat which is Shakti shrine known as Chakreshwari. Later on, the head of the family offers turmeric coloured rice prepared in ghee known as Tahri to Ma Sharika, the principal deity of Chakreshwari which is afterwards distributed as Prasad among all the family members.
 From this day, Nav Durga Puja commences in Kashmir. At the end of the Navratra days, big Havans are performed in various temples and especially at Durga Nag at the foot of Shankaracharya hill and at Baramulla in Shailputri Devis Mandir, which are beautiful springs. During these days, thousands of people visit Vaishno Devi and other Devi shrines in Jammu and Kashmir. Ma Durga is worshipped in the Hari Parbat fort in Srinagar and Bahu fort in Jammu. Nine days of spring Navaratras are held very sacred in Kashmir as in the other parts of India. Vasanti Puja is performed in Bengal during these Navratras. Some people keep fast for nine days and sow barley and worship Durga and Dash Mahavidhya. During these days, Puja is offered to goddess Minakshi in Tamil Nadu etc.
 On Navreh, sumptuous dishes are prepared and friends and relatives who come to offer greetings are also entertained. Newly weded brides go to their homes donning new clothes, and carry a pot of curd, bread, sweets, etc as these are thought to be auspicious. New brides and youngsters are given some money by their elders.
 After meals, the people would visit gardens for picnic with their utensils and tea pot called Samavar etc and prepare Kahwa tea there. Formerly, the urban people used to go the Hari Parbat to enjoy the almond blossoms in the gardens at the foothill. But, alas, these gardens have shrunk almost to obliteration due to development of new colonies. During these days, Lord Rama is also worshipped in the state. The Navmi or 9th day of Navratras is known as Ramnavmi.
 Friends, relatives and Muslims come to greet the Hindus on this day with Navreh Mubarak (a happy new year). A few decades earlier, Kashmiri musicians and minstrels also used to come to regale their patrons and get bakshish. Due to dearness and rising costs now, Navreh festivities have lost some of the gaiety and colour but despite this the occasion is still very popular among Kashmiris living in or outside Kashmir.










Saturday, March 29, 2014

Mahabharata

Mahabharata

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Manuscript illustration of the Battle of Kurukshetra
Krishna and Arjuna at Kurukshetra, 18th-19th-century painting.
The Mahabharata or Mahābhārata (Sanskrit: महाभारतम्, Mahābhāratam, pronounced [məɦaːˈbʱaːrət̪əm]) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the Ramayana.[1]
Besides its epic narrative of the Kurukshetra War and the fates of the Kaurava and the Pandava princes, the Mahabharata contains philosophical and devotional material, such as a discussion of the four "goals of life" or purusharthas (12.161). Among the principal works and stories in the Mahabharata are the Bhagavad Gita, the story of Damayanti, an abbreviated version of the Ramayana, and the Rishyasringa, often considered as works in their own right.
Traditionally, the authorship of the Mahabharata is attributed to Vyasa. There have been many attempts to unravel its historical growth and compositional layers. The oldest preserved parts of the text are thought to be not much older than around 400 BCE, though the origins of the epic probably fall between the 8th and 9th centuries BCE.[2] The text probably reached its final form by the early Gupta period (c. 4th century).[3] The title may be translated as "the great tale of the Bhārata dynasty". According to the Mahabharata itself, the tale is extended from a shorter version of 24,000 verses called simply Bhārata.[4]
The Mahabharata is the longest known epic poem and has been described as "the longest poem ever written".[5][6] Its longest version consists of over 100,000 shloka or over 200,000 individual verse lines (each shloka is a couplet), and long prose passages. About 1.8 million words in total, the Mahabharata is roughly ten times the length of the Iliad and the Odyssey combined, or about four times the length of the Ramayana.[7][8] W. J. Johnson has compared the importance of the Mahabharata to world civilization to that of the Bible, the works of Shakespeare, the works of Homer, Greek drama, or the Qur'an.[9]
The other notable version of Mahabarath is Andhra mahabharatam, a Telugu language manuscript written by Kavitrayam {Trinity of Poets) in between 11-14th century AD. The Trinity consists of Nannayya, Tikkana, Yerrapragada.[10]

Textual history and structure

Modern depiction of Vyasa narrating the Mahabharata to Ganesha at the Murudeshwara temple, Karnataka.
The epic is traditionally ascribed to the sage Vyasa, who is also a major character in the epic. Vyasa described it as being itihāsa (history). He also describes the Guru-shishya parampara, which traces all great teachers and their students of the Vedic times.
The first section of the Mahabharata states that it was Ganesha who wrote down the text to Vyasa's dictation. Ganesha is said to have agreed to write it only if Vyasa never paused in his recitation. Vyasa agrees on condition that Ganesha takes the time to understand what was said before writing it down.
The epic employs the story within a story structure, otherwise known as frametales, popular in many Indian religious and non-religious works. It is recited by the sage Vaisampayana, a disciple of Vyasa, to the King Janamejaya who is the great-grandson of the Pandava prince Arjuna. The story is then recited again by a professional storyteller named Ugrasrava Sauti, many years later, to an assemblage of sages performing the 12-year sacrifice for the king Saunaka Kulapati in the Naimisha Forest.
The text has been described by some early 20th-century western Indologists as unstructured and chaotic. Hermann Oldenberg supposed that the original poem must once have carried an immense "tragic force" but dismissed the full text as a "horrible chaos."[11] Moritz Winternitz (Geschichte der indischen Literatur 1909) considered that "only unpoetical theologists and clumsy scribes" could have lumped the parts of disparate origin into an unordered whole.[citation needed]

Accretion and redaction

Research on the Mahabharata has put an enormous effort into recognizing and dating layers within the text. Some elements of the present Mahabharata can be traced back to Vedic times.[12] The background to the Mahabharata suggests the origin of the epic occurs "after the very early Vedic period" and before "the first Indian 'empire' was to rise in the third century B.C." That this is "a date not too far removed from the 8th or 9th century B.C."[2][13] is likely. It is generally agreed that "Unlike the Vedas, which have to be preserved letter-perfect, the epic was a popular work whose reciters would inevitably conform to changes in language and style,"[13] so the earliest 'surviving' components of this dynamic text are believed to be no older than the earliest 'external' references we have to the epic, which may include an allusion in Panini's 4th century BCE grammar Ashtādhyāyī 4:2:56.[2][13] It is estimated that the Sanskrit text probably reached something of a "final form" by the early Gupta period (about the 4th century CE).[13] Vishnu Sukthankar, editor of the first great critical edition of the Mahabharata, commented: "It is useless to think of reconstructing a fluid text in a literally original shape, on the basis of an archetype and a stemma codicum. What then is possible? Our objective can only be to reconstruct the oldest form of the text which it is possible to reach on the basis of the manuscript material available."[14] That manuscript evidence is somewhat late, given its material composition and the climate of India, but it is very extensive.
The Mahabharata itself (1.1.61) distinguishes a core portion of 24,000 verses: the Bharata proper, as opposed to additional secondary material, while the Ashvalayana Grhyasutra (3.4.4) makes a similar distinction. At least three redactions of the text are commonly recognized: Jaya (Victory) with 8,800 verses attributed to Vyasa, Bharata with 24,000 verses as recited by Vaisampayana, and finally the Mahabharata as recited by Ugrasrava Sauti with over 100,000 verses.[15][16] However, some scholars such as John Brockington, argue that Jaya and Bharata refer to the same text, and ascribe the theory of Jaya with 8,800 verses to a misreading of a verse in Adiparvan (1.1.81).[17] The redaction of this large body of text was carried out after formal principles, emphasizing the numbers 18[18] and 12. The addition of the latest parts may be dated by the absence of the Anushasana-parva and the Virata parva from the "Spitzer manuscript".[19] The oldest surviving Sanskrit text dates to the Kushan Period (200 CE).[20]
According to what one character says at Mbh. 1.1.50, there were three versions of the epic, beginning with Manu (1.1.27), Astika (1.3, sub-parva 5) or Vasu (1.57), respectively. These versions would correspond to the addition of one and then another 'frame' settings of dialogues. The Vasu version would omit the frame settings and begin with the account of the birth of Vyasa. The astika version would add the sarpasattra and ashvamedha material from Brahmanical literature, introduce the name Mahabharata, and identify Vyasa as the work's author. The redactors of these additions were probably Pancharatrin scholars who according to Oberlies (1998) likely retained control over the text until its final redaction. Mention of the Huna in the Bhishma-parva however appears to imply that this parva may have been edited around the 4th century[citation needed].
The snake sacrifice of Janamejaya
The Adi-parva includes the snake sacrifice (sarpasattra) of Janamejaya, explaining its motivation, detailing why all snakes in existence were intended to be destroyed, and why in spite of this, there are still snakes in existence. This sarpasattra material was often considered an independent tale added to a version of the Mahabharata by "thematic attraction" (Minkowski 1991), and considered to have a particularly close connection to Vedic (Brahmana) literature. The Panchavimsha Brahmana (at 25.15.3) enumerates the officiant priests of a sarpasattra among whom the names Dhrtarashtra and Janamejaya, two main characters of the Mahabharata's sarpasattra, as well as Takshaka, the name of a snake in the Mahabharata, occur.[21]

Historical references

The earliest known references to the Mahabharata and its core Bharata date to the Ashtadhyayi (sutra 6.2.38) of Pāṇini (fl. 4th century BCE) and in the Ashvalayana Grhyasutra (3.4.4). This may suggest that the core 24,000 verses, known as the Bharata, as well as an early version of the extended Mahabharata, were composed by the 4th century BCE.
A report by the Greek writer Dio Chrysostom (c. 40 - c. 120 CE) about Homer's poetry being sung even in India[22] seems to imply that the Iliad had been translated into Sanskrit. However, scholars have, in general, taken this as evidence for the existence of a Mahabharata at this date, whose episodes Dio or his sources identify with the story of the Iliad.[23]
Several stories within the Mahabharata took on separate identities of their own in Classical Sanskrit literature. For instance, Abhijñānashākuntala by the renowned Sanskrit poet Kālidāsa (c. 400 CE), believed to have lived in the era of the Gupta dynasty, is based on a story that is the precursor to the Mahabharata. Urubhanga, a Sanskrit play written by Bhāsa who is believed to have lived before Kālidāsa, is based on the slaying of Duryodhana by the splitting of his thighs by Bhima.
The copper-plate inscription of the Maharaja Sharvanatha (533–534 CE) from Khoh (Satna District, Madhya Pradesh) describes the Mahabharata as a "collection of 100,000 verses" (shatasahasri samhita).

The 18 parvas or books

The division into 18 parvas is as follows:
Parva Title Sub-parvas Contents
1 Adi Parva (The Book of the Beginning) 1–19 How the Mahabharata came to be narrated by Sauti to the assembled rishis at Naimisharanya, after having been recited at the sarpasattra of Janamejaya by Vaishampayana at Takṣaśilā. The history and genealogy of the Bharata and Bhrigu races is recalled, as is the birth and early life of the Kuru princes (adi means first).
2 Sabha Parva (The Book of the Assembly Hall) 20–28 Maya Danava erects the palace and court (sabha), at Indraprastha. Life at the court, Yudhishthira's Rajasuya Yajna, the game of dice, and the eventual exile of the Pandavas.
3 Vana Parva also Aranyaka-parva, Aranya-parva (The Book of the Forest) 29–44 The twelve years of exile in the forest (aranya).
4 Virata Parva (The Book of Virata) 45–48 The year spent incognito at the court of Virata.
5 Udyoga Parva (The Book of the Effort) 49–59 Preparations for war and efforts to bring about peace between the Kurus and the Pandavas which eventually fail (udyoga means effort or work).
6 Bhishma Parva (The Book of Bhishma) 60–64 The first part of the great battle, with Bhishma as commander for the Kauravas and his fall on the bed of arrows. (Includes the Bhagavad Gita in chapters 25[24]-42.[25])
7 Drona Parva (The Book of Drona) 65–72 The battle continues, with Drona as commander. This is the major book of the war. Most of the great warriors on both sides are dead by the end of this book.
8 Karna Parva (The Book of Karna) 73 The battle again, with Karna as commander.
9 Shalya Parva (The Book of Shalya) 74–77 The last day of the battle, with Shalya as commander. Also told in detail is the pilgrimage of Balarama to the fords of the river Saraswati and the mace fight between Bhima and Duryodhana which ends the war, since Bhima kills Duryodhana by smashing him on the thighs with a mace.
10 Sauptika Parva (The Book of the Sleeping Warriors) 78–80 Ashvattama, Kripa and Kritavarma kill the remaining Pandava army in their sleep. Only 7 warriors remain on the Pandava side and 3 on the Kaurava side.
11 Stri Parva (The Book of the Women) 81–85 Gandhari, Kunti and the women (stri) of the Kurus and Pandavas lament the dead.
12 Shanti Parva (The Book of Peace) 86–88 The crowning of Yudhisthira as king of Hastinapura, and instructions from Bhishma for the newly anointed king on society, economics and politics. This is the longest book of the Mahabharata (shanti means peace).
13 Anushasana Parva (The Book of the Instructions) 89–90 The final instructions (anushasana) from Bhishma.
14 Ashvamedhika Parva (The Book of the Horse Sacrifice)[26] 91–92 The royal ceremony of the Ashvamedha (Horse sacrifice) conducted by Yudhisthira. The world conquest by Arjuna. The Anugita is told by Krishna to Arjuna.
15 Ashramavasika Parva (The Book of the Hermitage) 93–95 The eventual deaths of Dhritarashtra, Gandhari and Kunti in a forest fire when they are living in a hermitage in the Himalayas. Vidura predeceases them and Sanjaya on Dhritarashtra's bidding goes to live in the higher Himalayas.
16 Mausala Parva (The Book of the Clubs) 96 The infighting between the Yadavas with maces (mausala) and the eventual destruction of the Yadavas.
17 Mahaprasthanika Parva (The Book of the Great Journey) 97 The great journey of Yudhisthira and his brothers across the whole country and finally their ascent of the great Himalayas where each Pandava falls except for Yudhisthira.
18 Svargarohana Parva (The Book of the Ascent to Heaven) 98 Yudhisthira's final test and the return of the Pandavas to the spiritual world (svarga).
khila Harivamsa Parva (The Book of the Genealogy of Hari) 99–100 This is an addendum to the 18 books, and covers those parts of the life of Krishna which is not covered in the 18 parvas of the Mahabharata.

Historical context

The historicity of the Kurukshetra War is unclear. Many historians estimate the date of the Kurukshetra war to Iron Age India of the 10th century BCE.[27] The setting of the epic has a historical precedent in Iron Age (Vedic) India, where the Kuru kingdom was the center of political power during roughly 1200 to 800 BCE.[28] A dynastic conflict of the period could have been the inspiration for the Jaya, the foundation on which the Mahabharata corpus was built, with a climactic battle eventually coming to be viewed as an epochal event.
Puranic literature presents genealogical lists associated with the Mahabharata narrative. The evidence of the Puranas is of two kinds. Of the first kind, there is the direct statement that there were 1015 (or 1050) years between the birth of Parikshit (Arjuna's grandson) and the accession of Mahapadma Nanda, commonly dated to 382 BCE, which would yield an estimate of about 1400 BCE for the Bharata battle.[29] However, this would imply improbably long reigns on average for the kings listed in the genealogies.[30] Of the second kind are analyses of parallel genealogies in the Puranas between the times of Adhisimakrishna (Parikshit's great-grandson) and Mahapadma Nanda. Pargiter accordingly estimated 26 generations by averaging 10 different dynastic lists and, assuming 18 years for the average duration of a reign, arrived at an estimate of 850 BCE for Adhisimakrishna, and thus approximately 950 BCE for the Bharata battle.[31]
B. B. Lal used the same approach with a more conservative assumption of the average reign to estimate a date of 836 BCE, and correlated this with archaeological evidence from Painted Grey Ware sites, the association being strong between PGW artifacts and places mentioned in the epic.[32]
Attempts to date the events using methods of archaeoastronomy have produced, depending on which passages are chosen and how they are interpreted, estimates ranging from the late 4th to the mid-2nd millennium BCE.[33] The late 4th millennium date has a precedent in the calculation of the Kaliyuga epoch, based on planetary conjunctions, by Aryabhata (6th century). His date of February 18 3102 BCE has become widespread in Indian tradition (for example, the Aihole inscription of Pulikeshi II, dated to Saka 556 = 634 CE, claims that 3735 years have elapsed since the Bharata battle.[34]) Another traditional school of astronomers and historians, represented by Vriddha-Garga, Varahamihira (author of the Brhatsamhita) and Kalhana (author of the Rajatarangini), place the Bharata war 653 years after the Kaliyuga epoch, corresponding to 2449 BCE.[35]

Synopsis

Ganesha writing the Mahabharata
The core story of the work is that of a dynastic struggle for the throne of Hastinapura, the kingdom ruled by the Kuru clan. The two collateral branches of the family that participate in the struggle are the Kaurava and the Pandava. Although the Kaurava is the senior branch of the family, Duryodhana, the eldest Kaurava, is younger than Yudhisthira, the eldest Pandava. Both Duryodhana and Yudhisthira claim to be first in line to inherit the throne.
The struggle culminates in the great battle of Kurukshetra, in which the Pandavas are ultimately victorious. The battle produces complex conflicts of kinship and friendship, instances of family loyalty and duty taking precedence over what is right, as well as the converse.
The Mahabharata itself ends with the death of Krishna, and the subsequent end of his dynasty and ascent of the Pandava brothers to heaven. It also marks the beginning of the Hindu age of Kali Yuga, the fourth and final age of mankind, in which great values and noble ideas have crumbled, and man is heading towards the complete dissolution of right action, morality and virtue.

The older generations

Shantanu woos Satyavati, the fisherwoman. Painting by Raja Ravi Varma.
King Janamejaya's ancestor Shantanu, the king of Hastinapura, has a short-lived marriage with the goddess Ganga and has a son, Devavrata (later to be called Bhishma, a great warrior), who becomes the heir apparent. Many years later, when King Shantanu goes hunting, he sees Satyavati, the daughter of the chief of fisherman, and asks her father for her hand. Her father refuses to consent to the marriage unless Shantanu promises to make any future son of Satyavati the king upon his death. To resolve his father's dilemma, Devavrata agrees to relinquish his right to the throne. As the fisherman is not sure about the prince's children honouring the promise, Devavrata also takes a vow of lifelong celibacy to guarantee his father's promise.
Shantanu has two sons by Satyavati, Chitrāngada and Vichitravirya. Upon Shantanu's death, Chitrangada becomes king. He lives a very short uneventful life and dies. Vichitravirya, the younger son, rules Hastinapura. Meanwhile, the King of Kāśī arranges a swayamvara for his three daughters, neglecting to invite the royal family of Hastinapur. In order to arrange the marriage of young Vichitravirya, Bhishma attends the swayamvara of the three princesses Amba, Ambika and Ambalika, uninvited, and proceeds to abduct them. Ambika and Ambalika consent to be married to Vichitravirya.
The oldest princess Amba, however, informs Bhishma that she wishes to marry king of Shalva whom Bhishma defeated at their swayamvara. Bhishma lets her leave to marry king of Shalva, but Shalva refuses to marry her, still smarting at his humiliation at the hands of Bhishma. Amba then returns to marry Bhishma but he refuses due to his vow of celibacy. Amba becomes enraged and becomes Bhishma's bitter enemy, holding him responsible for her plight. Later she is reborn to King Drupada as Shikhandi (or Shikhandini) and causes Bhishma's fall, with the help of Arjuna, in the battle of Kurukshetra.

The Pandava and Kaurava princes

Draupadi with her five husbands - the Pandavas. The central figure is Yudhishthira; the two on the bottom are Bhima and Arjuna. Nakula and Sahadeva, the twins, are standing. Painting by Raja Ravi Varma, c. 1900.
When Vichitravirya dies young without any heirs, Satyavati asks her first son Vyasa to father children with the widows. The eldest, Ambika, shuts her eyes when she sees him, and so her son Dhritarashtra is born blind. Ambalika turns pale and bloodless upon seeing him, and thus her son Pandu is born pale and unhealthy (the term Pandu may also mean 'jaundiced'[36]). Due to the physical challenges of the first two children, Satyavati asks Vyasa to try once again. However, Ambika and Ambalika send their maid instead, to Vyasa's room. Vyasa fathers a third son, Vidura, by the maid. He is born healthy and grows up to be one of the wisest characters in the Mahabharata. He serves as Prime Minister (Mahamantri or Mahatma) to King Pandu and King Dhritarashtra.
When the princes grow up, Dhritarashtra is about to be crowned king by Bhishma when Vidura intervenes and uses his knowledge of politics to assert that a blind person cannot be king. This is because a blind man cannot control and protect his subjects. The throne is then given to Pandu because of Dhritarashtra's blindness. Pandu marries twice, to Kunti and Madri. Dhritarashtra marries Gandhari, a princess from Gandhara, who blindfolds herself so that she may feel the pain that her husband feels. Her brother Shakuni is enraged by this and vows to take revenge on the Kuru family. One day, when Pandu is relaxing in the forest, he hears the sound of a wild animal. He shoots an arrow in the direction of the sound. However the arrow hits the sage Kindama, who curses him that if he engages in a sexual act, he will die. Pandu then retires to the forest along with his two wives, and his brother Dhritarashtra rules thereafter, despite his blindness.
Pandu's older queen Kunti, however, had been given a boon by Sage Durvasa that she could invoke any god using a special mantra. Kunti uses this boon to ask Dharma the god of justice, Vayu the god of the wind, and Indra the lord of the heavens for sons. She gives birth to three sons, Yudhisthira, Bhima, and Arjuna, through these gods. Kunti shares her mantra with the younger queen Madri, who bears the twins Nakula and Sahadeva through the Ashwini twins. However, Pandu and Madri indulge in sex, and Pandu dies. Madri dies on his funeral pyre out of remorse. Kunti raises the five brothers, who are from then on usually referred to as the Pandava brothers.
Dhritarashtra has a hundred sons through Gandhari, all born after the birth of Yudhishtira. These are the Kaurava brothers, the eldest being Duryodhana, and the second Dushasana. Other Kaurava brothers were Vikarna and Sukarna. The rivalry and enmity between them and the Pandava brothers, from their youth and into manhood, leads to the Kurukshetra war.

Lakshagraha (The House of Lac)

After the deaths of their mother (Madri) and father (Pandu), the Pandavas and their mother Kunti return to the palace of Hastinapur. Yudhisthira is made Crown Prince by Dhritarashtra, under considerable pressure from his kingdom. Dhritarashtra wanted his own son Duryodhana to become king and lets his ambition get in the way of preserving justice.
Shakuni, Duryodhana and Dusasana plot to get rid of the Pandavas. Shakuni calls the architect Purochana to build a palace out of flammable materials like lac and ghee. He then arranges for the Pandavas and the Queen Mother Kunti to stay there, with the intention of setting it alight. However, the Pandavas are warned by their wise uncle, Vidura, who sends them a miner to dig a tunnel. They are able to escape to safety and go into hiding. Back at Hastinapur, the Pandavas and Kunti are presumed dead.[37]

Marriage to Draupadi

Arjuna piercing the eye of the fish as depicted in Chennakesava Temple built by Hoysala Empire.
Whilst they were in hiding the Pandavas learn of a swayamvara which is taking place for the hand of the Pāñcāla princess Draupadī. The Pandavas enter the competition in disguise as Brahmins. The task is to string a mighty steel bow and shoot a target on the ceiling, which is the eye of a moving artificial fish, while looking at its reflection in oil below. Most of the princes fail, many being unable to lift the bow. Arjuna succeeds however. The Pandavas return home and inform their mother that Arjuna has won a competition and to look at what they have brought back. Without looking, Kunti asks them to share whatever it is Arjuna has won among themselves. On explaining the previous life of Draupadi, she ends up being the wife of all five brothers.

Indraprastha

After the wedding, the Pandava brothers are invited back to Hastinapura. The Kuru family elders and relatives negotiate and broker a split of the kingdom, with the Pandavas obtaining a new territory. Yudhishtira has a new capital built for this territory at Indraprastha. Neither the Pandava nor Kaurava sides are happy with the arrangement however.
Shortly after this, Arjuna elopes with and then marries Krishna's sister, Subhadra. Yudhishtira wishes to establish his position as king; he seeks Krishna's advice. Krishna advises him, and after due preparation and the elimination of some opposition, Yudhishthira carries out the rājasūya yagna ceremony; he is thus recognised as pre-eminent among kings.
The Pandavas have a new palace built for them, by Maya the Danava.[38] They invite their Kaurava cousins to Indraprastha. Duryodhana walks round the palace, and mistakes a glossy floor for water, and will not step in. After being told of his error, he then sees a pond, and assumes it is not water and falls in. Draupadi laughs at him and ridicules him by saying that this is because of his blind father Dhritrashtra. He then decides to avenge his humiliation.

The dice game

Draupadi humiliated.
Shakuni, Duryodhana's uncle, now arranges a dice game, playing against Yudhishtira with loaded dice. Yudhishtira loses all his wealth, then his kingdom. He then even gambles his brothers, himself, and finally his wife into servitude. The jubilant Kauravas insult the Pandavas in their helpless state and even try to disrobe Draupadi in front of the entire court, but her honour is saved by Krishna who miraculously creates lengths of cloth to replace the ones being removed.
Dhritarashtra, Bhishma, and the other elders are aghast at the situation, but Duryodhana is adamant that there is no place for two crown princes in Hastinapura. Against his wishes Dhritarashtra orders for another dice game. The Pandavas are required to go into exile for 12 years, and in the 13th year must remain hidden. If discovered by the Kauravas, they will be forced into exile for another 12 years.

Exile and return

The Pandavas spend thirteen years in exile; many adventures occur during this time. They also prepare alliances for a possible future conflict. They spend their final year in disguise in the court of Virata, and are discovered just after the end of the year.
At the end of their exile, they try to negotiate a return to Indraprastha. However, this fails, as Duryodhana objects that they were discovered while in hiding, and that no return of their kingdom was agreed. War becomes inevitable.

The battle at Kurukshetra

A black stone relief depicting a number of men wearing a crown and a dhoti, fighting with spears, swords and bows. A chariot with half the horse out of the frame is seen in the middle.
A scene from the Mahabharata war, Angkor Wat: A black stone relief depicting a number of men wearing a crown and a dhoti, fighting with spears, swords and bows. A chariot with half the horse out of the frame is seen in the middle.
The two sides summon vast armies to their help and line up at Kurukshetra for a war. The kingdoms of Panchala, Dwaraka, Kasi, Kekaya, Magadha, Matsya, Chedi, Pandya, Telinga, and the Yadus of Mathura and some other clans like the Parama Kambojas were allied with the Pandavas. The allies of the Kauravas included the kings of Pragjyotisha, Anga, Kekaya, Sindhudesa (including Sindhus, Sauviras and Sivis), Mahishmati, Avanti in Madhyadesa, Madra, Gandhara, Bahlikas, Kambojas and many others. Before war being declared, Balarama had expressed his unhappiness at the developing conflict and left to go on pilgrimage; thus he does not take part in the battle itself. Krishna takes part in a non-combatant role, as charioteer for Arjuna.
Before the battle, Arjuna, seeing himself facing his great grandfather Bhishma and his teacher Drona on the other side, has doubts about the battle and he fails to lift his Gāndeeva bow. Krishna wakes him up to his call of duty in the famous Bhagavad Gita section of the epic.
Though initially sticking to chivalrous notions of warfare, both sides soon adopt dishonourable tactics. At the end of the 18-day battle, only the Pandavas, Satyaki, Kripa, Ashwatthama, Kritavarma, Yuyutsu and Krishna survive.

The end of the Pandavas

Gandhari, blindfolded, supporting Dhrtarashtra and following Kunti when Dhrtarashtra became old and infirm and retired to the forest. A miniature painting from a 16th-century manuscript of part of the Razmnama, Persian translation of the Mahabharata
After "seeing" the carnage, Gandhari who had lost all her sons, curses Krishna to be a witness to a similar annihilation of his family, for though divine and capable of stopping the war, he had not done so. Krishna accepts the curse, which bears fruit 36 years later.
The Pandavas who had ruled their kingdom meanwhile, decide to renounce everything. Clad in skins and rags they retire to the Himalaya and climb towards heaven in their bodily form. A stray dog travels with them. One by one the brothers and Draupadi fall on their way. As each one stumbles, Yudhisthira gives the rest the reason for their fall (Draupadi was partial to Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva were vain and proud of their looks, Bhima and Arjuna were proud of their strength and archery skills, respectively). Only the virtuous Yudhisthira, who had tried everything to prevent the carnage, and the dog remain. The dog reveals himself to be the god Yama (also known as Yama Dharmaraja), and then takes him to the underworld where he sees his siblings and wife. After explaining the nature of the test, Yama takes Yudhishthira back to heaven and explains that it was necessary to expose him to the underworld because (Rajyante narakam dhruvam) any ruler has to visit the underworld at least once. Yama then assures him that his siblings and wife would join him in heaven after they had been exposed to the underworld for measures of time according to their vices.
Arjuna's grandson Parikshit rules after them and dies bitten by a snake. His furious son, Janamejaya, decides to perform a snake sacrifice (sarpasattra) in order to destroy the snakes. It is at this sacrifice that the tale of his ancestors is narrated to him.

Themes

Just War

The Mahabharata offers one of the first instances of theorizing about "Just war", illustrating many of the standards that would be debated later across the world. In the story, one of five brothers asks if the suffering caused by war can ever be justified. A long discussion ensues between the siblings, establishing criteria like proportionality (chariots cannot attack cavalry, only other chariots, no attacking people in distress), just means (no poisoned or barbed arrows), just cause (no attacking out of rage), and fair treatment of captives and the wounded.[39]

Versions, translations, and derivative works

Telugu Version

There is a [Telugu Language|Telugu]] version of composition called Andhra mahabharatam written by Kavitrayam (Trinity of Poets) consisting of Nannayya, Tikkana, Yerrapragada in between 11-14th century. The story of Andhra mahabharatam became an integral part of Telugu people from Andhrapradesh and numerous Telugu proverbs are based on it . The ithihasa and ideas of Political science are discussed by Nannayya in his first third of book. Tikkana Somayaji, the successor of Nannaya is more explicit in his claim for the authority of Veda to the Mahabharata.[clarification needed] Errana started the remaining part with the style of Nannaya and ended it with the style of Tikkana as a bridge between the parts translated by Nannaya and Tikkana.[citation needed]
Many regional versions of the work developed over time, mostly differing only in minor details, or with verses or subsidiary stories being added. These include some versions from outside the Indian subcontinent, such as the Kakawin Bharatayuddha from Java. The plays of the Tamil street theatre, terukkuttu and kattaikkuttu, use themes from the Tamil language versions of Mahabharata, focusing on Draupadi.[40]

Critical Edition

Between 1919 and 1966, scholars at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune, compared the various manuscripts of the epic from India and abroad and produced the Critical Edition of the Mahabharata, on 13,000 pages in 19 volumes, followed by the Harivamsha in another two volumes and six index volumes. This is the text that is usually used in current Mahabharata studies for reference.[41] This work is sometimes called the 'Pune' or 'Poona' edition of the Mahabharata.

Modern interpretations

Krishna as portrayed in Yakshagana from Karnataka which is based largely on stories of Mahabharata
In Indian cinema, several film versions of the epic exist, dating back to 1920.[42] The internationally acclaimed parallel Bengali film director Satyajit Ray also intended to direct a theatrical adaptation of the epic, but the project was never realized.[43]
In Telugu many movies made on Mahabarath which had shown detailed story. But in different the film Daana Veera Soora Karna (1977) directed and acted by N. T. Rama Rao shows Karna a lead character and described his good qualities.[44]
In the late 1980s, the Mahabharat TV series, directed by Ravi Chopra,[45] was televised and shown on India's national television (Doordarshan). In the Western world, a well-known presentation of the epic is Peter Brook's nine-hour play, which premiered in Avignon in 1985, and its five-hour movie version The Mahabharata (1989).[46]
Mahabharata was also reinterpreted by Shyam Benegal in Kalyug. Kalyug is a modern-day replaying of the Mahabharata.[47] Prakash Jha directed 2010 film Raajneeti was partially inspired by Mahabharata.[48]
Adaptations of the Mahabarata are often the most expensive films in Indian cinema. The unmade 2004 adaptation Mahabarat by director Rajkumar Santoshi was estimated at 22 million U.S. dollars [49] A 2013 animated adaptation holds the record for India's most expensive animated film. [50]
Amar Chitra Katha published a 1,260 page comic book version of the Mahabharata.[51]

Persian translation

Bhishma on his death-bed of arrows with the Pandavas and Krishna. Folio from the Razmnama (1761–1763), Persian translation of the Mahabharata, commissioned by Mughal emperor Akbar. The Pandavas are dressed in Persian armour and robes.[52]
It was translated into Persian at Akbar's orders, by Faizi and `Abd al-Qadir Bada'uni (1761–1763) and named Razmnameh.[53]

English translations

The first complete English translation was the Victorian prose version by Kisari Mohan Ganguli,[54] published between 1883 and 1896 (Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers) and by M. N. Dutt (Motilal Banarsidass Publishers). Most critics consider the translation by Ganguli to be faithful to the original text. The complete text of Ganguli's translation is in the public domain and is available online.[55] It was originally printed under the name of the publisher, Pratap Chandra Roy.[56][57]
Another English prose translation of the full epic, based on the Critical Edition, is also in progress, published by University Of Chicago Press, initiated by Chicago Indologist J. A. B. van Buitenen (books 1–5) and, following a 20-year hiatus caused by the death of van Buitenen, is being continued by D. Gitomer of DePaul University (book 6), J. L. Fitzgerald of Brown University (books 11–13) and Wendy Doniger of the University of Chicago (books 14–18).
An early poetry translation by Romesh Chunder Dutt and published in 1898 condenses the main themes of the Mahabharata into English verse.[58] A later poetic "transcreation" (author's own description) of the full epic into English, done by the poet P. Lal is complete, and in 2005 began being published by Writers Workshop, Calcutta. The P. Lal translation is a non-rhyming verse-by-verse rendering, and is the only edition in any language to include all slokas in all recensions of the work (not just those in the Critical Edition). The completion of the publishing project is scheduled for 2010. Sixteen of the eighteen volumes are now available.
A project to translate the full epic into English prose, translated by various hands, began to appear in 2005 from the Clay Sanskrit Library, published by New York University Press. The translation is based not on the Critical Edition but on the version known to the commentator Nīlakaṇṭha. Currently available are 15 volumes of the projected 32-volume edition.
Indian economist Bibek Debroy has also begun an unabridged English translation in ten volumes. Volume 1: Adi Parva was published in March 2010.

Abridged versions

Many condensed versions, abridgements and novelistic prose retellings of the complete epic have been published in English, including works by Ramesh Menon, William Buck, R.K. Narayan, C. Rajagopalachari, K. M. Munshi, Krishna Dharma, Romesh C. Dutt, Bharadvaja Sarma, John D. Smith and Sharon Maas.
A Kawi version is found on the Indonesian island of Bali and was translated by Dr. I. Gusti Putu Phalgunadi. Of the eighteen parvas, only eight Kawi manuscripts remain.

Derivative works

Bhasa, the 2nd- or 3rd-century CE Sanskrit playwright, wrote two plays on episodes in the Marabharata, Urubhanga (Broken Thigh), about the fight between Duryodhana and Bhima, while Madhyamavyayoga (The Middle One) set around Bhima and his son, Ghatotkacha. The first important play of 20th century was Andha Yug (The Blind Epoch), by Dharamvir Bharati, which came in 1955, found in Mahabharat, both an ideal source and expression of modern predicaments and discontent. Starting with Ebrahim Alkazi it was staged by numerous directors. V. S. Khandekar's Marathi novel, Yayati (1960) and Girish Karnad's debut play Yayati (1961) are based on the story of King Yayati found in the Mahabharat.[59] Bengali writer and playwright, Buddhadeva Bose wrote three plays set in Mahabharat, Anamni Angana, Pratham Partha and Kalsandhya.[60] Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni wrote a version from the perspective of Draupadi entitled The Palace of Illusions: A Novel, which was published in 2008.

Jain version

Depiction of wedding procession of Lord Neminatha. The enclosure shows the animals that are to be slaughtered for food for weddings. Overcome with Compassion for animals, Neminatha refused to marry and renounced his kingdom to become a Shramana
Jain version of Mahabharata can be found in the various Jain texts like Harivamsapurana (the story of Harivamsa) Trisastisalakapurusa Caritra (Hagiography of 63 Illustrious persons), Pandavacaritra (lives of Pandavas) and Pandavapurana (stories of Pandavas).[61] From the earlier canonical literature, Antakrddaaśāh (8th cannon) and Vrisnidasa (upangagama or secondary canon) contain the stories of Neminatha (22nd Tirthankara), Krishna and Balarama.[62] Prof. Padmanabh Jaini notes that, unlike in the Hindu Puranas, the names Baladeva and Vasudeva are not restricted to Balarama and Krishna in Jain puranas. Instead they serve as names of two distinct class of mighty brothers, who appear nine times in each half of time cycles of the Jain cosmology and rule the half the earth as half-chakravartins. Jaini traces the origin of this list of brothers to the Jinacharitra by Bhadrabahu swami (4th–3rd century BCE).[63] According to Jain cosmology Balarama, Krishna and Jarasandha are the ninth and the last set of Baladeva, Vasudeva, and Partivasudeva.[64] The main battle is not the Mahabharata, but the fight between Krishna and Jarasandha who is killed by Krishna. Ultimately, the Pandavas and Balarama take renunciation as Jain monks and are reborn in heavens, while on the other hand Krishna and Jarasandha are reborn in hell.[65] In keeping with the law of karma, Krishna is reborn in hell for his exploits (sexual and violent) while Jarasandha for his evil ways. Prof. Jaini admits a possibility that perhaps because of his popularity, the Jain authors were keen to rehabilitate Krishna. The Jain texts predict that after his karmic term in hell is over sometime during the next half time-cycle, Krishna will be reborn as a Jain Tirthankara and attain liberation.[64] Krishna and Balrama are shown as contemporaries and cousins of 22nd Tirthankara, Neminatha.[66] According to this story, Krishna arranged young Neminath’s marriage with Rajamati, the daughter of Ugrasena, but Neminatha, empathizing with the animals which were to be slaughtered for the marriage feast, left the procession suddenly and renounced the world.[67]

Kuru family tree

This shows the line of royal and family succession, not necessarily the parentage. See the notes below for detail.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Kurua
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
Gangā
 
Shāntanua
 
Satyavati
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Pārāshara
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Bhishma
 
 
 
Chitrāngada
 
 
 
Ambikā
 
Vichitravirya
 
Ambālikā
 
 
 
Vyāsa
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Dhritarāshtrab
 
Gāndhāri
 
Shakuni
 
 
 
 
Kunti
 
Pāndub
 
Mādri
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Karnac
 
Yudhisthirad
 
Bhimad
 
Arjunad
 
Subhadrā
 
Nakulad
 
Sahadevad
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Duryodhanae
 
Dussalā
 
Dushāsana
 
(98 sons)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Abhimanyu
 
Uttarā
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Parikshit
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Janamejaya

Key to Symbols
Notes
The birth order of siblings is correctly shown in the family tree (from left to right), except for Vyasa and Bhishma whose birth order is not described, and Vichitravirya who was born after them. The fact that Ambika and Ambalika are sisters is not shown in the family tree. The birth of Duryodhana took place after the birth of Karna, Yudhishtira and Bhima, but before the birth of the remaining Pandava brothers.
Some siblings of the characters shown here have been left out for clarity; these include Chitrāngada, the eldest brother of Vichitravirya. Vidura, half-brother to Dhritarashtra and Pandu.

Cultural influence

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna explains to Arjuna his duties as a warrior and prince and elaborates on different Yogic[68] and Vedantic philosophies, with examples and analogies. This has led to the Gita often being described as a concise guide to Hindu philosophy and a practical, self-contained guide to life.[69] In more modern times, Swami Vivekananda, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi and many others used the text to help inspire the Indian independence movement