The Epics · Itihāsa

The Mahabharata

The Great Story of the Bharatas, Retold

Yato dharmas tato jayaḥ — where there is dharma, there is victory

The Mahabharata is the story of a family that could not hold itself together, and of a war that ended a world. Here it is retold in flowing English as a single narrative — every one of the eighteen parvas, grouped into seven movements and broken into short chapters — so that a first-time reader can move through the whole epic without ever losing the thread.

57 of 57 chapters available

Part One — The Roots

Adi Parva — The Book of the Beginning

  1. The Serpent Sacrifice Why this story is told at all — a king, a snake, and a fire.
  2. The River and the Vow Shantanu loves a river-goddess; their son makes a terrible promise.
  3. Satyavati's Bargain A fisher-girl's price, and the line of kings that nearly ends.
  4. Three Princes The blind one, the pale one, and the wise one are born.
  5. Pandu's Curse An arrow in the forest, and five sons not quite his own.
  6. Cousins at Court A hundred Kauravas, five Pandavas, and the first taste of hatred.
  7. Drona and the Thumb of Ekalavya A teacher arrives; a forest boy pays the cruelest fee.
  8. The Tournament and the Rise of Karna The princes display their skill — and a stranger out-shoots them all.
  9. The House of Lac A palace built to burn, and five brothers presumed dead.
  10. Hidimba and Baka In hiding, Bhima meets a demoness who loves him and an ogre who eats men.
  11. The Winning of Draupadi A spinning fish, an unknown archer, and one bride for five.
  12. The Kingdom Divided Half a kingdom of ash, a new city, and a forest set aflame.

Sabha Parva — The Book of the Assembly Hall

  1. The Hall of Illusions Maya builds a hall where floor and water trade places — and so does truth.
  2. The Imperial Sacrifice and the Fall of Jarasandha Before Yudhishthira can be crowned paramount, one unkillable king must fall.
  3. The Insult of Shishupala A hundred insults counted to the last, and a discus that ends the tally.
  4. The Game of Dice Loaded dice, a borrowed virtue, and a king who cannot stop.
  5. The Disrobing and the Vows A question no assembly can answer, an endless cloth, and oaths sworn in blood.
  6. The Second Throw and the Road to Exile Everything returned, then wagered again — and thirteen years in the forest.

Part Two — The Exile

Vana Parva — The Book of the Forest

  1. Into the Forest Exile, the inexhaustible vessel, and the argument about patience.
  2. Arjuna and the Mountain God Penance, a fight with Shiva, and an arsenal won in heaven.
  3. Tales by the Fireside — Nala and Damayanti Another king ruined at dice — and the discipline that wins it back.
  4. The Pilgrimage and the Trials Hanuman's tail, Karna's armour given away, Savitri's argument with Death.
  5. The Theft of Draupadi Jayadratha seizes her, is spared, and prays for one deadly day.
  6. The Lake and the Yaksha's Questions Four brothers dead at the water, and the questions only the eldest can answer.

Virata Parva — The Book of the Hidden Year

  1. The Thirteenth Year in Disguise Each Pandava hidden as the exact inverse of what he is.
  2. The Death of Kichaka A second hall, a second silence, and a killing in the dark.
  3. The Cattle Raid and the Hidden Archer The disguise spent in the sound of a bowstring the old men know.

Part Three — The Gathering Storm

Udyoga Parva — The Book of the Effort for Peace

  1. Messengers and the Search for Peace Bad-faith envoys, and a claim reduced to five villages.
  2. Krishna's Embassy The last peace refused to a needle's width, and a form they cannot chain.
  3. The Secret of Karna The truth offered, and refused for the rightest of wrong reasons.
  4. The Armies Assemble Commands, rules sworn aloud, and the just king bowing to his enemies.

Part Four — The War

Bhishma Parva — The Book of Bhishma

  1. The Two Armies Face to Face The war narrated to a father who would not look — and a warrior who will not fight.
  2. The Song of the Lord — the Bhagavad Gita Act, and release the fruit of action: the teaching between two armies.
  3. Ten Days Under the Grandsire An unconquerable commander who will not fight to win.
  4. The Fall of Bhishma A vow from the Adi Parva kept, and a bed of arrows.

Drona Parva — The Book of Drona

  1. The Teacher Takes Command A plan to take the king alive, and the guard that must be drawn off.
  2. The Breaking of Abhimanyu A boy who knew the way in and not the way out, and the rules' end.
  3. The Vow and the Death of Jayadratha One day, one sworn vengeance, and a false dusk.
  4. The Lie and the Fall of Drona The one man who could not lie, and the half-sentence that killed the teacher.

Karna Parva — The Book of Karna

  1. Karna Takes the Field At last a commander who wants to win — and a charioteer who taunts him.
  2. The Charioteer's Words Two oaths that cannot both be kept, and the wounding that keeps one.
  3. The Wheel and the End of Karna Every curse and gift of the Adi Parva comes due at one chariot wheel.

Shalya Parva — The Book of Shalya

  1. The Last Commander An ending already arrived, and a king alone at the bottom of a lake.
  2. The Lake and the Mace Duel A foul blow, a hall-oath kept, and a dying man given the last word.

Part Five — The Embers

Sauptika Parva — The Book of the Night Raid

  1. The Three Survivors and the Night Slaughter An owl, a vow over a dying king, and a camp killed in its sleep.
  2. The Weapon and the Curse Two ultimate weapons in the sky, and the circle of the story closing.

Stri Parva — The Book of the Women

  1. The Women Walk the Field No philosophy, only the cost — counted by those never asked.
  2. Gandhari's Curse The most powerful figure bows to the most broken, and a silence breaks.

Part Six — The Throne and the Teaching

Shanti Parva — The Book of Peace

  1. The Reluctant King The victor who calls the prize filth, and is made to carry it anyway.
  2. The Teachings from the Bed of Arrows A dying king teaching a living one how to bear a kingdom won this way.

Anushasana Parva — The Book of Instruction

  1. The Grandsire's Last Words The man of the rigid vow, redeemed by an open-handed dying.

Part Seven — The Long Departure

Ashvamedhika Parva — The Book of the Horse Sacrifice

  1. The Horse Sacrifice A kingdom re-knit by a wandering horse, and the Gita relearned smaller.
  2. The Wandering Horse and the Son Who Did Not Know A father shames a son into the fight that kills him — and an old debt is closed.

Ashramavasika Parva — The Book of the Hermitage

  1. The Elders Go to the Forest Knowing when to stop — the dead returned for one night, then let go.

Mausala Parva — The Book of the Iron Bolt

  1. The End of the Yadavas Gandhari's curse comes due, and Krishna does not exempt himself.

Mahaprasthanika Parva — The Book of the Great Journey

  1. The Great Departure A kingdom set down in a sentence, and a man who will not turn back.

Svargarohana Parva — The Book of the Ascent to Heaven

  1. The Ascent and the Last Illusion A dog at the gate of heaven, a hell that is not real, and the frame closing.