Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Mahabharata, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Dharma
Pursuing Enlightenment
Heroism and Warfare
Grief, Loss, and Mourning
Stories and Storytelling
Summary
Analysis
Ugraśravas the Suta approaches the Brahmin seers who live in the Naimisha Forest and who follow a chief named Śaunaka. One of the seers asks him where he came from. He replies that he has heard the amazing stories of the Mahabharata and has traveled around the world to many holy places. He asks if the seers want to hear stories of religion and the great deeds of heroes and seers.
The Mahabharata is a story about stories, and so it’s fitting that it begins with a Suta—a group of people known for being storytellers. Although the Mahabharata is a holy text like the Bible or the Quran, dealing with matters of religious doctrine, it is also an epic poem with an overarching story that treats the figures in it as complex characters.
Themes
The seers ask to hear a story from an old tale from a noble seer named Dvaipayana (also known as Vyasa), which includes the history of the Bharata war (also called the Kurukshetra War because it took place at Kurukshetra). They have heard this particular story is full of dharma. Ugraśravas says first he must bow to Vishnu. Then he agrees to tell them about Vyasa. Ugraśravas’s story goes back to the origins of the universe and explains how the Mahabharata is holy and how studying it can help free people from evil.
Dharma is perhaps the most important concept in the whole poem. It provides a guide for humans to live their lives, which differs depending on an individual’s social class and stage in life. As its extreme length and scope both suggest, the Mahabharata aims to be a comprehensive guide for life.
Themes
LISTINGS OF THE BOOKS. Ugraśravas describes the organization of the Mahabharata, which has 18 main books (parvans) and hundreds of sub-books (uparvans).
Although the Mahabharata is a story, it also sometimes gets described as “encyclopedic” due to how much detail it provides. The poem’s elaborate structure reflects this level of detail.
Themes
PAUSHYA. Ugraśravas describes where he first heard the Mahabharata, which was during Janamejaya’s snake sacrifice. The sacrifice is necessary because Janamejaya’s brothers hurt a holy dog, and the dog cursed Janamejaya to suffer an accident.
The poem deals with humanity’s relationship with nature, which can be both harmonious and hostile. In this case, Janamejaya’s brothers upset the natural balance, and so Janamejaya’s sacrifice represents an attempt to restore order.
Themes
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Meanwhile, Uttanka visits King Paushya to obtain some earrings from the king’s wife to give as a gift to the wife of his teacher. The snake king Takshka steals the earrings, but Uttanka recovers them. Uttanka goes to Janamejaya to help get revenge on Takshka.
Many parts of the Mahabharata, particularly in the first couple books, feature self-contained stories that provide context for the central plot but only relate to it tangentially. This reflects the poem’s aim to be comprehensive and emphasizes how rich and varied India’s ancient history was.
Themes
PULOMAN. Ugraśravas asks the seers what more they want to hear. Śaunaka asks to hear about a lineage of Brahmins called Bhrigu, which begins with a man named Puloman. One of his descendants is a seer named Ruru, whose lover gets killed by a snake. Ruru voluntarily gives up half of his own life span to resurrect her and marry her, and from then on, he kills every snake he sees. One day, he almost kills a lizard, and the lizard stops to tell him he’s not a snake—he’s actually a seer who was cursed to become a lizard. Ruru learns not to commit violence, even against snakes.
In this story, a man learns that an animal he’s about to kill is actually a human in disguise. Animals play a complicated role in the poem. While on the one hand, virtuous humans often offer up animal sacrifices to show deference to the gods, this does not mean that humans should act violently toward all animals. The disguised seer in this self-contained story demonstrates to Ruru how animals have hidden depth. In Hinduism, an animal could have been a person in a past life or vice versa, and this passage emphasizes how humans and animals are similar.
Themes
ASTIKA. Now Ugraśravas returns to Janamejaya’s snake sacrifice story. Janamejaya organizes a large sacrifice of many snakes because a snake named Takshka killed his father (Parikshit). A seer named Astika wants to stop the sacrifice. When he first comes to Janamejaya, he praises the sacrifice of snakes, and so Janamejaya offers him a boon. But then Astika takes his boon right before the sacrifice of Takshka—he says for his boon, he wants the ritual to stop, saving the life of Takshka. The happy surviving snakes say that anyone who tells this story will become invulnerable to snakes. Śaunaka now wants to hear the Mahabharata, which Ugraśravas heard from Vyasa at the snake sacrifice.
This story about sparing the life of Takshka has strong parallels to the story of the seer Ruru in the previous section. Just as Ruru learns not to kill snakes because they might be a seer in disguise, Janamejaya learns not to show mercy to Takshka, even after he kills his father. The surviving snakes offer immunity to anyone who retells this story, suggesting that, despite Takshka’s killing of Parikshit, it’s nevertheless possible for humans to have a harmonious relationship with snakes if they pay them the proper respect.
Themes
THE EARLIEST LINEAGES. Ugraśravas tells a story. Within that story, Vyasa (also known as Krishna Dvaipayana, who is famous for compiling the Vedas) goes to see Janamejaya at the snake sacrifice. At the sacrifice, he tells Janamejaya a brief version of the Mahabharata, but Janamejaya wants to hear the whole thing, all 100,000 verses full of heroic battles and dharma. Vyasa instructs his pupil, Vaiśampayana to tell it. Vaiśampayana calls the story a Tale of Victory that will help people who hear it conquer the earth. The tale also gives wealth to its hearers. The story has the name Mahabharata because it tells the tale of Bharata’s heirs.
When Vaiśampayana says that the Mahabharata gives wealth and victory to its hearers, he seems to mean that the story literally has the power to affect a person’s life. But perhaps he also means this metaphorically, suggesting that the Mahabharata might not literally make gold appear but might help a person learn how to lead a better life. The first book of the poem is essentially an origin story, starting with the early descendants of a lineage, and going down through each generation until it reaches the people who will serve as the main characters for the majority of the poem: the Pandava brothers.
Themes
In Vaiśampayana’s story, a king named Vasu is a huntsman who is full of dharma. The supreme god Indra tells him to conquer a region called Cedi. Indra takes favor on Vasu and gives him a flying chariot that can go through the sky and a victory garland that protects Vasu from all wounds. He also gives him a bamboo pole, and Vasu plants a new bamboo pole every year in Indra’s honor.
This passage shows the first of many harmonious relationships between humans and gods. As one of the most powerful gods, Indra has the ability to sway human events to benefit people he favors. Importantly, Vasu doesn’t abuse this favor and instead conducts a ritual to show gratitude toward the gods, showing how even the gods’ favorite humans must nevertheless show deference to them.
Themes
King Vasu stays in Cedi and takes a mountain-girl named Girika as his wife. One day while he’s off hunting in the forest, he is thinking of his wife when suddenly his “seed” spills out onto the leaf of a tree. He doesn’t want to waste the “seed” because he believes it’s his wife’s “seasonal time” to conceive, so he gives it to a hawk to take back to her. But another hawk attacks, and Vasu’s seed falls into a river, where an Apsara (a type of celestial spirit) has been cursed to become a fish.
Children get conceived in a wide variety of ways over the course of the Mahabharata. The persistent focus on the act of child-making (which can involve sex but doesn’t always in this poem) relates to the poem’s focus on heritage and lineages. The poem is full of power struggles for land, and as a result, kings and other leaders must constantly prove their own legitimacy. Lineage is one of the most important ways to do that, although a venerable lineage does not always guarantee that a person will be a good leader.
Themes
Nine months later, some fishermen catch a fish, and when they cut it open, two human children are inside, one male, one female. The fish is the Apsara, who resumes her celestial form and is free again. The boy from the fish becomes the king Matsya, while Vasu gives the daughter, Satyavati, to the fisherman who caught her.
The Mahabharata depicts a patriarchal society where men have more rights than women. Although some individual figures and events challenge this perception, this passage is a clear example of patriarchy, showing the different life paths of a boy and a girl born at the same time—where the boy grows up to become a king, the girl gets given away to the fisherman who found her.
Themes
One day, a great seer named Paraśara sees the beautiful Satyavati ferrying a boat. He says that if she “pleasures” him, he’ll allow her to stay a virgin and give her a boon. She wishes to be the most fragrant person in the world, and so Paraśara has sex with her and grants her wish. Paraśara then gives birth that very same day to a son: Vyasa. This is the same famous Vyasa who goes on to compile the Vedas and compose the Mahabharata.
While lineage is important for kings trying to claim legitimacy, it can be important for other figures as well. Vyasa’s birth is miraculous in many ways, signifying that he is an important person—and because Vyasa is the legendary author of the Mahabharata, this gives greater legitimacy to the poem itself.
Themes
At the snake sacrifice, Janamejaya tells Vaiśampayana that he wants to hear the full account of how the heroes of the Mahabharata were born. Vaiśampayana agrees to tell him. He tells the story of Rama Jamadagnya who annihilated all the Kshatriya warriors on earth 21 times. The surviving Kshatriya women went to see the Brahmins, who helped them conceive thousands of new Kshatriyas. It was the Krita Age, full of dharma, with people of all classes fulfilling their roles. But just when humans were living prosperously, demons—who had been defeated in battles with the gods—decided to be born on earth in royal lineages.
The Krita Age was a golden age—a period that the poem’s narrative present (known as the Kali Age) can never live up to. This hints at how the events of the Mahabharata represent an ideal: it might not be possible or even desirable for Janamejaya and his successors to try to replicate the events of the Mahabharata in the present era. For an extreme example, Rama Jamadagnya’s annihilation of the Kshatriyas should probably be taken as an example of how violence can lead to renewal and does not represent a literal instruction for modern readers to kill all Kshatriyas.
Themes
These demons oppressed all classes: Brahmins, Kshatriya, Vaiśyas, and Sudras. Troubled by the demons, Earth sought out Lord Brahma, creator of worlds, for help. Brahma promises to enlist all of heaven to help Earth with her problems. He tells his fellow gods that they must give up a part of themselves to be born on earth to oppose the demons. Many gods, including Indra, hear Brahma’s command and agree to have a part of themselves take mortal form.
The various social classes of ancient India—a precursor to what would later be called the “caste system”—play an important role in the poem. While there is a hierarchy, with most of the major figures being either Brahmins or Kshatriya, one of the central themes of the poem is that everyone has their own role to play in society—their dharma. Similarly, all humans, even the highest Brahmins, must pay deference to a social order where gods are at the top above mortals. In return, the gods watch over the mortals, as Brahma does here by encouraging his fellow gods to take mortal forms.
Themes
At the snake sacrifice, Janamejaya asks Vaiśampayana to tell more about the deeds of the mortal incarnations of gods and demons, and Vaiśampayana does so. There is Drona, a tiger-like king who wasn’t born from the womb. Then there’s Aśvatthaman, the lotus-eyed destroyer, who is the son of Drona as well as a fusion of the god Śiva and Death. Bhishma is born in the Kuru kingdom at the command of Indra and fights against Rama Jamadagnya from the Bhrigu kingdom.
This passage and the subsequent ones are a brief summary of the books that follow. This pattern recurs throughout the poem, where first a narrator tells the short version of a story, then the listener asks the narrator to give more details. These summaries help ensure that the audience understands the basic plot before moving on to the full version of the story.
Themes
Kripa is a Brahmin seer from Kuru. Śakuni is a mighty fighter in his chariot. Vidura is one of the wisest men in the world. King Duryodhana, however, is foolish and brings disgrace to the people of the Kuru line (also called Kauravas)—a part of him comes from the evil being known as Kali. Then there are the heroic five Pandavas brothers: Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva. Abhimanyu is Arjuna’s son. Karna is a chariot-fighter and has part of a sun god in him.
All of the people listed in this passage become major figures later in the poem. In some ways, this passage is like the list of characters at the beginning of a play. By drawing attention to the poem’s most important figures, the poem builds suspense for their eventual appearance in the story and helps the audience understand from the beginning which figures are noteworthy.
Themes
ORIGINS. ŚAKUNTULA. Vaiśampayana begins to tell Janamejaya about the lineage of Kuru. In the story, King Duhshanta was out hunting in the woods one day when he came to a hermitage. There, he sees a beautiful girl named Śakuntula. Duhshanta and Śakuntula conceive a son together, whom Duhshanta promises will one day be prince regent. Śakuntula’s son grows up for his first six years in the hermitage, but after she takes him to Duhshanta’s castle, Duhshanta claims to have no memory of Śakuntula or his son. Eventually, however, a heavenly voice tells Duhshanta to accept Śakuntula back. He does so, and his son becomes Bharata, a great monarch and the start of a lineage.
The story of Śakuntula is one of the most famous sections of the Mahabharata, and it has been adapted many times. While it functions as a self-contained story, it also acts as an origin for the rest of the poem, since Śakuntula’s son Bharata is the head of the main familial lineage that the poem eventually focuses on. While men occupy the positions of power in the Mahabharata, this story somewhat challenges that notion, showing that the correct thing for King Duhshanta to do—his dharma—is to believe Śakuntula’s words and accept her.
Themes
YAYATI. Vaiśampayana tells many more of the important lineages for the story. Then, after Janamejaya asks a question, Vaiśampayana stops to tell the story of how Yayati married Devayani. Devayani originally wants to marry a man named Kaca, who gets killed and revived several times. In one of these revivals, he gets turned to ashes that Devayani’s father, Śukra, drinks with liquor, and then Kaca bursts from Śukra’s stomach. Kaca then rejects Devayani because he says they’re now siblings (since he came out of her father’s stomach), and the two part ways.
Proper marriage is another recurring theme in the Mahabharata, related to the theme of lineages and succession. This story gives an extreme example of an impediment to marriage—few people in the real world have to worry about being turned to ashes and eaten by a potential father-in-law. Nevertheless, the extreme example helps illustrate the care that people should take even in normal circumstances to ensure that they follow the proper customs of marriage.
Themes
Later, Yayati sees Devayani with her friend Śarmishtha when he’s out hunting and wants to marry her. The problem is that he’s a Kshatriya and she’s a Brahmin. Yayati gets permission from Śukra, on the condition that Yayati never has sex with Śarmishtha. Yayati marries Devayani and has two sons with her, but he doesn’t follow Śukra’s condition and also has three sons with Śarmishtha.
Interestingly, Yayati’s decision to break his promise to Śukra seems to be a positive choice—as the next passage reveals, it leads to the foundation of the illustrious Puru lineage. While dharma is important to the poem, following dharma is never as simple as just abiding by a list of rules.
Themes
When Devayani finds out about Yayati’s other sons and tells her father, Śukra, he curses Yayati to either suffer old age himself or to pass old age on to one of his sons—and if he passes it on to a son, that son will become a great king. Yayati’s youngest son, Puru, agrees to accept the curse. Yayati rules peacefully for 1,000 years while Puru endures old age. Finally, Yayati restores Puru’s youth. The Paurava lineage then descends from Puru, creating a dynasty that eventually includes Janamejaya himself.
The Mahabharata is full of both curses that aren’t as bad as they seem and boons that don’t quite live up to their potential. Here, the curse on Yayati ends up helping the formation of the whole Puru lineage. The poem emphasizes again and again that morality isn’t black and white, and the prevalence of mixed curses and boons helps drive this point home.
Themes
THE LATER STORY OF YAYATI. Vaiśampayana tells of Yayati’s later years. After living peacefully for many years, Yayati goes to heaven, but his pride in his own ascetic lifestyle leads the god Indra to throw Yayati back to earth, where he meets a seer who asks what it’s like to be reborn. Yayati explains how people get reborn as “higher or lower creatures” based on how well they lived their lives.
The dangers of pride show up again and again throughout the poem. This passage provides a good example of how the poem combines a narrative with religious instruction, as Yayati’s description of the concept of reincarnation gets integrated into his life story.
Themes
Janamejaya interrupts the story to ask about the kings that came after Puru. Vaiśampayana agrees to tell him about that lineage, starting with Puru, going six generations to Duhshanta, then eventually going down several more generations to Janamejaya himself. Vaiśampayana begins telling in more detail the story of King Pratipa from this line.
This passage, with its list of many names, doesn’t advance the narrative, but it serves an important functional purpose, since the purpose of the Mahabharata is not just to entertain but to be informative. The list of kings shows once again the importance of succession and lineages.
Themes
Pratipa reigned in peace for many years when one day he sees the beautiful seer Ganga (a mortal form of the goddess of the sacred river Ganges). He fears she may already be married, but she replies that she belongs to no one. Pratipa still feels that to have sex with her would be against his dharma, so instead he wants her to marry his son, Śamtanu.
The goddess Ganga, who shares a name with the river Ganga (also known as the Ganges), emphasizes how important nature is to humans. Just as the physical river affected people’s crops for the year, making farming possible, the goddess Ganga could choose to bless people.
Themes
When Śamtanu grows up, Pratipa tells him about his arrangement with Ganga. Pratipa then makes Śamtanu the king of his own kingdom. One day, Śamtanu is out hunting when he sees the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen. Although at first, he fears she’s a demon, it turns out it’s Ganga, who’s ready to fulfill her promise. They have sex, and Śamtanu is so in love that he loses track of how much time passes. She bears eight sons but drowns each of them in the river. She says she does this to please Śamtanu—while Śamtanu isn’t pleased, he doesn’t say anything because he doesn’t want to lose Ganga.
The death of Śamtanu’s eight sons foreshadows the many deaths that will come later in the poem. Notably, the goddess Ganga does not mourn these deaths, believing them to be necessary. This attitude toward death reflects the attitude that many of the gods in the poem share, and the wisest humans in the poem are the ones who are able to accept the inevitability of death and understand the purpose it can serve.
Themes
Before Ganga can kill their eighth son, Śamtanu begs her to stop. She explains that she had to kill the previous sons because they were the Vasus, eight gods that temporarily took mortal form due to a curse by the seer Vasishtha. Now the curse is broken, and Ganga must leave Śamtanu. She leaves, taking her son Devavrata (later called Bhishma) with her.
Once again, this passage highlights how the will of gods doesn’t always make sense from a human perspective, and vice versa—Śamtanu begs Ganga not to drown their ninth son, but in fact, she never planned to do so and seems surprised by his grief for the previous sons.
Themes
Śamtanu rules many more years in peace until one day he notices the river is running low. He goes to investigate and finds that a handsome young boy who seems to have a superhuman ability with the bow and arrow has dammed the river with his arrows. Śamtanu figures this boy must be his son, so he asks Ganga to show herself again. Ganga confirms that he is Śamtanu’s son (Bhishma), and that he has spent many years studying both weapons and spirituality.
Religion plays a complicated role in the poem—while some of the most devout figures are ascetics and pacifists, others, like Bhishma, seem to draw fighting strength from their devotion. Śamtanu’s recognition of his son Bhishma recalls King Duhshanta’s recognition of his son Bharata earlier in the poem, showing how the same events play out in different forms throughout the generations.
Themes
Śamtanu’s son Devavrata (Bhishma) earns recognition across the land for his skills and good conduct. One day while he’s traveling, Śamtanu happens across a fisherman’s daughter (Satyavati), who has the most fragrant scent in the world. Her father says Śamtanu can marry her, but only if any son they bear inherits the role of king from Śamtanu. Śamtanu refuses these conditions. Still, he keeps thinking of the girl and wonders what would happen to his line if Devavrata ever had an accident. He and Śamtanu go back to see the fisher girl’s father.
Śamtanu is so afraid of making sure he has a successor lined up that he doesn’t want to trust everything to Bhishma, even though Bhishma is such a renowned warrior. Fish and rivers continue to play a vital role in the story, showing how humanity and nature intertwine and how water makes life possible. Satyavati’s seemingly supernatural ability to entrance Śamtanu is due to the boon she received earlier that makes her the most fragrant-smelling person on earth.
Themes
To the fisherman, Devavrata promises he will give up his kingship, so that Śamtanu can marry Satyavati. He also promises to become celibate. The fisherman feels that this promise is full of dharma, so he agrees to give away his daughter in marriage to Śamtanu. A whole host of gods, Apsarases (nymphs), and seers shower Devavrata with flowers and proclaim that he is Bhishma. As a boon for his son, Śamtanu gives Bhishma the ability to choose the hour of his own (Bhishma’s) death.
While the poem sometimes involves the literal rebirth of people who die, there are also many metaphorical rebirths in the poem, such as when Devavrata proclaims his new identity as Bhishma. Bhishma’s ability to choose the time of his own death is one of the most powerful boons that any mortal in the poem receives. This reflects the significance of his sacrifice, since by choosing to be celibate he gives up the chance of continuing his own line.
Themes
Satyavati has two sons: Citrangada and Vicitravirya. Citrangada dies in battle, so Bhishma makes the child Vicitravirya king. When Vicitravirya is old enough, Bhishma abducts three sisters—Amba, Ambika, and Ambilika—and has Vicitravirya marry Ambika and Ambilika. Vicitravirya lives happily for seven years before dying of a lung disease. Satyavati wants to find someone to conceive a child with Ambika, wanting Ambilika to continue the lineage, and since Bhishma remains celibate, she decides to find a Brahmin and summons Vyasa.
To a modern reader, the gender politics in the Mahabharata can be jarring, such as in this passage, where the supposedly holy and heroic Bhishma abducts three young women to force them to conceive children. While some “abductions” in the poem are more like elopements (for example, in a later section, Arjuna “abducts” Krishna’s sister in a seemingly consensual marriage), this passage seems more like a kidnapping and shows the lengths that Bhishma is willing to go to in order to protect his family’s lineage.
Themes
Satyavati explains to Ambika that Vyasa is coming to her that night. They have sex, but Ambika has to close her eyes. Later, Vyasa promises that Ambika will have a son as strong as 10,000 elephants, but because Ambika closed her eyes, their son (Dhritarashtra) will also be blind. Satyavati feels that a blind man can’t be a proper king, so she has Ambilika also conceive a son with Vyasa. When she has sex with Vyasa, she turns pale, and so she gives birth to a pale son they call Pandu.
Because Vyasa is such an esteemed sage, the kidnapped Ambika and Ambilika are supposed to want to have sex with him, despite his old age. It is possible to read this passage about coerced sex as misogynistic, implying that women should always bow to the will of men. Still, the passage does seem to sympathize with Ambika and Ambilika, recognizing the unpleasantness of their duty to have sex with Vyasa.
Themes
Finally, instead of sending Ambika again, Satyavati sends a maid dressed up as a princess to Vyasa. The maid delights Vyasa when they have sex, and so he gives her a son named Vidura, who will distinguish himself with his great wisdom.
In this passage, Vyasa, one of the wisest sages and the purported author of the Mahabharata itself, gets tricked by a maid. Interestingly, Vidura ends up being perhaps the wisest of Vyasa’s children, even though his mother is a common maid, providing a rare challenge to the poem’s connections between merit and lineage.
Themes
After the birth of Dhritarashtra, Pandu, and Vidura, the kingdom enters the Krita Age, where everything is prosperous and peaceful. Bhishma looks after the three princes like sons and plays his part to make sure dharma spreads through the whole kingdom. And so Śamtanu’s lineage, which once seemed like it might die, now flourishes. Bhishma gets the idea to further strengthen the line by having the princes marry princesses from the land of Subala.
Although this passage describes a golden age of peace and harmony, it also lays the groundwork for the events of the Kurukshetra War, which involves fighting between the sons of Dhritarashtra and the sons of Pandu. Bhishma’s focus on promoting dharma and finding suitable spouses for his children provides a model of good leadership that later kings in the poem will also follow.
Themes
When Bhishma arranges for Dhritarashtra to marry the princess Gandhari, her parents worry about their daughter marrying a blind man. But Gandhari ties cloth over her eyes to be more like her future husband. Meanwhile, Pandu marries Kunti (also known as Pritha). Before meeting Pandu, Kunti was a virgin until she had a child (Karna) with a sun god. Because of the unusual circumstances, she was allowed to keep her virginity but had to abandon her child to hide the evidence. Karna grows up under the care of Sutas and becomes a warrior called Karna the Cutter. Pandu has a second wife, Madri. Pandu can’t have children himself due to a curse that prevents him from having sex with his wife—he received this curse one day while hunting when he mortally wounded a seer while the seer was having sex with his wife in the form of a deer.
Gandhari’s decision to tie cloth over her own eyes to be like her blind husband emphasizes how a good wife—in the Mahabharata—is one who’s willing to make extreme sacrifices for her husband. Virgin births like Kunti’s birth of Karna with a sun god are common in religions from around the world. Kunti’s unusual pregnancy suggests that the ideal woman (according to the poem) is both sexually pure and a mother—an impossible standard in the present era but one that was possible in the golden age the poem describes. But while avoiding sex is a blessing for Kunti, it is a curse for Pandu, as giving in to sexual temptation can literally lead to his death.
Themes
As ruler, Pandu sets out on many successful military campaigns, while Dhritarashtra uses some of Pandu’s new wealth for sacrifices to the gods. Bhishma also finds a wife for Vidura. Altogether, Dhritarashtra and Gandhari have 100 sons, a feat that is only possible due to a boon Gandhari receives from Vyasa. Among these many sons is the future king Duryodhana. There’s also just one daughter: Duhśala.
In a story where succession is so important, Dhritarashtra’s 100 sons seem to be a tremendous boon that will ensure the survival of his lineage for many generations. But while Gandhari is a devoted wife, Dhritarashtra and particularly his son Duryodhana will prove themselves unworthy of this blessing and essentially undo all its benefits by starting a costly war, showing how boons come with responsibilities.
Themes
Meanwhile, Kunti receives boon that she can have a son with any god she chooses, so she calls upon the god Dharma. She gives birth to Yudhishthira, who will go on to become a famous king. Kunti then calls upon a wind god, who helps her give birth to her next son, Bhima. Still, Pandu wants an even greater son to come from his wife Kunti, so he tries to win favor with the great god Indra. His wife calls on Indra, and Indra gives her the great warrior son Arjuna.
Kunti’s choice to have her first son with Dharma (the god) shows that she is full of respect for dharma (the concept), and so fittingly, her son Yudhishthira grows up to be the lord of Dharma. Meanwhile, Bhima, son of a wind god, ends up having a temper that changes as quickly as the wind. Finally, Arjuna, conceived with one of the most powerful gods, becomes the most powerful warrior of the group. And so, the lives of children in the poem continue to be determined by their parentage.
Themes
Pandu wants even more sons, but Kunti warns him that the children they have are sufficient, and he shouldn’t be greedy. Still, Pandu’s other wife Madri is sad that she doesn’t have any children. Pandu takes this concern to Kunti, who agrees to call down a pair of twin gods so that Madri can have children. The gods give Madri two beautiful twin boys: Nakula and Sahadeva. All five of Pandu’s sons—part of the Kuru lineage—earn great renown as mighty warriors.
Although Nakula and Sahadeva are brave warriors, their feats can’t compete with those of Kunti’s sons, reflecting Kunti’s exalted status among women. The fact that Nakula and Sahadeva are considered part of the Pandavas while Karna generally is not (even though he shares Kunti as a mother with Yudhishthira, Bhima, and Arjuna) shows how the concept of family can sometimes be malleable.
Themes
Eventually, Pandu can’t resist his temptation to try to have sex with Madri, but he dies immediately due to his curse. Madri then kills herself by jumping onto Pandu’s funeral pyre, and Kunti raises all five children, who become known as the Pandavas. Out of the five, Bhima in particular forms a rivalry with his cousins, the many sons of Dhritarashtra. Duryodhana, who is one of Dhritarashtra’s sons and full of evil energy, begins plotting ways to kill Bhima. He tries drowning Bhima in his sleep and poisoning him, but each time, Bhima’s phenomenal strength allows him to survive.
Although Pandu was a capable leader, this passage shows that he was still mortal and vulnerable to temptation, even knowing the consequences. This shocking passage in which Madri throws herself onto the fire shows how much a wife’s dharma is connected to her husband’s welfare. Historically, some followers of Hinduism took passages like this as an argument for the literal suicide of widows, but such practices were always controversial and are outlawed today.
Themes
Bhishma is looking for a tutor for the five Pandavas, and he finds one in Drona. Drona accepts the position on the condition that once the five princes have learned how to wield their weapons, they will carry out a special task for him. Drona also instructs Karna, who looks down on the Pandavas (who are secretly his half-brothers). For a short period of time, another one of Drona’s students named Ekalavya is better at archery than Arjuna (the best archer of the Pandavas), but then, as a payment for his instruction, Drona asks Ekalavya to give him his right thumb, making Arjuna the best again.
This passage sets up an extended family dynamic, showing how the various descendants of Vyasa interact with each other. The story of the skilled archer Ekalavya, who has to cut off his thumb to make Arjuna the best, is strange and might seem unfair to Ekalavya. Really, Ekalavya’s only fault is that he tried to oppose destiny: Arjuna is destined to be the greatest archer in the world, and Drona is willing to do whatever it takes to make that happen. This foreshadows some of the pragmatic but underhanded tactics the heroes will use in the Kurukshetra War.
Themes
THE BURNING OF THE HOUSE OF LAC. Drona arranges for the five Pandavas to put on a public display of their new weaponry prowess. All of a sudden Karna, a “walking mountain” of a man, interrupts the festivities. Karna lays down a challenge to Arjuna, saying he will best him, performing the same feats. Duryodhana is there and welcomes Karna as a fellow ally against the Pandavas. Still, Karna isn’t satisfied—he wants to face Arjuna in single combat.
This passage shows the beginning of the growing divide between the Kauravas (Dhritarashtra’s descendants and allies) and the Pandavas (Pandu’s sons and allies). Karna’s status as an illegitimate child prevents him from earning the same accolades as the Pandavas, even though he is every bit as skillful. His unfair situation makes him sympathetic in spite of his opposition to the heroic Pandavas.
Themes
Arjuna agrees to the fight. He goes to one side with the fellow Pandavas, while Karna goes to the other side with Duryodhana and the other sons of Dhritarashtra. When Karna’s adoptive Suta father enters the arena, Bhima laughs at Karna, saying that as a Suta he is not high enough rank to participate in the fight. Duryodhana comes to Karna’s defense, praising his many worthy qualities and winning over the crowd. The sun begins to set, and so the crowd has to disperse.
Bhima’s contempt for Karna based on his birth shows how seriously people took class status (which relates to the larger issue of lineage). While Sutas often receive contempt in the story, in fact, this whole passage is being narrated by the Suta Ugraśravas, complicating the question of whether Sutas are really as lowly as some figures in the poem treat them. In any case, Karna is not actually a Suta, just adopted by one.
Themes
Drona finally asks the five Pandavas for his fee for acting as a tutor: to capture a king named Drupada. The five princes do so, but at Drona’s request, they leave Drupada alive to keep ruling a small part of his old kingdom. Meanwhile, Duryodhana schemes to try to stop the eldest Pandava, Yudhishthira, from becoming king. He arranges an excuse for the five Pandavas to go to a remote area and stay in a house. But then Duryodhana secretly orders the construction of a house made of highly flammable materials, including a resinous substance called lac. He wants to burn them alive in their sleep.
Duryodhana’s decision to try to kill his cousins in a burning house is highly symbolic, since a house is a symbol of family and Duryodhana is essentially “burning” his relationship with the Pandavas through this attempted murder. Duryodhana’s extreme actions shows how jealous his character is—he can’t stand the idea of Yudhishthira becoming king instead of him—and this jealousy lays the groundwork for tragic events later in the narrative.
Themes
Yudhishthira catches onto Duryodhana’s scheme and warns his brothers to be vigilant. Bhima comes up with a scheme to burn one of Duryodhana’s aides and some drunken strangers. People witness the remains of the burned house and believe that the Pandavas are dead, but in fact, the Pandavas use the confusion to secretly escape.
Bhima begins earning his reputation as the most violent brother, sacrificing an aide for the sake of his own scheme. The seeming death of the Pandavas when they’re still very much alive perhaps connects to fire’s dual role as both a destroyer and a source for creation and renewal.
Themes
THE KILLING OF HIDIMBA. Hidimba, a Rakshasa (demon), orders his sister to kill the Pandavas. She, however, falls in love with Bhima, and so Hidimba himself attacks. Bhima manages to kill him.
The brothers begin to prove themselves through a series of adventures—naturally, the headstrong Bhima is the first to do so by taking on a demon.
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THE KILLING OF BAKA. The surviving sister of Hidimba has sex with Bhima many times and gives birth to a half-Rakshasa son they call Ghatotkaca, who is “bald as a pot” and loves his Pandava brothers. It is Ghatotkaca’s fate to eventually defeat Karna.
Once again, the poem provides a small moment that challenges the issue of heredity, showing how even a half-demon can become a righteous warrior.
Themes
The Pandavas keep traveling, and eventually Vyasa gives them shelter for a while. They move on to a town full of Brahmins who are grieving. A Rakshasa called Baka is terrorizing them. The Rakshasa demands a donation of food, and Bhima agrees to take it to him on behalf of the village, but instead, Bhima manages to slay the Rakshasa after a fierce battle.
The Rakshasa that demands food from the villagers is perhaps a symbol for unjust or tyrannical rule. By slaying this unjust leader, Bhima shows how the Pandavas hope to bring order to their kingdom and secure a more harmonious relationship between ruler and subject.
Themes
CITRARATHA. The Pandavas continue traveling and come across a king named Citraratha who is with his women by the Ganga. Annoyed at being interrupted, Citraratha attacks, but Arjuna fights back, just barely sparing his opponent’s life. In return, Citraratha gives up his titles and grants Arjuna the boon to see everything everywhere.
Although the poem doesn’t shy away from violence, sometimes acts of mercy get rewarded, as Arjuna’s does here. Arjuna’s adventure in this passage contrasts with Bhima’s more violent adventures, establishing Arjuna as a more reasoned brother.
Themes
TAPATI. After being defeated, Citraratha refers to Arjuna as the “son of Tapati,” which confuses him, because as far as he knows, his mother is Kunti. Citraratha explains that Tapati is a daughter of the sun. She gave birth to Kuru, Arjuna’s ancestor.
The poem includes yet another tangent about lineages, both to help establish a historical record and to show the worthiness of the main figures.
Themes
VASISHTHA. Arjuna asks Citraratha more about the seer Vasishtha, who plays a minor role in the story of Tapati and who has a famous rivalry with fellow seer Viśvamitra. Viśvamitra is originally a Kshatriya, but he lives an ascetic lifestyle to become a more powerful Brahmin like his rival Vasishtha. Viśvamitra then curses a king to become a cannibal and eat all of Vasishtha’s 100 sons. Vasishtha tries to kill himself but can’t, even after leaping off a mountain and trying to feed himself to river crocodiles. Vasishtha realizes he can’t die, and so he saves the king from his cannibal curse and takes a new queen for himself.
The 100 sons of Vasishtha, who die to cannibalism, provide an ominous portent for Dhritarashtra, who also has 100 sons that he risks “cannibalizing” through his own failures of leadership and his inability to quash the growing feud with the Pandavas. Although Vasishtha suffers a terrible fate, he seems to move on at the end of his story, providing a model for how to deal with grief that will return again and again in the poem.
Themes
AURVA. Vasishtha has a grandson called Paraśara. Paraśara becomes a great seer and wants to destroy the world, but Vasishtha tells him a story to convince him not to. In the story, a child named Aurva, who is born from a woman’s thigh, sees a massacre and believes the world deserves to be destroyed. His ancestors appear and manage to convince Aurva that violence can be a way to regulate the length of mortal lives without requiring suicide. Aurva puts aside his anger, and after hearing the story of Aurva from Vasishtha, Paraśara does the same.
This self-contained tale provides yet another example of the power of stories, as a story literally saves the world by showing Paraśara the consequences of destruction. The idea that violence serves a purpose—and that mortal lives have an appointed time to end—is central to the poem and helps justify why the heroic figures in the poem kill enemies by the thousands and lead allies to their deaths in battle.
Themes
DRAUPADI’S SVAYAMVARA. The Pandavas continue traveling until they come across a svayamvara (a ceremony where a young woman chooses a husband). Many have gathered to try to win a Kshatriya princess named Draupadi, with illustrious heroes and kings in the crowd. But there is a bow that none of them can string to fire an arrow from. At last, however, Arjuna approaches the bow and quickly fires five arrows off right at the target. He receives a victory garland and Draupadi as his wife.
The five arrows that Arjuna fires off from the impossible bow represent him and his five brothers, who will all marry Draupadi. Arrows often have a sexual connotation (see Cupid in Roman mythology), and eventually, Arjuna and his brothers each have a son with Draupadi. Notably, Draupadi’s status as a Kshatriya—the warrior class—emphasizes how the Pandavas are also “married” to the ways of warfare.
Themes
At first the Kshatriya are angry that a Brahmin like Arjuna has won Draupadi, but he fights them off and wins their respect. Back with his brothers, Arjuna feels guilty about marrying before the eldest Yudhishthira. Indeed, all of the brothers fall in love with the beautiful Draupadi. To avoid any argument, Yudhishthira decrees that Draupadi will be a shared wife among all five brothers. Krishna comes to congratulate them all.
Yudhishthira’s decision to have all five brothers marry the same woman is unusual not only in this poem but in other literature and in the actual practice of Hinduism. The strange nature of this marriage emphasizes how the Pandavas are exceptional and how this means they don’t always follow the norms of human behavior.
Themes
THE FIVE INDRAS. Drupada, an ally of Yudhishthira, opposes the five-way wedding, but Vyasa explains to him how the five Pandavas are like the great god Indra, and this convinces Drupada to put aside his objections. THE WEDDING. The five Pandavas marry Draupadi. THE COMING OF VIDURA. Duryodhana and Karna hear about the wedding from Vidura. While Duryodhana and Karna argue to Dhritarashtra that the Pandavas should be killed before they make even more powerful alliances, ultimately, Dhritarashtra listens to Vidura and Bhishma, welcoming the Pandavas back to his kingdom.
Drupada’s objections to the Pandavas five-way wedding emphasize how unprecedented it is, but the wise Vyasa (who himself had children through unusual means) gives approval to the marriage, lending it legitimacy. This legitimacy is a threat to Duryodhana, who hasn’t given up on his plan to take the Pandavas’ kingdom as his own. At this point in the story, Dhritarashtra is still listening to his advisors Vidura and Bhishma, but this passage provides an early example of how Dhritarashtra’s opinions are mostly shaped by the people around him.
Themes
THE GAINING OF THE KINGDOM. The five Pandavas return home with Draupadi, where Dhritarashtra greets them. The five brothers settle with Dhritarashtra in the city of Bhogavati. ARJUNA’S EXILE IN THE FOREST. Janamejaya interrupts the story to ask Vaiśampayana how the five Pandavas avoided arguments over their shared wife. Vaiśampayana explains that the next part of the story addresses this. In the story, the great seer Narada warns the brothers to avoid arguments about Draupadi, telling them a story about the demon brothers Sunda and Upasunda.
The five Pandava brothers each have distinct personalities, and this passage explores some of the ways that they cooperate and avoid conflict in their unusual marriage. Their solution, described in more detail in the next passage, is to always respect when another brother is alone with Draupadi. The Pandavas and particularly Yudhishthira are famous for their role as leaders, and so this passage provides an early example of how they implement a “law” to manage their own family.
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SUNDA AND UPASUNDA. Narada tells his story. The two demon brothers Sunda and Upasunda both fall in love with the same woman and fight over her, killing each other with clubs. Hearing this story, the Pandavas agree that, to avoid jealousy, if any brother sees another alone in a room with Draupadi, he must pledge himself to 12 years of celibacy in the forest.
Clubs often come up during personal disputes in the poem, and they often get used during fights between family members or allies, perhaps due to the up-close-and-personal nature of a club battle compared to a long-distance fight with bow and arrow.
Themes
One day, Arjuna needs to stop some robbers, but his bow is in a room where Draupadi is with Yudhishthira. He grabs the bow to stop the robbers and later accepts the 12 years of celibacy, believing it is dharma. He leaves to travel and along the way gets tempted by many beautiful women. He visits sacred places and helps people in need.
Arjuna’s decision to stop some robbers at the risk of 12 years of celibacy shows how devoted he is to protecting his people. The poem’s complicated stance on sex might seem contradictory, praising both celibacy and fertility, but in fact, this just gets at the core idea that dharma varies depending on both the individual person and the person’s stage in life.
Themes
THE ABDUCTION OF SUBHADRA. Arjuna sees Krishna’s sister Subhadra and falls in love with her. He asks Krishna for advice, and Krishna says the best option is to abduct her. Arjuna goes ahead and does so. THE WEDDING GIFT. Krishna assures his angry relatives that Arjuna did the right thing. Arjuna marries Subhadra and completes his exile. Draupadi is jealous of Arjuna’s new wife. With Subhadra, Arjuna has the son Abhimanyu. Meanwhile, Draupadi has five sons: Prativindhya (with Yudhishthira) Sutasoma (with Bhima), Śrutakirti (with Arjuna), Śatanika (with Nakula), and Śrutasena (with Sahadeva).
Arjuna’s abduction of Subhadra seems to be a technicality to get around the objections of Subhadra’s family rather than a true kidnapping, although it does have echoes of the abduction that led to Vyasa giving birth to Dhritarashtra, Pandu, and Vidura. This passage shows how the Pandavas live up to their responsibility as leaders by each providing at least one son to succeed them.
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THE BURNING OF THE KHANDAVA FOREST. The Pandavas live happily for a while. One day while Arjuna and Krishna are out in the woods, they meet a Brahmin who says that he’s Fire. Fire wants to destroy the whole forest to kill the serpent Takshka, but Indra is a friend of Takshka and always rains down on the forest. Arjuna and Krishna help Fire burn down the whole forest, killing many creatures, and even Indra can’t stop them, but Takshka manages to get away. Some of the only survivors in the forest are four śarngaka (a species of bird).
This passage shows nature in conflict, with fire and rain each seemingly competing with each other over the fate of the forest. This battle of elemental forces foreshadows the human war that will come later in the poem. Notably in this passage, the mortals Arjuna and Krishna manage to fight back against Indra, one of the most powerful gods (though Krishna is an incarnation of the god Vishnu, and Indra ultimately succeeds in his goal of protecting Takshka).
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THE ŚARNGAKA BIRDS. Four recently hatched śarngaka birds—the children of a female bird and a male seer disguised as a bird—survive the fire because they praised Fire (believing it offers a better death than any other option). Eventually, when the fire recedes, Indra offers Arjuna and Krishna boons. Arjuna asks for celestial weapons, while Krishna requests Indra’s friendship.
This passage provides the strange example of birds who avoid death specifically because they are willing to accept it. This passage praises an accepting attitude toward death, foreshadowing how Krishna himself will later give this advice in the context of the Kurukshetra War.
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