Mahabharata

Krishna Dvaipayana, born on an island in the Yamuna to Satyavati and the sage Parashara, dark-skinned, divided the one Veda into four and so is called Vyasa. He is grandfather to both sides of the war: by niyoga at Satyavati’s request he fathered Dhritarashtra, Pandu and Vidura. He walks in and out of his own book, counselling the Pandavas in exile, giving Sanjaya divine sight, calling the dead from the Ganga, and telling Arjuna at the end that time has turned.

Vasudeva, son of Devaki and Vasudeva, lord of Dwaraka, cousin to the Pandavas through Kunti. He saves Draupadi’s honour in the dice hall, goes to Hastinapura to beg five villages for peace, and takes no weapon in the war, only the reins of Arjuna’s chariot. Between the two armies he speaks the Bhagavad Gita and shows the universal form. He accepts Gandhari’s curse, revives the stillborn Parikshit, and leaves the world at Prabhasa, struck in the foot by the hunter Jara’s arrow.

Rohini’s son, fair as Krishna is dark, bearer of the plough. He taught the mace to both Bhima and Duryodhana and loved them both, so he would not fight at Kurukshetra and went on pilgrimage along the Sarasvati instead. He came back in time to see the last duel, and when Bhima struck Duryodhana below the navel he raised his plough in anger until Krishna calmed him. At Prabhasa he left his body as a white serpent of a thousand heads, Ananta, going into the sea.

Born Devavrata, the eighth son of Shantanu and Ganga, an incarnation of one of the Vasus. To win Satyavati for his father he swore never to marry and never to claim the throne, and the terrible vow gave him his name. His father granted him death only at a time of his choosing. He served the throne of Hastinapura all his life, led the Kaurava army for ten days, and fell to Arjuna’s arrows with Shikhandi before him, then lay on the bed of arrows teaching dharma until Uttarayana.

King of Hastinapura in the line of Kuru. Ganga became his wife on the condition that he never question her; she drowned seven newborn sons, freeing the cursed Vasus, and when he stopped her at the eighth she left, returning the boy grown as Devavrata. Later Shantanu fell in love with Satyavati, the fisher-chief’s daughter, and pined until his son made his vow. From Shantanu and Satyavati came Chitrangada and Vichitravirya, through whom, by Vyasa, the Kuru line continued.

Raised by the chief of the fishermen and called Matsyagandha, she ferried boats on the Yamuna. The sage Parashara blessed her with fragrance, and their son was Vyasa, born on an island and gone at once to tapas. She married Shantanu after Bhishma’s vow. When both her sons died without heirs, she called Vyasa to give sons to the widowed queens Ambika and Ambalika. After Pandu’s death Vyasa warned her of dark days ahead, and she went to the forest with her daughters-in-law.

Eldest son of Ambika by Vyasa, born blind because his mother shut her eyes, and so passed over for the throne in favour of Pandu. He ruled after Pandu’s death and could never refuse Duryodhana, though Vidura warned him again and again. Through the war he sat in Hastinapura hearing it from Sanjaya. Afterwards he crushed the iron image of Bhima in his embrace, lived fifteen years under Yudhishthira, and died in yoga in a forest fire near Gangadvara.

Princess of Gandhara, sister of Shakuni. When she learned her husband was blind she bound her own eyes and kept them bound for life. She bore a hundred sons and a daughter, Duhshala. She told Duryodhana plainly that where dharma is, there is victory, and he did not listen. On the battlefield after the war her grief broke out as a curse on Shri Krishna, that his own clan would perish in the thirty-sixth year. She went to the forest with Dhritarashtra and Kunti and died with them.

Son of Ambalika by Vyasa, born pale because his mother turned pale at the sight of the sage. He became king and won wide conquests, then while hunting shot the rishi Kindama, who was with his wife in the form of a deer, and was cursed to die if he ever came to his wives in love. He gave up the throne and went to the forest with Kunti and Madri, where his five sons were born through the devas. In spring he forgot the curse with Madri and died.

Born Pritha, sister of Krishna’s father Vasudeva, given in childhood to King Kuntibhoja. For serving Durvasa she received a mantra to call any deva; trying it as a girl, she bore Karna to Surya and set him afloat on the river. Married to Pandu, she bore Yudhishthira, Bhima and Arjuna to Dharma, Vayu and Indra, and gave the mantra to Madri. She went to Karna before the war, revealed herself, and later told her sons the truth. She ended her life in the forest beside Gandhari.

Son of Vyasa by a maid of Ambika’s household, Dharma himself born as a man under the curse of the sage Animandavya. Too low-born for the throne, he became the wisest counsellor in Hastinapura. He warned the Pandavas of the lac house in a riddling tongue, called the dice game the root of strife, and gave Dhritarashtra a whole night of teaching, the Vidura Niti. He went to the forest with his brother and at the end passed into Yudhishthira by the power of yoga.

Son of Kunti by Dharma, the eldest of the five, known for never lying. He staked and lost everything at dice, his brothers, himself and Draupadi, and bore the thirteen years of exile without breaking his word. He answered the Yaksha’s questions at the lake and won his brothers back. In the war he spoke one half-truth, about Ashvatthama, and his chariot touched the earth. He ruled thirty-six years, walked to the Himalaya, and would not enter svarga without the dog that followed him.

Bhimasena, Vrikodara, son of Kunti by Vayu, the strongest man of his age and a great eater. Duryodhana poisoned him as a boy and threw him in the Ganga, and the nagas gave him strength. He carried his family out of the burning lac house, killed Hidimba, Baka, Jarasandha and Kichaka, and met his half-brother Hanuman on the road to the Saugandhika flowers. In the war he kept both his vows: he drank Duhshasana’s blood and broke Duryodhana’s thigh.

Son of Kunti by Indra, Drona’s best pupil, called Partha, Dhananjaya, Savyasachi for shooting with either hand. He won Draupadi by hitting the target at her svayamvara, burned the Khandava forest with Krishna to feed Agni, and received the Gandiva bow. In exile he won the Pashupata astra from Mahadev, who came to him as a Kirata. On the field of Kurukshetra his despair drew from Krishna the Bhagavad Gita. He brought down Bhishma, killed Jayadratha before sunset as he had sworn, killed Karna, and at the end fell on the Himalayan road.

Elder of the twins born to Madri by the Ashvins, and the handsomest of the brothers. When Madri followed Pandu onto the pyre, Kunti raised the twins as her own. In the year in disguise at Virata’s court he was Granthika, keeper of the horses. At the lake of the Yaksha, given one brother back, Yudhishthira chose Nakula, so that each mother would keep a son. He fought through the war, and fell on the road to the Himalaya, proud of his beauty.

Younger of Madri’s twins, the most learned of the five and silent by nature. At Virata’s court he kept the cattle as Tantipala. In the dice hall he vowed to kill Shakuni, and on the eighteenth day he did, after killing Shakuni’s son Uluka. At the Rajasuya it was Sahadeva who first offered the honour of the arghya to Krishna, on Bhishma’s word. He fell first among the brothers on the last road, because he had thought no one his equal in wisdom.

Krishnaa, Panchali, Yajnaseni, born from the fire of King Drupada’s yajna, dark and lovely, wife of all five Pandavas. Dragged into the Kuru assembly after the dice, she asked the elders a question none could answer: had Yudhishthira lost her before or after he lost himself? Krishna protected her honour. She bore the forest years, Jayadratha’s attempt, Kichaka’s insult at Virata’s court, and lost all five of her sons in Ashvatthama’s night raid. Indra told Yudhishthira in svarga that she was Shri herself.

Daughter of Vasudeva, sister of Krishna and Balarama. Arjuna saw her at a festival on Mount Raivataka during his years away from Indraprastha, and on Krishna’s advice carried her off in his chariot, as kshatriyas might; Balarama’s anger was calmed and the marriage made. Draupadi received her as a sister. Her son was Abhimanyu, killed in the chakravyuha, and she wept for him on the field of the dead. Before the Pandavas left the world, Yudhishthira asked her to watch over Vajra, the last of the Yadus.

Raised in Dwaraka among his mother’s people, trained in arms by his father, married to Uttara, daughter of King Virata, after the year in disguise. On the thirteenth day, with Arjuna drawn away by the Samshaptakas, he broke into Drona’s chakravyuha, knowing how to enter but not how to come out. Jayadratha held the others back at the gate. Surrounded by Drona, Karna, Kripa, Ashvatthama and others, he fought on with a chariot wheel when his weapons were gone, and fell. His son Parikshit carried on the Kuru line.

Born to Bhima and the rakshasi Hidimba in the forest after the lac house, grown to full strength at once, bald as a pot, which gave him his name. He promised to come whenever his father called, and he carried the Pandavas and Draupadi through the mountains in their exile. On the fourteenth night of the war he fought by torchlight with the powers of a rakshasa, until Karna, to save the army, threw at him the Shakti given by Indra that he had kept for Arjuna.

Born to Kunti before her marriage, with earrings and armour fused to his body, set adrift and raised by the charioteer Adhiratha and his wife Radha. Shut out of the tournament for his birth, he was made king of Anga by Duryodhana and stayed loyal to him unto death. He gave away his armour to Indra, who came begging as a brahmin. Kunti told him who he was; he promised her she would keep five sons. He led the Kauravas for two days and fell to Arjuna when his chariot wheel sank.

Eldest of Gandhari’s hundred sons, also called Suyodhana. He could not bear the Pandavas’ rise: he poisoned Bhima, built the lac house, and with Shakuni’s dice took their kingdom. Mocked in Maya’s hall at Indraprastha, he never forgot it. He refused Krishna’s offer of five villages and would not give a needle-point of land. When his army was gone he hid in the lake Dvaipayana, came out to fight Bhima with the mace, and had his thigh broken. The Svargarohana Parva finds him in svarga, a kshatriya who never flinched.

Next after Duryodhana among the hundred and always at his side. When the dice were done he dragged Draupadi by her hair into the assembly and tried to strip her before the elders. Bhima stood up then and swore that he would tear open Duhshasana’s chest in battle and drink his blood. On the seventeenth day, with Karna in command, Bhima found him on the field, threw him down, and kept the vow in front of both armies. Draupadi had left her hair unbound until that day.

Son of King Subala, brother of Gandhari, who lived at Hastinapura as Duryodhana’s closest adviser. It was his idea to win the Pandavas’ kingdom with dice rather than war, and his hand that threw them for Duryodhana against Yudhishthira. Sahadeva swore in the assembly to kill him. On the eighteenth day, after the death of Shalya, Sahadeva cut down first his son Uluka and then Shakuni himself, as the last of the Kaurava host was breaking.

Son of the sage Bharadvaja, born from a vessel, master of every astra, pupil of Parashurama. Spurned by his boyhood friend Drupada, he came to Hastinapura, taught the Kauravas and Pandavas, and took half of Panchala as his fee through Arjuna. He asked Ekalavya for his thumb. He led the Kauravas for five days after Bhishma, arrayed the chakravyuha, and laid down his weapons when Yudhishthira said Ashvatthama was dead. Dhrishtadyumna, born to kill him, took his head.

Born with a jewel on his brow, named for the horse-like cry he gave at birth, a portion of Rudra. He fought for the Kauravas all eighteen days and unleashed the Narayanastra after his father’s death. When the war was lost he was made commander by the dying Duryodhana, and that night, with Kripa and Kritavarma, he slaughtered the sleeping Panchalas and the sons of Draupadi. He turned the Brahmashira on Uttara’s womb. Krishna cursed him to wander three thousand years, and Bhima took the jewel from his head.

Son of the sage Sharadvan, found with his twin sister Kripi in a clump of reeds and raised by Shantanu out of compassion, which gave them their names. Kripi married Drona and was Ashvatthama’s mother. Kripa taught the Kuru princes before Drona came and stayed at Hastinapura as family preceptor. He fought for the Kauravas, survived the war, joined Ashvatthama’s night raid, and afterwards became the teacher of Parikshit. He is counted among the Chiranjivis.

Called Yajnasena, king of Panchala, once Drona’s friend in the ashrama of Bharadvaja. As king he told Drona that a king and a poor brahmin cannot be friends, and paid for it when Arjuna captured him for his guru and Drona took the northern half of his realm. Drupada then performed a yajna for a son to kill Drona; from the fire rose Dhrishtadyumna and Draupadi. Shikhandi too was his child. He fought for the Pandavas and was killed by Drona on the fifteenth day.

Born in armour from the fire of Drupada’s yajna, with a voice from the sky declaring he would slay Drona. Drona, knowing it, still taught him arms. He announced his sister Draupadi’s svayamvara, and on Arjuna’s word was made supreme commander of the seven Pandava akshauhinis for all eighteen days. On the fifteenth day, when Drona sat down in yoga on his chariot, Dhrishtadyumna cut off his head. Ashvatthama killed him in his sleep on the night after the war, trampling him to death.

In an earlier life Amba, princess of Kashi, carried off by Bhishma for his brother and then rejected by the king she loved, did tapas to bring about Bhishma’s death. Reborn to Drupada as a daughter, Shikhandini was raised as a son and later became a man through an exchange with a yaksha. Bhishma would not raise his bow against one he knew had been born a woman. On the tenth day Arjuna shot from behind Shikhandi, and Bhishma fell. Ashvatthama killed Shikhandi in the night raid.

Son of the suta Gavalgana, Dhritarashtra’s charioteer and trusted minister. Before the war he carried the king’s message to the Pandavas at Upaplavya. Vyasa gave him divine sight, so that sitting beside the blind king he saw everything on the field, by day and night, even men’s thoughts. Through his words the Bhagavad Gita reaches Dhritarashtra and the reader; the Gita begins with the king’s question to him. He went to the forest with his master, escaped the fire, and went on to the Himalaya.

King of Madra, brother of Madri and so uncle to Nakula and Sahadeva. Marching to join the Pandavas, he accepted lavish hospitality on the road that turned out to be Duryodhana’s, and was bound by courtesy to fight for him. He promised Yudhishthira he would weaken Karna’s spirit, and as Karna’s charioteer he praised Arjuna and mocked Karna all the way. On the eighteenth day he led the Kaurava army himself, and Yudhishthira killed him with a spear.

Son of Abhimanyu and Uttara, struck in the womb by Ashvatthama’s Brahmashira and born lifeless, then revived by Shri Krishna on the strength of his truth. He was named for being born when the Kuru line had dwindled. Kripa taught him, and the Pandavas crowned him at Hastinapura before they set out on the great departure. He died of the bite of the naga Takshaka, after a sage’s son cursed him for an insult. His son Janamejaya held the snake sacrifice at which the Mahabharata was first recited.

Son of Parikshit, great-grandson of Arjuna, king at Hastinapura. Learning from the sage Uttanka how Takshaka had killed his father, he held a great sarpa-satra in which serpents fell by the thousand into the fire, until the young sage Astika, nephew of the naga king Vasuki, asked for the sacrifice to be stopped. Vyasa came to the yajna, and at the king’s request had Vaishampayana recite the whole history of his ancestors. Janamejaya’s questions shape the telling from the first parva to the last.