Mahabharatathe picture story
The whole story in 231 drawn panels across 18 parts, from the first shloka to the last. Under every picture is that episode in one line.
Meet the cast
Tap a character to read who they are.
Adi Parva
The Book of Beginnings. It opens in the Naimisha forest with the frame of the whole recitation, then gives the Kuru line from Shantanu to the births of the Pandavas and Kauravas, the lac house, Draupadi’s svayamvara and the founding of Indraprastha.
From the textधर्मे चार्थे च कामे च मोक्षे च भरतर्षभ । यदिहास्ति तदन्यत्र यन्नेहास्ति न तत्क्वचित् ॥
On dharma, artha, kama and moksha, O best of the Bharatas, what is here is found elsewhere; what is not here is found nowhere.Mahabharata 1.56.33 (BORI CE)
Sabha Parva
The Book of the Assembly Hall. Yudhishthira performs the Rajasuya in Maya’s hall at Indraprastha, and then loses everything at dice in the hall at Hastinapura, where Draupadi is dragged before the elders.
From the textगच्छ त्वं कितवं गत्वा सभायां पृच्छ सूतज । किं नु पूर्वं पराजैषीरात्मानं मां नु भारत ॥
Go to the gambler in the hall, son of a suta, and ask him: Bharata, whom did you lose first, yourself or me?Mahabharata 2.60.7ab–cd (BORI CE)
From the textद्यूतं मूलं कलहस्यानुपाति मिथोभेदाय महते वा रणाय ।
Dice is the root of quarrel; it leads to division among kin, or to a great war.Mahabharata 2.56.1ab (BORI CE), Vidura
Aranyaka (Vana) Parva
The Book of the Forest, longest of the eighteen in the BORI CE. Twelve years pass in Kamyaka and Dvaitavana, at the tirthas and in the Himalaya, while rishis tell the Pandavas the kathas of Nala, Savitri and Shri Rama, and Arjuna wins the Pashupata from Bhagwan Shiva.
From the textमाता गुरुतरा भूमेः पिता उच्चतरश्च खात् । मनः शीघ्रतरं वायोश्चिन्ता बहुतरी नृणाम् ॥
The mother is heavier than the earth; the father is higher than the sky. The mind is swifter than the wind; worry is more numerous than men.Mahabharata 3.297.41 (BORI CE), Yudhishthira to the Yaksha
From the textअहन्यहनि भूतानि गच्छन्तीह यमालयम् । शेषाः स्थावरमिच्छन्ति किमाश्चर्यमतः परम् ॥
Day after day beings go to the house of Yama, yet those who remain wish to stay forever. What wonder is greater than this?Mahabharata, Aranyaka Parva, Yaksha Prashna (BORI CE Appendix I, no. 32, lines 63–64, after 3.297.61)
Virata Parva
The Book of Virata. The Pandavas and Draupadi spend the thirteenth year in disguise at the court of King Virata of Matsya. Bhima kills Kichaka, and when the Kauravas raid Matsya’s cattle, Arjuna takes his bow from the shami tree and turns back the whole Kuru host.
From the textअर्जुनः फाल्गुनो जिष्णुः किरीटी श्वेतवाहनः । बीभत्सुर्विजयः कृष्णः सव्यसाची धनंजयः ॥
Arjuna, Phalguna, Jishnu, Kiriti, Shvetavahana, Bibhatsu, Vijaya, Krishna, Savyasachi, Dhananjaya.Mahabharata 4.39.8cd–ef (BORI CE), Arjuna to Uttara
Udyoga Parva
The Book of the Effort. Envoys pass between Upaplavya and Hastinapura, Shri Krishna himself goes to plead for peace, and Duryodhana refuses even five villages. By its end seven akshauhinis and eleven face each other at Kurukshetra.
From the textषड्दोषाः पुरुषेणेह हातव्या भूतिमिच्छता । निद्रा तन्द्री भयं क्रोध आलस्यं दीर्घसूत्रता ॥
A man who seeks prosperity should give up six faults here: sleep, drowsiness, fear, anger, sloth and procrastination.Mahabharata 5.33.66 (BORI CE), Vidura Niti
Bhishma Parva
The Book of Bhishma, the first ten days of the war at Kurukshetra, at the close of the Dvapara Yuga. Between the two armies Shri Krishna speaks the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna, and on the tenth day Bhishma falls onto a bed of arrows to wait for Uttarayana.
From the textकर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन । मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि ॥
Your right is to the work alone, never to its fruits. Do not let the fruit be your motive, and do not cling to inaction.Bhagavad Gita 2.47 = Mahabharata 6.24.47 (BORI CE)
From the textयदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत । अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम् ॥
Whenever dharma declines, O Bharata, and adharma rises, then I bring Myself forth.Bhagavad Gita 4.7 = Mahabharata 6.26.7 (BORI CE)
Drona Parva
Five days of war under Acharya Drona, from the eleventh to the fifteenth. Abhimanyu falls in the chakravyuha, Arjuna keeps his vow against Jayadratha, Ghatotkacha dies by Karna’s Shakti, and Drona himself lays down his bow when he hears that Ashvatthama is dead.
From the textतमतथ्यभये मग्नो जये सक्तो युधिष्ठिरः । अव्यक्तमब्रवीद्राजन्हतः कुञ्जर इत्युत ॥
Sunk in the fear of untruth, yet set on victory, Yudhishthira said, O king, indistinctly: “the elephant is slain.”Mahabharata 7.164.106 (BORI CE)
Karna Parva
Karna leads the Kauravas on the sixteenth and seventeenth days, with King Shalya of Madra as his unwilling charioteer. Bhima fulfils his terrible vow against Duhshasana, and Karna falls to Arjuna when his chariot wheel sinks into the earth.
From the textयदा रजस्वलां कृष्णां दुःशासनवशे स्थिताम् । सभायां प्राहसः कर्ण क्व ते धर्मस्तदा गतः ॥
When Krishnaa (Draupadi), in her season, stood in Duhshasana’s grip in the hall and you laughed, Karna, where had your dharma gone then?Mahabharata 8.67.4 (BORI CE)
Shalya Parva
The eighteenth and last day. Shalya leads and falls to Yudhishthira, Sahadeva slays Shakuni, and Duryodhana hides in a lake until he is called out to a mace duel with Bhima. Balarama, back from his pilgrimage along the Sarasvati, watches the duel and leaves in anger.
From the textअधीतं विधिवद्दत्तं भूः प्रशास्ता ससागरा । मूर्ध्नि स्थितममित्राणां को नु स्वन्ततरो मया ॥
I have studied as the rule prescribes, I have given gifts, I have ruled the earth with its seas, I have stood on the heads of my foes. Who has had a better end than I?Mahabharata 9.60.47 (BORI CE)
Sauptika Parva
The book of the sleepers. On the night after the war Ashvatthama, with Kripa and Kritavarma, enters the Pandava camp and slays the sleeping Panchalas and Draupadi’s five sons. When the Pandavas pursue him he looses the Brahmashira astra, turns it on the unborn child of Uttara, and is cursed by Shri Krishna.
From the textउपदेशः कृतोऽनेन पक्षिणा मम संयुगे । शत्रूणां क्षपणे युक्तः प्राप्तकालश्च मे मतः ॥
This bird has given me a lesson for the battle, fit for destroying my enemies; and the time for it, I think, has come.Mahabharata 10.1.44 (BORI CE)
Stri Parva
The book of the women. Vidura and Vyasa console the blind king, Dhritarashtra crushes an iron image of Bhima, and Gandhari, seeing the battlefield with divine sight, mourns her hundred sons and lays her curse on Shri Krishna. The book ends with the water-offerings at the Ganga and Kunti’s secret.
From the textसर्वे क्षयान्ता निचयाः पतनान्ताः समुच्छ्रयाः । संयोगा विप्रयोगान्ता मरणान्तं हि जीवितम् ॥
All gathering ends in loss, all rising ends in falling; every union ends in parting, and life ends in death.Mahabharata 11.2.3 (BORI CE)
Shanti Parva
The book of peace, the longest of the eighteen. Yudhishthira, sick with grief, wants to leave the throne for the forest; he is crowned at Hastinapura and then taken by Shri Krishna to Bhishma, who from his bed of arrows teaches him Rajadharma, Apaddharma and Mokshadharma.
From the textकालो वा कारणं राज्ञो राजा वा कालकारणम् । इति ते संशयो मा भूद्राजा कालस्य कारणम् ॥
Is the age the cause of the king, or the king the cause of the age? Let there be no doubt in you: the king is the cause of the age.Mahabharata 12.70.6 (BORI CE)
From the textअनन्तं बत मे वित्तं यस्य मे नास्ति किंचन । मिथिलायां प्रदीप्तायां न मे दह्यति किंचन ॥
Endless indeed is my wealth, for nothing at all is mine. If Mithila is ablaze, nothing of mine is burned.Mahabharata 12.171.56 (BORI CE)
Anushasana Parva
Bhishma, still on his bed of arrows at Kurukshetra, goes on teaching Yudhishthira: the rules of giving, the duties of every station of life, the worth of cows, land and learning, and in the end the thousand names of Vishnu. When the sun turns north in the month of Magha, he gives up his body.
From the textविश्वं विष्णुर्वषट्कारो भूतभव्यभवत्प्रभुः । भूतकृद्भूतभृद्भावो भूतात्मा भूतभावनः ॥
He is the universe, Vishnu, the call of the sacrifice, lord of what was, is and will be; maker and bearer of beings, existence itself, the Self of all beings, who brings them forth.Mahabharata 13.135.14 (BORI CE); Vishnu Sahasranama, first verse of the names
From the textअहिंसा परमो धर्मस्तथाहिंसा परं तपः । अहिंसा परमं सत्यं ततो धर्मः प्रवर्तते ॥
Non-violence is the highest dharma; non-violence is the highest tapas. Non-violence is the highest truth, and from it dharma goes forth.Mahabharata 13.116.25 (BORI CE)
Ashvamedhika Parva
To wash away the sorrow of the war, Yudhishthira performs the ashvamedha on Vyasa’s counsel, paid for with the gold King Marutta left in the Himalaya. Shri Krishna speaks the Anugita, brings the stillborn Parikshit back to life, and Arjuna follows the sacrificial horse across Bharat.
From the textस हि धर्मः सुपर्याप्तो ब्रह्मणः पदवेदने । न शक्यं तन्मया भूयस्तथा वक्तुमशेषतः ॥
That dharma was wholly sufficient for knowing the state of Brahman. I cannot speak it again in the same way, in full.Mahabharata 14.16.11 (BORI CE), Anugita
Ashramavasika Parva
After fifteen years in Yudhishthira’s care, Dhritarashtra goes to the forest with Gandhari, Kunti, Vidura and Sanjaya. Vidura passes into Yudhishthira by yoga, Vyasa calls the fallen warriors up from the Ganga for one night, and a forest fire takes the old king and the two queens.
From the textविवेश विदुरो धीमान्गात्रैर्गात्राणि चैव ह । प्राणान्प्राणेषु च दधदिन्द्रियाणीन्द्रियेषु च ॥
Wise Vidura entered him, limbs into limbs, placing his breaths in his breaths and his senses in his senses.Mahabharata 15.33.25 (BORI CE)
Mausala Parva
In the thirty-sixth year after the war, Gandhari’s word comes true: the Yadavas destroy one another at Prabhasa with clubs of eraka grass, Balarama leaves his body as a great serpent, and Shri Krishna departs from the world. Arjuna leads the women out of Dwaraka before the sea takes the city.
From the textकालमूलमिदं सर्वं जगद्बीजं धनंजय । काल एव समादत्ते पुनरेव यदृच्छया ॥
All this has its root in time, Dhananjaya; time is the seed of the world. It is time that takes everything back again, as it wills.Mahabharata 16.9.33 (BORI CE), Vyasa to Arjuna
Mahaprasthanika Parva
The shortest parva. The Pandavas crown Parikshit, set out with Draupadi on the great departure, and walk round Bharat and up into the Himalaya. One by one they fall; Yudhishthira walks on with only a dog, and refuses to enter heaven without it.
From the textभक्तत्यागं प्राहुरत्यन्तपापं तुल्यं लोके ब्रह्मवध्याकृतेन । तस्मान्नाहं जातु कथंचनाद्य त्यक्ष्याम्येनं स्वसुखार्थी महेन्द्र ॥
To abandon one who is devoted, they say, is the gravest sin, equal in this world to killing a brahmin. So never, by any means, will I abandon him today for my own happiness, great Indra.Mahabharata 17.3.11 (BORI CE), Yudhishthira to Indra
Svargarohana Parva
In svarga Yudhishthira finds Duryodhana enthroned and his own brothers missing. He chooses to stay with them in a place of torment, the illusion lifts, and he leaves his human body in the heavenly Ganga. Each hero returns to the deva he came from, and Vyasa’s Itihasa closes with the Bharata Savitri.
From the textऊर्ध्वबाहुर्विरौम्येष न च कश्चिच्छृणोति मे । धर्मादर्थश्च कामश्च स किमर्थं न सेव्यते ॥
With arms raised I cry out, and no one hears me: from dharma come wealth and desire too. Why then is dharma not followed?Mahabharata 18.5.49 (BORI CE), Bharata Savitri
From the textन जातु कामान्न भयान्न लोभाद्धर्मं त्यजेज्जीवितस्यापि हेतोः । नित्यो धर्मः सुखदुःखे त्वनित्ये जीवो नित्यो हेतुरस्य त्वनित्यः ॥
Never give up dharma, not from desire, nor fear, nor greed, nor even to save your life. Dharma is eternal, pleasure and pain are passing; the jiva is eternal, its cause in this life is passing.Mahabharata 18.5.50 (BORI CE), Bharata Savitri
इति
The pictures are drawn for this site to help children and new readers follow the story; they are illustrations, not old art. The words under each picture summarise the episode, and the verses are quoted from the text with their reference.