Sabha Parva in Mahabharata

The second of the eighteen books of Mahabharata, the Sabha Parva, also known as the “Book of the Assembly Hall”, presents the glorious kingdom of Pandavas. The Parva commences with the description of the palace and assemblies at Indraprastha.

There are specifically ten sections (Upa-parvas) in Sabha Parva, comprising around eighty one chapters and ten books…

1. Sabhakriya parva
2. Lokapalasabhakhyana parva
3. Rajasuyarambha parva
4. Jarasandhavadha parva
5. Digvijaya parva
6. Rajasuya parva
7. Arghabhiharana parva
8. Sisupalavadha parva
9. Dyuta parva
10. Anudyuta parva

The Sabha Parva defines the principles of crime against humanity, where any unharmed human/ individual being must also stand up for any evil or injustice inflicted upon the society and people at large.

Sabhakriya parva

This parva consists of 4 chapters and 141 verses.

Arjuna saved Mayasura from the burning of Khandava Forest. Thus, Maya asked Arjuna for any favour in return that might clear his debt. Arjuna told him to follow whatever Krishna asks him to. Later Krishna asks Maya to build a palace for Yudhishtira on the barren and dying land that Duryodhana had reluctantly given to them as a share in the kingdom. Maya went to the Mainaka Mountains on the north-eastern region of Kailasa Mountains and brought back a club, conch (named Devdatta) and building material made of jewels. He presented the club to Bhima, the conch to Arjuna and builts Khandava Prastha palace with jewels for Yudhishthira, with the palatial halls and assemblies according to the needs and tastes of the Pandavas and Krishna himself. Kunti and Pandavas enter the palace after proper ceremonies and rituals.

After the majestic Khandava prastha palace was built, Krishna stayed there with the Pandavas for a while. He then sought Kunti’s permission and left for Dwarka to see his father with Satyaki and his charioteer Daruka.

Lokapalasabhakhyana parva

There are 8 chapters and 373 verses in this parva.

There is known of an incidence when Narada visits Yudhishthira’s assembly of Gandharvas and is duly honoured and greeted by Dharmaraja. Narada gets pleased and asks Yudhishthira if he has divided his time equally between Dharma, Artha and Kama accordingly and whether he was taking care of his fourteen possessions (country, forts, cavalry etc.) considering the power of his foe. He enquired if Dharmaraj utilised the six royal attributes (cleverness of speech, readiness in providing means, intelligence in dealing with the foe, memory, and acquaintance with morals and politics) and the seven means (sowing dissensions, chastisement, conciliation, gifts, incantations, medicine and magic) and whether he had employed a single learned man instead of thousand fools. He further advised Yudhishthira that delaying the food, payments and supplies hampers with the troops giving birth to mishaps. He enquired if Dharmaraj took care of his soldiers’ families, who faced death for his sake and whether he made his accountant put forward the balance and expenditure statements before forenoon. He wanted to know if the farmers in his kingdom were prosperous and satisfied and if he slept only in the first two quarters of the night to wake up in the third to reflect upon Artha and Dharma.

Yudhishthira bows to him and promises him to realise his suggestions. It was by following Narada’s advice only that Yudhishthira’s kingdom had spread far and wide through the oceans. This chapter thus presented the importance of politics.

Yudhishthira then asked Narada to say something about Maya’s work and if he had seen such a palace ever in his life. To this Narada described the royal palaces of Indra, Yama, Varuna, Kubera and Brahma, and declared that Yudhishthira’s Khandava Prastha was the best he had ever seen.

Then Yudhishthira further asked Narada why he had mentioned only King Harishchandra in Indra’s assembly. Also, if he saw their father Pandu and how exactly did Narada meet him. Narada then described Harishchandra and how he was blessed by the Brahmins. This gave him the place in Indra’s court. Narada then reveals to them that the king who performed Rajasuya sacrifice would stay with Indra forever and thus their father had sent them a message from heaven to perform the sacrifice. Yudhishthira consulted his brothers for performing the same after Narada took a leave.

Rajasuyarambha parva

This parva contains 7 chapters and 265 verses.

After Narada’s advice, Yudhishthira decides to perform the Rajasuya sacrifice. He looks after all the arrangements and by public virtue he becomes Ajatsatru. Yudhishthira consults all his brothers as well as his priests Dhaumya and Vyasa. Only Krishna was left and so Yudhishthira sends a message for him to come and guide them, to which Krishna agrees that Yudhishthira was capable for Rajasuya. He also tells them that the overall defeater shall be called the Emperor, which at that time was Jarasandha, with Sisupala as his chief-in army. As long as Jarasandha was alive, Yudhishthira’s Rajasuya was impossible. Dharmaraj was completely against the thought of Rajasuya when he heard this, however Bhima stayed adamant that Krishna, Arjuna and himself they can easily defeat Jarasandha. When Yudhishthira still remained in doubt, Krishna told him about Jarasandha’s birth, about the Rakshasi Jara and the fact that he himself had killed Jarasandha’s nephew Kamsa. That had made him his arch enemy.

Jarasandhavadha parva

There are 5 chapters and 280 verses in this parva.

It was after the death of two refugee gods Hamsa and Dimbhaka and his own nephew’s Kamsa’s murder, Jarasandha was the weakest. Krishna thought it was the best time to challenge him for a duel. He devised a scheme of sending the threesome of himself, Arjuna and Bhima for the challenge, where Jarasandha was sure to choose Bhima for the combat, who was alone capable of defeating him. This assured Dharmaraj and the trio departed for Magadha disguised as Brahmins under the Snataka vow. This heated up an argument with Jarasandha when Krishna declared that all the three castes of Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas would take up the vow of Snataka. Surprised at this, Jarasandha wished to clear the animosity these three Brahmins bore towards him. Krishna revealed their true identity and demanded him to release the princes he had imprisoned. Jarasandha refused to do so and chose a one on one combat instead. With Krishna’s prompts, he chose Bhima as was desired and lost when Bhima tore him into half. The trio then freed the princes and Sahdeva, son of Jarasandha performed the last rites of his father under the direction of Lord Krishna. Yudhishthira welcomed his brothers with open arms and heartily began the preparations for Rajasuya. Krishna took a leave soon after.

Digvijaya parva

This parva contains 8 chapters and 389 verses.

This parva celebrates the victory march of the four Pandavas into four different directions. Arjuna initiated this march when he wanted to increase their wealth and march upon the north to King Kubera’s quarter. Sage Vyasa supported him and thus Arjuna marched to north, Bhima towards the east, Sahadeva to the south and Nakula towards the west. It was then that Digvijay was celebrated and all the brothers paid homage to Dharmaraja with all the wealth.

Rajasuya parva

There are 3 chapters and 104 verses in this section.

Dharmaraj Yudhishthira was ruling the kingdom in the most righteous way and decided to perform the Rajasuya sacrifice. Krishna had blessed Yudhishthira with the capability of being an Emperor. The preparations of the sacrifice were undertaken by Sahadeva and other priests. Sage Vyasa himself was the head-priest Brahma for the sacrifice. Yajnavalkya was the officiating priest Adhvaryu. At Yudhishthira’s command, Sahadeva sent messengers to invite people from all the four castes for the sacrifice. The sacrifice of Yudhishthira started on the earth like that of Indra in the heaven. Later Yudhishthira sent Nakula to Hastinapura to invite Bhishma, Drona, Dhritarashtra, Vidura, Kripa, Duryodhana and other brothers. Everyone attended the sacrifice happily and even looked after various responsibilities.

Arghabhiharana parva

This section has 4 chapters and 843 verses.

On the day of performing the Abhishechaniya rite, which was an important part of the sacrifice, the honourable sages and the Brahmins entered the place of sacrifice along with the kings. Narada was pleased with the prosperity of Dharmaraja and his performance of the sacrifice. He further explained how Lord Narayana himself took birth into the family of Yadus as a part of some celestial order. Bhishma then ordered Yudhishthira to honour all the participants in the sacrifice with arghya and to begin this honour with Krishna. Shishupala couldn’t bear this, took this as an insult and chided Krishna. He then began to leave the court when Yudhishthira apologised to him. To this Bhishma lambasted Shishupala and told him to behave, especially in front of Shri Krishna who is honourable to the three worlds. Yudhishthira thus requested Bhishma to narrate the deeds of Krishna in brief to the court. He explained the incarnations of Varaha, Nrisimha, Vamana, Dattatreya, Parasurama, Sri Rama, Sri Krishna and Kalki. After this, he asked Shishpala to do whatever he wished if he didn’t think Krishna to be worthy enough of worship. Shishupala still disagreed, demanded a confrontation and along with some kings, made it clear that they won’t accept the coronation of Krishna.

Sisupalavadha parva

This has 6 chapters and 252 verses.

On seeing that some kings were preparing for fight, the agitated Dharmaraja asked Bhishma the ways to pacify them. Bhishma asked him not to worry as Shishupala, the king of Chedi had lost his senses. Shishupala charged upon Bhishma on hearing this and called him names. He blamed him for the loss of Pandavas and their blind faith on Krishna. Bhima raged with fury at this and jumped on Shishupala, where he was stopped by Bhishma. Bhishma then explained the birth of Shishupala and how he was born considered an abomination due to his distortion. It was Krishna who cured him. Shishupala raged further at this and invited Krishna for a fight. Even after Krishna trying to calm the situations, Shishupala kept on insulting the assembly. At this, Krishna couldn’t control any further and used his Sudarshan chakra to kill Shishupala. Yudhishthira installed the son of Sisupala on the throne of Chedi. At the end Yudhishthira told the sages that his sacrifice was completed by their power only. His desire was fulfilled. When the sacrifice was over, Krishna went back to Dwaraka.

Dyuta parva

There are 28 chapters and 889 verses in this parva.

After the sacrifice was successful, Sage Vyasa warned Yudhishthira that the ceremony ended with the fall of Shishupala and the effects of such events last for nothing less than thirteen years. Yudhishthira, dejected at this decided not to insult anyone further.

However, fate had it decided. Duryodhana was roaming around the palace when the false transparent floor confused him for water puddle. This wasn’t enough that the next time Duryodhana almost fell from another false floor. To this, everyone laughed, including Bhima, Arjuna and Draupadi.

Duryodhana could not bear their laughter. He took leave of Yudhishthira and went to Hastinapura with an afflicted heart. Sinful thoughts arose in the mind of Duryodhana who was envious of the prosperity of the Pandavas. Questioned by Sakuni, he revealed the cause of his grief to him, and asked him to convey it to Dhritarashtra. After a collective conspiracy, Sakunia and Duryodhana came up with a plan to trick the Pandavas for a game of dice. The game was designed completely to be won by Sakuni’s biased dice and as decided, Yudhishthira went on losing, first the kingdom, then himself and then their wife Draupadi to Kauravas. When the whole court was forced to watch the Cheer Haran of Draupadi by Duryodhana, and Krishna miraculously saved Draupadi from the insult, the Pandavas pleaded Dhritrashtra to spare them. A whole episode regarding Draupadi’s insult and her plight ensued when Duryodhana offered her his thigh and she asked everyone at the assembly how they could have let them lose their own wife. She pleaded Dhritrashtra to pardon all of them.

Anudyuta parva

This parva contains 8 chapters and 360 verses.

Even when Dhritrashtra agreed and sent the Pandavas to Indraprastha, Kauravas found it unfair and ordered Dhritrashtra to call all of them back for another game and an exile to the forest at the loss. The Pandavas were called back and challenged for another game. As planned, they lost again. The Pandavas agreed to get exiled to the forest incognito and took the oath of killing Duryodhana, Sakuni, Karna and Dhritrashtra soon after.