Udyoga Parva in Mahabharata

The Udyoga Parva, or the Book of Effort, is the fifth of the eighteen books of Mahabharata. The period of this Parva is immediately after the end of the exile period of the Pandavas.

This Parva consists of 10 upa-parvas, meaning 10 sub-books. There are 198 chapters contained in these 10 sub parvas. The gist of these sub-parvas are:

Sainyodyoga Parva

This Parva of the Udyogaparva consists of almost 19 chapters. This Parva marks the end of the thirteen year exile of the Pandavas. Many Kings had gathered in the court of Virata to celebrate the marriage of Abhimanyu and Uttara. Many notable guests like Krishna, Balarama and Drupada were present there, and everyone was eager to listen to the speech of Sri Krishna. Krishna declared that the exile period of thirteen years was complete and it was time for the Kauravas to return the part of the kingdom that rightfully belongs to Yudhishthira. He says that the Pandavas had fulfilled all conditions after Yudhishthira had lost in the game of dice. It was now time for the Kauravas to fulfill their side of the promises and conditions and peacefully return the kingdom to the Pandavas. He even said that the Pandavas had faced a lot of difficulties during their stay in the forest for such a long duration, and that they deserved to be treated as men, who lived up to their promise in the toughest of circumstances. Krishna said that the intentions of Duryodhana were not yet known, though the virtuous Yudhishthira wanted only half of the kingdom back, so as to maintain peace among the rulers and the people of the kingdom. Krishna suggested to send a capable and suitable ambassador, so as to find out about the intentions of Duryodhana on returning the Pandavas their share. Many people like Satyaki, said that the intentions of these evil people are always wrong, and called it futile to talk to such people diplomatically. The other kings suggests Pandavas to prepare for, before starting talks with Duryodhana. They also suggest him to stitch up alliances with other kings to muster up support from as many people as possible assuming an imminent war. However, even the Kauravas started to amass a huge army in order to be one step ahead of the Pandavas, considering an imminent war for the kingdom. Both sides gather huge alliances of armies. The Kauravas even had Krishna’s Vrishni army. However, Krishna was in the side of the Pandavas’ army.

Sanjayayana Parva

Drupada had sent an envoy to the Kaurava kingdom to announce that the Pandava brothers did not possess any intention for war, and just wanted an amicable settlement for the benefit of everyone involved. The envoy also conveys to them that the Pandava brothers were not avoiding war due to weakness or fear, instead to avoid the ill effects of war on mankind and even animals. The Pandavas even had seven large battalions, and hence they had no reason to be feel threatened by a war. The messenger even advised the Kaurava brothers to think wisely and peacefully and give the Pandavas back what they rightfully deserved. On hearing this, Bhishma advised to not go into war, while Karna fully supported the idea of war against the Pandavas.

Dhritarashtra sent back the envoy with the promise to send back an envoy with their response to the Pandavas. Dhritarashtra then summoned Sanjaya and instructed him to meet with the Pandava brothers and inform them that even they were not in support of war, and even if the Pandavas kill the Kauravas, their victory would be miserable to them. Dhritarashtra, however gives no intention of giving even a tiny part of the kingdom to the Pandavas. Yudhishthira, in response, even told Sanjaya that he would accept a small piece of the kingdom in order to avoid the agony of everybody going in war. Sanjaya returned to Dhritarashtra and directly criticized his approach towards the Pandavas as highly sinful and wrong.

Prajagara Parva

This Parva consists of 8 chapters. After facing Sanjaya’s harsh criticism, Dhritarashtra had become really upset, depressed, and sought for the counsel of Vidura immediately. Dhritarashtra asked Vidura to provide him the proper moral guidance on the future course of action and sought for wisdom to correctly govern his kingdom. Vidura furnishes him the guidelines called Viduraniti, the policies of Vidura. These guidelines contained teachings on how wise men behave and also had teachings for the ways in which a king should run his kingdom. After hearing out the proposed actions suggested by Vidura, his mind changes for the Pandavas and is no longer in support of a war against them and also becomes willing to give them their share of the kingdom. Dhritarashtra, however claimed that he had no control over the decisions of Duryodhana, who was strongly against even giving a shred of land to them. Finally, he left everything in the hands of destiny to shape the future.

Sanatsujata Parva

This Parva contains 6 chapters. Dhritarashtra was still depressed and anxious. Vidura advised him to take counsel of another sage, a celebrated Brahmin son, Sanat-Sujata. Dhritarashtra asked him many questions regarding Dharma and his right duties as a king. Sunat-Sujata gave him his set of guidelines known as Sanatsujatiya. Some modern scholars have suggested that this treatise called Santsujayita was added later to the original text. Sanatsujatiy is a very popular treatise on spirituality, inner peace and contemplation, and the paths to achieve salvation. The sage Sanat-Sajata suggested and stressed upon the fact that rituals and ceremonies are not the right path to achieving salvation. He insists that Gods were just normal human beings who achieved such a state due to the attainment of self– knowledge and connecting to their inner self after years of penance and devotion to their soul. He constantly says that the ceremonies and sacrificial rites, give importance to external objects more than focusing on the inner self. Sanat-sujata, finally tells Dhritarashtra that knowledge is the only path to attaining inner peace and salvation, and the path to gain that knowledge is through virtuous actions and attributes.

Yanasandhini Parva

This Parva is 25 chapter long. The next day after Sanat-sujata and Dhritarashtra’s dialogue, many kings had gathered in the court of Duryodhana about the message of Sanjaya. Sanjaya told them everything about his conversation with the Pandavas. He said that Arjuna had given the Kauravas an ultimatum that if he would not return the Kingdom of Yudhishthira peacefully, then he would regret the consequences and face warriors like Arjuna, Bhima and with Lord Krishna on their side, victory would definitely go to them, as the Lord decides the victory, no matter how huge is the army of the opponent. Sanjaya then criticized Duryodhana for his evil plans against the Pandavas, which would eventually lead to his own destruction. Arjuna had even promised to kill each and every son of Dhritarashtra himself, including Karna. Bhishma and Drona advised Duryodhana not to go into war. However, Karna was against the counsel of Bhishma and Drona, and was strongly in support of war against the Pandavas. Bhishma condemned Duryodhana for even paying heed to the ideas of Karna. Even Dhritarashtra asked Duryodhana to submit peacefully and avoid the situation of a war, when it can be easily avoided. He further told him, that a war is kept for situations where one is not left with any other option. A war should not be a consequence of one’s ego, arrogance and jealousy. No one can win a war, without the right objective in mind, and Duryodhana’s objective to go to war, was nowhere close to being noble. Duryodhana mocks his father and refuses to give up on his intention of war. Bhishma strongly criticized Karna in open court for supporting the wrong step of Duryodhana. Karna got angry, and vowed to not participate in the war till Bhishma was alive. Finally, Duryodhana discarded everyone’s counsel and went ahead with the decision of war against the Pandavas’ army.

Bhagavatyana Parva

This Parva is the longest sub parva of the Udyoga Parva, spanning across 79 chapters. This Parva shows the reaction of the Pandavas side, in response to the idea of war, which was seemingly getting imminent. The Pandava brothers call a meeting of their counsels and Krishna. Yudhishthira led the meeting with the agenda of peace in mind. The counsel strongly advised the Pandavas to prepare for war, and Krishna decided to play the role of a mediator and talk to the Kauravas as one last try to achieve a peaceful solution to the impasse that had been reached. Krishna met Duryodhana in the court of the Kauravas, and explains to him that his obsessive desire for war will cause him great misery and regret later. He even narrated the stories of Gavala, madhavi and Yayati to prove his point. Duryodhana plans to imprison Krishna. When Krishna hears of this plan, he laughs it off. Dhritarashtra even reprimanded Duryodhana for planning to capture Krishna, who was an envoy. Duryodhana had also mocked Krishna and told him that he would not even give the Pandavas even five needles of land. Krishna left the court and the city of the Pandavas, in a very angry mood. While leaving, he took Karna with him to Kunti and told him all the truth about his birth and how Arjuna and the other Pandava brothers are also his brothers. Therefore, Kunti and Krishna ask Karna to reconsider his intentions on going in for a war. He becomes really angry and tells Kunti that she never acted like a mother to him and just wants to use him to her and the Pandavas’ advantage. He, in turn gets more motivated for the war and vows to kill Arjuna. He tells her that after the war, she would still have sons, with the fifth being, Arjuna or Karna. Kunti gets really scared on the reaction of Karna. Then, Krishna returned to the Pandavas’ camp and reported the Pandavas on his failure to negotiate with the adamant Duryodhana and Karna.

Sainyaaniryana Parva

This parva consists of 9 chapters. The preparations of war at both sides gain momentum, and the milieu of the book is wrapped with warlike feels. Yudhishthira planned on electing the commander in chief of the Pandava army, which was a result of many alliances. Krishna selected a warrior named Dhristayumna as the commander in chief, and begin their march towards the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Even Duryodhana, along with Karna, Dussasana, and Shakuni, prepare for the war. The Kauravas appoint Bhishma as the commander in chief of their huge army due to his experience and expertise as warrior. The Pandavas and Kauravas even selected chiefs for each of their Akshauhinis, or battalions. The Pandavas had 7 battalions, while the Kauravas had 11 battalions. Dhritarashtra was highly upset at the sight of war, just because of the stubbornness of Duryodhana.