The Sauptika Parva, meaning the Book of the sleeping Warriors, is the tenth book of the 18 books of Mahabharata. It consists of two upaparvas and 18 chapters. The Sauptika Parva focuses on the revenge of Ashvatthama, Krtavarma, and Krpacharya on the remaining Pandava army, after the end of the war. The two upaparvas are: […]
The Shalya Parva is the ninth of the 18 books of Mahabharata. The Shalya Parva is named after Shalya, the fourth commander in-chief of the Kaurava army. This book describes the appointment of Shalya as the commander in-chief and also the eighteenth day of the war. This Parva consists of 4 upaparvas and 64 chapters. […]
The Karna Parva, or the Book of Karna, is the eighth book of the 18 books of the Great Hindu Epic, the Mahabharata. This parva is not divided into sub parvas and consists of 96 chapters and almost 5000 shlokas. It contains details accounts of the 16th and 17th day of the 18 day war, […]
Drona Parva is the seventh book of the 18 books of the Mahabharata. As the name suggests, it is based on Drona as it describes the 11th to 15th days of the battle with Drona as the commander in-chief of the Kaurava army. He took over the reins of the army after the defeat of […]
The sixth Parva of Mahabharata is Bhishma Parva, which means the book of Bhishma, recites the events of the first 10 days of the 18 day long Kurukshetra war between the Pandavas army and the Kauravas’ army. It consists of 4 upaparvas and almost 124 chapters. It also contains one of the most popular verses […]
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 […]
The fourth parva in the eighteen books of Manahabharata, Virata Parva, also known as the “Book of Virata” exhibits the thirteenth year of incognito exile that the Pandavas had to spend to avoid another twelve years in forest. This Parva has four sub-books (Upa parvas) and seventy two around chapters, comprising 2590 verses. Pandavapravesa Parva […]
The Vana Parva, also known as the Aranya Parva, is the third book of the 18 parvas of Mahabharata. It means the Book of the Forest, as it contains the detailed accounts of the life of the Pandavas in the forest during their exile period of twelve years. The thirteenth year of the exile, is […]
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 […]
The Adi Parva, or “The Book of the Beginning”, is the first book of the 18 parvas of Mahabharata, written by Vyasa. It lays the foundation for the entire story of the Mahabharata. The Adi Parva consists of 19 sub parvas, or sub books. Each upa parva or sub-parva is also called a parva and […]
Iravan, the son of Arjuna, is one of the lesser known characters mentioned in the epic Mahabharata. Nonetheless, he is worshiped by devotees across India. Also known as Iravat/ Iravant, and Aravat, this grandson of Pandu is particularly worshiped in South India, by the Tamil cult of Kuttantavar and the Draupadi cult. Iravan was the […]
Ashtavakra means He who is deformed in eight places, stated to be so due to a curse uttered by his father when Ashtavakra was still in the maatru garbha. Ashtavakra Gita, also known as the Ashtavakra Samhita, is a teaching between the fully realized 12-year old master Ashtavakra and the King of Mithila, the Janaka […]
