50 Fun Facts About The Mahabharata

To which sage is the authorship of the Mahabharata traditionally attributed?

He is also a major character in the epic, fathering Dhritarashtra, Pandu and Vidura.

According to the epic's first section, which god wrote down the text to Vyasa's dictation?

Scholars consider this a later interpolation, and the Critical Edition leaves it out.

What is the other major Sanskrit epic of ancient India, alongside the Mahabharata?

Both are classed as smriti and itihasa texts, and the Mahabharata even contains an abbreviated Ramayana.

Roughly how many shlokas does the longest version of the Mahabharata contain?

That is about 1.8 million words, roughly ten times the Iliad and Odyssey combined.

The Mahabharata is roughly how many times longer than the Iliad and Odyssey combined?

It is about four times the length of the Ramayana but still 2.5 times shorter than the Kyrgyz Epic of Manas.

Into how many parvas, or books, is the Mahabharata divided?

The number 18 recurs throughout the epic: 18 days of war, 18 armies, 18 chapters of the Gita.

By what nickname is the Mahabharata sometimes known within the Indian tradition?

Vyasa himself described it as itihasa, or history.

To which king, Arjuna's great-grandson, is the epic first recited by the sage Vaisampayana?

He was holding a snake sacrifice to avenge his father Parikshit, who died of a snakebite.

For the throne of which kingdom do the Pandavas and Kauravas fight?

It was the seat of the Kuru clan; the Pandavas later built their own capital at Indraprastha.

How many Pandava brothers are there?

Yudhishthira, Bhima and Arjuna were born to Kunti and the twins Nakula and Sahadeva to Madri.

How many sons did Dhritarashtra and Gandhari have?

They also had one daughter, Duhsala; Duryodhana was the eldest son and Dushasana the second.

Which goddess was the mother of Devavrata, later called Bhishma?

She had a short-lived marriage with King Shantanu of Hastinapura.

What vow did Devavrata take so that his father Shantanu could marry the fisherman's daughter Satyavati?

He had already renounced the throne; the extra vow guaranteed Satyavati's descendants would rule.

What boon was Bhishma granted that let him decide when he would die?

He lay on his bed of arrows until the auspicious Uttarayana before letting go.

Why was Dhritarashtra born blind, according to the epic?

Ambalika turned pale instead, so her son Pandu was born pale and sickly.

What did Gandhari do for the rest of her life after marrying the blind Dhritarashtra?

Her brother Shakuni was so enraged that he vowed revenge on the Kuru family.

Which sage gave Kunti the mantra that let her summon any god to father a child?

She used it to bear sons by Dharma, Vayu and Indra, and shared it with Madri.

Which god was the divine father of Bhima?

Yudhishthira was fathered by Dharma and Arjuna by Indra; the twins came from the Ashwini twins.

Which sun god fathered Karna with the young Kunti before her marriage?

She abandoned the baby in a basket on the Ganges; he was born with golden earrings and armour like his father.

Of which kingdom did Duryodhana make Karna the king?

The gift bought Karna's lifelong loyalty to the Kaurava cause.

What was the house of lac, the Lakshagraha?

Vidura warned them and sent a miner to dig an escape tunnel; the world presumed them dead.

Which Pandava married the demoness Hidimbi and fathered Ghatotkacha?

It happened while the brothers were in hiding after escaping the house of lac.

What was the task at Draupadi's swayamvara?

Arjuna, disguised as a Brahmin, strung the steel bow and won her.

Why did Draupadi become the wife of all five Pandavas?

Their mother thought they had brought home alms.

How was Draupadi born, according to the epic?

Hence her name Yajnaseni; she is also called Panchali and Krishnaa.

What capital did the Pandavas build in the wild forest they were given?

Maya the Danava built them a palace so dazzling that Duryodhana mistook a floor for water and a pond for floor.

Whom did Arjuna elope with and marry, the sister of Krishna?

Their son Abhimanyu died inside the chakravyuha on the war's thirteenth day.

Who played the loaded dice against Yudhishthira on Duryodhana's behalf?

Yudhishthira lost his wealth, his kingdom, his brothers, himself and finally Draupadi.

How was Draupadi saved from being disrobed in the Kaurava court?

Krishna worked the miracle while the elders looked on aghast.

How long were the Pandavas required to spend in exile after the second dice game?

If discovered in the thirteenth year they faced another twelve; they hid at the court of King Virata.

How many days did the Kurukshetra war last?

At the end only the Pandavas, Satyaki, Kripa, Ashwatthama, Kritavarma, Yuyutsu and Krishna survived.

What role did Krishna take in the battle?

He fought as a non-combatant, while offering his Narayani Sena of Abhira herdsmen to the Kauravas.

Which of Krishna's kin refused to take part in the war and went on pilgrimage instead?

He was unhappy at the developing conflict between the two branches of the family.

How many verses does the Bhagavad Gita traditionally contain?

Adi Shankara fixed the count in his 8th-century commentary, probably to prevent further insertions.

Between which two figures is the Bhagavad Gita framed as a dialogue?

Arjuna despairs at fighting his kin, and Krishna reminds him of his duty as a Kshatriya.

Whom did the Pandavas place in front of Bhishma on the tenth day so that he would lay down his weapons?

Reborn from Amba, Shikhandi had been a woman in a former life, and Arjuna shot from behind.

What is the name of Arjuna's celestial bow?

Among his many names is Savyasachi, the ambidextrous archer.

Which battle formation did Abhimanyu know how to enter but not how to leave?

Jayadratha blocked the Pandavas from following, and six warriors stripped Abhimanyu of chariot, bow, sword and shield.

How did Bhima kill Duryodhana, as dramatised in Bhasa's play Urubhanga?

He had sworn the deed after the dice game.

What curse did the grieving Gandhari lay on Krishna after the war?

He accepted it, and it came true 36 years later.

Who does the stray dog accompanying Yudhishthira into the Himalayas turn out to be?

He then takes Yudhishthira to the underworld to see his siblings before returning him to heaven.

How did Arjuna's grandson Parikshit die?

His son Janamejaya's revenge sacrifice is the setting in which the whole epic is narrated.

What traditional date did the astronomer Aryabhata give for the Mahabharata war?

Historians instead tend to place the Kuru dynastic conflict in the 10th century BCE.

How long was Peter Brook's celebrated stage adaptation of the Mahabharata, premiered at Avignon in 1985?

A five-hour film version followed; B. R. Chopra's Doordarshan series aired from 1988.

Which professional storyteller recites the epic to sages in the Naimisha Forest in its outer frame?

His audience is conducting a twelve-year sacrifice for King Saunaka, the third layer of narration after Vyasa and Vaisampayana.

What is the name of the core 8,800-verse redaction traditionally attributed to Vyasa himself?

The name means 'Victory'; the 24,000-verse Bharata and the 100,000-verse Mahabharata are the later, larger layers.

Which wise figure, born healthy to a maid sent in place of the princesses, later serves as prime minister?

It is he who argues a blind man cannot be king, and who later warns the Pandavas about the house of lac.

Which princess, abducted by Bhishma and then spurned, is reborn as Shikhandi to cause his fall?

She had wanted to marry the king of Shalva; rejected by both men, she became Bhishma's bitter enemy.

Which divine pair fathers Nakula and Sahadeva with Madri?

Kunti shared her god-summoning mantra with Pandu's younger queen so she could have children despite his curse.

In whose court do the Pandavas spend their final year of exile in disguise?

They are discovered only after the year has ended, so the terms of the dice-game exile are technically met.