Itihāsa / The two epics / Mahābhārata

Mahābhārata (महाभारत)

Vyāsa's poem of the Bhāratas. The received text has eighteen parvas (पर्व). The critical edition and the vulgate do not always number a chapter the same way. When this pillar names a chapter, it names the vulgate number and says so. The poem is not sat line by line. What is sat, verse by verse, is the Bhagvad Gītā, spoken in the Bhīṣma-parva before Arjuna's bow comes back up. That book is the crown of this one.

The walk, sitting by sitting, is the chronicle. Fifty sittings, from the vow at the river to the last road. It tells the story, including the hall, the exile, the eighteen days, and the teaching from the arrows. It does not sit the poem.

The eighteen parvas

• Ādi (आदि). The frame of the telling, the births, the house built to burn, the marriage of Draupadī, and the division of the kingdom.
• Sabhā (सभा). The assembly hall. Yudhiṣṭhira plays at dice and stakes the kingdom, his brothers, and Draupadī. She is brought into the hall. The exile is the consequence.
• Vana (वन), also called Āraṇyaka. The forest years. A butcher of Mithilā teaches a brāhmaṇa in the Vyādha Gītā. Near the end, the Yakṣa's lake.
• Virāṭa (विराट). The thirteenth year, lived in disguise in Virāṭa's court.
• Udyoga (उद्योग). The effort to stop the war. Kṛṣṇa goes as envoy. In this parva Dhṛtarāṣṭra hears the Sanatsujātīya.
• Bhīṣma (भीष्म). The war begins under Bhīṣma's command. Arjuna sits down. The Gītā is spoken. Bhīṣma falls, and does not die yet.
• Droṇa (द्रोण). Droṇa commands, and falls.
• Karṇa (कर्ण). Karṇa commands, and falls.
• Śalya (शल्य). The last day of the war. Śalya falls. Duryodhana falls.
• Sauptika (सौप्तिक). The night after. Aśvatthāman enters the camp, and the young warriors are killed in their sleep. This page says that the camp was killed. It does not describe how.
• Strī (स्त्री). The women on the field. Gāndhārī's grief, and the seeing of what the war cost.
• Śānti (शान्ति). Yudhiṣṭhira does not want the kingdom he has won. Bhīṣma, on the bed of arrows, teaches. Three great stretches: the dharma of a king, the dharma of distress, and the Mokṣadharma.
• Anuśāsana (अनुशासन). The instruction goes on. Here the thousand names are spoken. Bhīṣma leaves when the sun turns north.
• Āśvamedhika (आश्वमेधिक). The horse sacrifice. The vulgate also sets the Anugītā here, a later discourse of Kṛṣṇa to Arjuna. The map is open. The lines are not sat.
• Āśramavāsika (आश्रमवासिक). Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Gāndhārī, and Kuntī leave for the forest. That stay ends.
• Mausala (मौसल). The Yādavas destroy one another. Kṛṣṇa leaves the world. The page names the end. It does not describe the blows.
• Mahāprasthānika (महाप्रस्थानिक). The great departure. They walk toward the mountains. Draupadī falls, then Sahadeva, Nakula, Arjuna, and Bhīma. Yudhiṣṭhira goes on, and a dog with him. At its end he refuses heaven without the dog, who is Dharma.
• Svargārohaṇa (स्वर्गारोहण). Yudhiṣṭhira is tested by what he is shown of heaven and of hell, and the poem closes.

नेपालीमा

महाभारत व्यासको भारतवंशको कविता हो। प्राप्त पाठमा अठार पर्व छन्। आलोचनात्मक संस्करण र प्रचलित पाठले अध्यायको अङ्क सधैँ एउटै राख्दैनन्। यो स्तम्भले कुनै अध्यायको नाम लिँदा प्रचलित पाठको अङ्क लिन्छ, र त्यो भनेर उल्लेख पनि गर्छ। कविता एक एक श्लोक गरी राखिएको छैन। एक एक श्लोक गरी राखिएको भगवद्गीता हो, जो भीष्मपर्वमा अर्जुनको धनु फेरि उठ्नुअघि भनिएको हो। त्यो यस कविताको मुकुट हो।

आदिमा जन्म र विवाहको वर्णन छ। सभामा पासा खेलिन्छ र द्रौपदीलाई सभामा ल्याइन्छ। वनमा व्याधगीता र यक्षको ताल आउँछन्। विराटमा लुकेर बिताएको वर्ष छ। उद्योगमा युद्ध रोक्ने प्रयास हुन्छ र सनत्सुजातीय सुनिन्छ। भीष्ममा गीता भनिन्छ। द्रोण, कर्ण र शल्यमा युद्ध चल्छ, र ती एक एक गरी पतन हुन्छन्। सौप्तिकमा रातको शिविर आउँछ। स्त्रीपर्वमा शोक छ। शान्तिमा भीष्मको शिक्षा र मोक्षधर्म छन्। अनुशासनमा हजार नाम भनिन्छन्। आश्वमेधिकमा अश्वमेध र अनुगीता छन्। आश्रमवासिक, मौसल, महाप्रस्थानिक र स्वर्गारोहणमा कथा टुङ्गिन्छ। यो पृष्ठले युद्ध र रातको हत्या भएको कुरा भन्छ, तर कसरी भयो भनेर लेख्दैन।

Where it sits

The Bhāgavata tells Kṛṣṇa's life at a length this poem does not. The Gītā is the hour on the field. The Uddhava Gītā is the hour before he leaves the city. Two teachings, two clocks.