Mahābhārata in the Agni Purāṇa

The Agni Purāṇa tells the Mahābhārata in three chapters, Chapters 13 to 15. It is Agni-deva who tells it. He presents it as the greatness (māhātmya) of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, the great itihāsa in which Bhagavān Vishṇu used the Pāṇḍavas as his instrument (nimitta) to lift the burden of adharma from the earth.

Agni-deva traces the whole lunar dynasty from Brahmā to Śantanu. He tells of the births of the Pāṇḍavas and the Kauravas, and follows their rivalry through the house of lac, the Draupadī svayaṃvara, the game of dice, the twelve years in the forest and the year in disguise. He then tells of the Bhagavadgītā, the eighteen-day war at Kurukshetra, the deaths of the great warriors, the reign of Yudhishṭhira and the great journey (mahāprasthāna) of the Pāṇḍavas.

The lunar dynasty, from Brahmā to Śantanu

Agni-deva begins by giving the family line. From the navel-lotus (nābhi-kamala) of Vishṇu, Brahmā was born. Brahmā’s son was Atri. Atri’s son was Candra (the moon). Candra’s son was Budha. Budha’s son was Aila (Purūravas). Purūravas’s son was Āyu. Āyu’s son was Nahusha. Nahusha’s son was Yayāti. Yayāti’s son was Pūru. In the line of Pūru came Bharata, then Kuru, and in the line of Kuru Śantanu was born.

To Śantanu was born Bhīshma, the son of Gaṅgā. Later Śantanu had two sons by Satyavatī, Citrāṅgada and Vicitravīrya, the younger brothers of Bhīshma.

Bhīshma and the sons of Śantanu

After Śantanu died, Bhīshma took his great vow of brahmacarya for life and ruled the kingdom for the good of his brothers. The younger brother Citrāṅgada was killed in battle by the Gandharva who had the same name. Bhīshma then overcame all enemies and brought the daughters of the king of Kāśī, Ambikā and Ambālikā, and gave them as wives to Vicitravīrya. But Vicitravīrya died young of rāja-yakshma (royal consumption).

By the wish of Satyavatī, and with the leave of all, the ṛshi Vyāsa was called. Through Vyāsa, Ambikā bore Dhṛtarāshṭra, who was born blind, and Ambālikā bore Pāṇḍu, who was born pale. In this way the two branches of the family went on.

The birth of the Pāṇḍavas

Dhṛtarāshṭra had a hundred sons by his wife Gāndhārī. The chief of them was Duryodhana. Pāṇḍu’s wife Kuntī bore three sons by divine grace: Yudhishṭhira from Yamarāja, Bhīma from Vāyu-deva and Arjuna from Devendra. Pāṇḍu’s second wife Mādrī bore the twins Nakula and Sahadeva from the twin Aśvin devas.

Pāṇḍu was under a śāpa (curse) from a ṛshi, received at the Śataśṛṅga āśrama. He died when he came near Mādrī. Mādrī followed her husband in death (anugamana). Kuntī brought up the five Pāṇḍavas. Kuntī had also, while still unmarried, borne Karṇa by the grace of Sūrya-deva. Karṇa joined the side of Duryodhana.

The Kauravas and Pāṇḍavas: early conflicts

By the working of fate, hatred grew between the Kauravas and the Pāṇḍavas. Duryodhana, with evil in his mind, made a plan to destroy them. He built the jatu-gṛha, the house of lac, a palace made to burn, and arranged for the Pāṇḍavas and their mother Kuntī to stay in it. The five Pāṇḍavas were warned in time and escaped with their mother through a tunnel. The burning house gave the Kauravas the false belief that the Pāṇḍavas had died.

The Pāṇḍavas then lived unknown at Ekacakra-nagara, dressed as brāhmaṇas, in the house of a brāhmaṇa. There they killed a rākshasa who had been terrorising the city.

The Draupadī svayaṃvara

From Ekacakra the Pāṇḍavas went to the kingdom of the Pāñcālas for the svayaṃvara (the bride’s own choice of husband) of Draupadī, the daughter of King Drupada, who was dressed in many ornaments. There all five Pāṇḍavas won Draupadī as their shared wife. Duryodhana and his side at last knew who they were.

Indraprastha: the kingdom divided

The Pāṇḍavas received half the kingdom from the Kauravas. Arjuna received from Agni-deva the divine bow Gāṇḍīva, an excellent chariot and quivers of arrows that never ran out. From Droṇa he received the brahmādi astras, the Brahma weapon and other divine weapons. From the very start Kṛshṇa was his charioteer and guide in battle. All the Pāṇḍavas became masters of weapons and war.

With the help of Kṛshṇa, Arjuna pleased Agni-deva by guarding the Khāṇḍava-vana against the rain that Indra sent to put out the fire. This showed that Arjuna’s strength had no equal.

The Pāṇḍavas conquered all four directions. Yudhishṭhira performed the rājasūya-yajña and gave great amounts of gold. Duryodhana could not bear to see this splendour.

The dice game, the humiliation of Draupadī and the exile

Duryodhana was urged on by his brother Duḥśāsana, by Karṇa who had now grown strong, and by the cunning Śakuni. He invited Yudhishṭhira to a game of dice. In that game Śakuni cheated Yudhishṭhira and won his kingdom. Yudhishṭhira, now left with nothing, staked Draupadī as well and lost her. The Kauravas shamed Draupadī in the assembly.

Bound by the terms of the game, Yudhishṭhira and his brothers went to the forest with Draupadī and the priest Dhaumya. In the forest they kept their vow of twelve years of life there. Even in those years Yudhishṭhira fed eighty-eight thousand brāhmaṇas every day, as freely as he had in his palace.

The ajñātavāsa

After twelve years the Pāṇḍavas spent the thirteenth year, the ajñātavāsa (the year of living unknown), at the court of King Virāṭa. Yudhishṭhira lived there as the brāhmaṇa Kaṅka. Bhīma was a cook. Arjuna took the form of a eunuch named Bṛhannalā and taught dance and music in the women’s rooms. Nakula and Sahadeva lived under other names. Draupadī served as a lady’s maid in the court.

In this year the lustful commander Kīcaka tried to force himself on Draupadī. Bhīmasena killed Kīcaka at night. Later the Kauravas attacked Virāṭa’s kingdom to seize his cattle (go-grahaṇa). Arjuna alone drove them all back and beat them. It was then that the Kauravas knew the Pāṇḍavas, and knew that the ajñātavāsa was over.

Arjuna’s son Abhimanyu had been born of Kṛshṇa’s sister Subhadrā. King Virāṭa gave his daughter Uttarā in marriage to Abhimanyu.

The Kurukshetra war: key events

Yudhishṭhira gathered an army of seven akshauhiṇīs. Kṛshṇa went to Duryodhana as an envoy of peace and said: “Give half the kingdom to Yudhishṭhira. Or at least give five villages.” Duryodhana answered: “I will not give even as much land as the point of a needle can hold. Let there be war.” Kṛshṇa showed his cosmic form, the Viśvarūpa. Vidura honoured him. He went back to Yudhishṭhira with the word: “Fight.”

The armies of Yudhishṭhira and Duryodhana met at Kurukshetra. Arjuna saw Bhīshma, Droṇa and all his elders and kinsmen standing in front of him. He lost heart and said he could not fight. Then Bhagavān Śrī Kṛshṇa spoke the Bhagavadgītā to Arjuna: “Do not grieve for the bodies. They perish, but the ātmā does not. This jīvātmā is the Paramātmā itself. Know this: ‘I am that Parabrahman.’ Whether or not the effort succeeds, keep your mind steady. Be a yogin and do your rājadharma (a king’s duty).” Taught in this way, Arjuna mounted his chariot and went into battle, while divine instruments sounded.

The deaths of the great warriors

Bhīshma was Duryodhana’s commander-in-chief. Śikhaṇḍī led the Pāṇḍavas. The battle between the two great armies raged like the war between devas and asuras. Even the devas watched it from the sky with delight. For ten days Bhīshma destroyed the Pāṇḍava army and killed thousands with his arrows.

On the tenth day Arjuna rained arrows on the mighty Bhīshma, and Śikhaṇḍī shot arrows like clouds. Together they brought Bhīshma down. His body was so full of arrows that he lay on them as on a bed, the famous śaraśayyā. Bhīshma had icchā-mṛtyu, the power to choose the time of his own death. He had first told the Pāṇḍavas how he could be beaten. He lay on his bed of arrows and waited for uttarāyaṇa, the auspicious northward course of the sun. He meditated on Vishṇu and sang his praise.

Droṇa then took command of the Kaurava forces, and Dhṛshṭadyumna led the Pāṇḍavas. Their battle was terrible. Droṇa destroyed Virāṭa, Drupada and many other kings, as an ocean swallows men. Word spread, by a device of Yudhishṭhira, that “Aśvatthāmā has been killed,” and Droṇa put down his weapons in grief. Before that, the unconquerable Droṇa had destroyed all the kshatriyas on the field. He was struck down by the arrows of Dhṛshṭadyumna on the fifth day of his command.

Karṇa was made Duryodhana’s next commander, and Arjuna led the Pāṇḍavas. Their duel was the most terrible of all, equal to the battle of devas and asuras. Karṇa destroyed countless enemies with his arrows. On the second day of the duel, Arjuna killed Karṇa.

Śalya then commanded for half a day of battle. Yudhishṭhira himself killed Śalya. The Kaurava army was almost wholly destroyed. Duryodhana fought Bhīmasena in a last mace fight (gadā-yuddha). On the eighteenth day Bhīmasena struck down Duryodhana along with his remaining brothers.

The death of Abhimanyu and Aśvatthāmā’s night raid

The great warrior Abhimanyu, Arjuna’s son, went alone into the Cakravyūha formation. He was surrounded and killed by treachery, as many Kaurava warriors attacked him at once. Arjuna was broken with grief.

After the war the mighty Aśvatthāmā carried out a terrible night raid. He was one of only three Kaurava survivors, with Kṛtavarman and Kṛpācārya. While the Pāṇḍava army slept, he killed Draupadī’s five sons (the Upapāṇḍavas), the Pāñcālas and Dhṛshṭadyumna.

Arjuna saw Draupadī, grieving and now without children. He used the Aishīkāstra and took the śiromaṇi, the crest jewel, from the head of Aśvatthāmā, as repayment. Aśvatthāmā’s weapon had been aimed at the womb of Uttarā, the wife of Abhimanyu, to destroy the Pāṇḍava line altogether. Bhagavān Śrī Kṛshṇa himself protected that child in the womb. The child who lived became Parīkshit-mahārāja.

Yudhishṭhira’s coronation and Bhīshma’s teachings

After the great slaughter, Yudhishṭhira comforted the grieving women. With Bhīma and the others he performed the pitṛ-saṃskāra (funeral rites) for all the fallen warriors. He offered water and gave great dānas (gifts) in their memory. He then went to Bhīshma on his bed of arrows. From the grandsire he received the whole teaching of dharma: śānti-dharma, rājadharma, mokshadharma and dāna-dharma, all in full. Yudhishṭhira was then crowned king. As a righteous king he performed the aśvamedha-yajña and gave great gifts to all brāhmaṇas.

The Gītā and its place

Bhagavān Śrī Kṛshṇa’s teaching of the Bhagavadgītā to Arjuna, at the start of the Kurukshetra war, is the spiritual heart of the Mahābhārata. Arjuna saw the kinsmen and elders gathered there, and his resolve broke. Kṛshṇa then taught him that the ātmā cannot perish while bodies perish. He taught that this jīvātmā is not different from the Paramātmā. He taught that one should know “I am Parabrahman.” He taught that to do one’s duty with a steady mind, in success and in failure, as a yogin, is the highest path. Strengthened by this teaching, Arjuna took up his bow and fought.

The mahāprasthāna and svarga

Arjuna told Yudhishṭhira of the destruction of the Yādavas, who were killed through the curse of a brāhmaṇa by the musala, the iron club. Yudhishṭhira then made Parīkshit king of Hastināpura. He understood that all worldly life is passing. He set out on the great journey, the mahāprasthāna, with Draupadī and his four brothers, chanting the ashṭottaraśata-nāmas, the hundred and eight names, of Mahāvishṇu.

On that last journey Draupadī, Sahadeva, Nakula, Arjuna and Bhīma fell one by one. Yudhishṭhira went on alone, though he was racked with grief. At the end Indra himself came with a divine chariot, and Yudhishṭhira rose to svarga. There he was joined again with Duryodhana and others and saw Vāsudeva, and he was filled with joy. Agni ends: “I have told you the Bhārata-kathā. Those who read it reach svarga.”

Kṛshṇa’s last departure

Śrī Kṛshṇa made Vajra king before he left this world. At Prabhāsa-kshetra, at the command of the devas, Kṛshṇa gave up his bodily form. After that he was honoured by the dwellers of svarga in both Indra-loka and Brahma-loka. Balarāma, who was the form of Ādi-Śesha, went to Pātāla and svarga. The ocean covered Dvārakā after Kṛshṇa left.

Arjuna performed the pitṛ-saṃskāra for the Yādavas and gave great dānas. But the women whom Arjuna was escorting were taken by cowherds (gopālas) armed with only sticks. This showed that all of Arjuna’s power had been there only because Kṛshṇa was with him. Arjuna’s bow, his astras, his chariot and his horses all became useless the moment Kṛshṇa left. Arjuna cried out in grief. Vyāsa comforted him: “Your strength was Kṛshṇa.”

Sources

• Agni Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 13
• Agni Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 14
• Agni Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 14–15
• Agni Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 15