Narratives from the Mahābhārata

Vyāsa's urgent teaching to his son Śuka on the body, time, the ten dharmas and the narakas, told by Bhīshma to Yudhishṭhira.

How Vyāsa fathered Dhṛtarāshṭra, Pāṇḍu and Vidura through niyoga, and why Yama was born as Vidura.

Vāyu answers the boasting Haihaya king Kārtavīrya Arjuna with account after account of brāhmaṇas whose tapas overcame devas, oceans and kings.

Vyāsa tells Drupada that the five Pāṇḍavas were five earlier Indras and that Draupadī was Śrī, so that Drupada accepts her marriage to all five.

In the forest, Draupadī argues for fierce action and Yudhishṭhira for forbearance, in a dialogue on a kshatriya's dharma.

A boasting Śālmali tree on the Himavat slopes strips itself of branches and survives Vāyu's storm, an account Bhīshma gives in the Śānti Parva.

How Yudhishṭhira, Bhīmasena, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva were born to Kuntī and Mādrī at Śataśṛṅga through Durvāsa's mantra.

Durvāsa comes with ten thousand disciples to the Pāṇḍavas, and Bhagavān Kṛshṇa answers Draupadī's prayer with one grain of rice.

A son urges his father to seek moksha now and not wait for the āśrama stages, because death comes closer every moment.

King Pāṇḍu shoots a deer that is the ṛshi Kiṃdama, and the dying ṛshi speaks a śāpa that ends his life as a husband.

Pulastya Maharshi tells Bhīshma the names, places and fruits of hundreds of tīrthas across Bharatavarsha, in the Vana Parva.

The ṛshi Mandapāla, refused svarga for lack of children, is born as a bird, and his four bird-sons are saved from the Khāṇḍava fire.

Satyabhāmā asks Draupadī how she keeps five husbands devoted, and Draupadī teaches the dharma of a faithful wife in the Mahābhārata.

Four righteous kings rise to svarga in a divine chariot, and Devarshi Nārada tells them who will fall back to earth first.

Arjuna sees Subhadrā at the Raivataka festival, carries her off on Kṛshṇa's advice, and Abhimanyu is born from their marriage.

Duḥśāsana drags Draupadī into the Kuru assembly, and Bhagavān Kṛshṇa answers her call with an unending stream of garments.

Yudhishṭhira performs the Rājasūya at Indraprastha, and Bhīshma names Bhagavān Kṛshṇa for the first honour, which leads to the death of Śiśupāla.

Nārada tells the Pāṇḍavas how the inseparable dānavas Sunda and Upasunda killed each other over Tilottamā.

Mārkaṇḍeya tells Yudhishṭhira the story of Rāma in the Vana Parva, to comfort him after Draupadī was carried off by Jayadratha.

The Pāṇḍavas travel to the Himālaya, honour Rudra and Kubera, dig up King Marutta's buried treasure and bring it to Hastināpura for the Aśvamedha.

King Śvetaki's twelve-year satra left Agni weak, and Brahmā told Agni to burn the Khāṇḍava forest to recover.

Kṛshṇa tells Yudhishṭhira how Paraśurāma ended the kshatriya order twenty-one times and then gave the earth to Kaśyapa.

Bhīshma grades the warriors of both armies for Duryodhana before the Kurukshetra War, and says he will not fight Śikhaṇḍī.

After Bhīshma falls, Droṇa is made commander of the Kaurava army, sets his condition about Yudhishṭhira, and fights the eleventh day of the war.

King Saṃvaraṇa falls in love with Sūrya's daughter Tapatī, Vasishṭha arranges the marriage, and their son Kuru is born.

Bhīshma tells Yudhishṭhira how the muni Ṛshabha taught about hope through three kings and a thin, silent ṛshi.

During his twelve years of exile, Arjuna is drawn into the nāga realm by Ulūpī, stays one night with her, and receives a vara against all water creatures.

On the fifteenth day of the war, Bhīma kills an elephant named Aśvatthāmā, Yudhishṭhira confirms the news, and Dhṛshṭadyumna beheads the meditating Droṇa.

How the forest-born ṛshi Ṛśyaśṛṅga was brought to Aṅga, ended its drought, married Śāntā and later performed the Putrakāmeshṭi for Daśaratha.

King Sagara's two queens, the stolen Aśvamedha horse, and how Kapila's glance burned the sixty thousand sons who dug into the earth.

Vasishṭha loses all his sons to Kalmāshapāda, tries to end his life five times, and is saved by the Vedic voice of his unborn grandson Parāśara.

Kṛshṇa tells Yudhishṭhira how Durvāsa tested him at Dvārakā with pāyasam, and how Kṛshṇa and Rukmiṇī received his varas.

Both armies gather at Kurukshetra, commanders are chosen, Balarāma leaves on pilgrimage, Rukmī's offer is refused, and Dhṛtarāshṭra laments.

Indra asks the bound and ruined dānava Namuci why he stays calm, and Namuci teaches that grief helps no one and time brings all things.

King Viśvāmitra demands the wish-fulfilling cow Nandinī from Vasishṭha, loses his whole army to her, and vows to win brahma-bala through tapas.

On the seventeenth day of the Kurukshetra war, Bhīma kills Duḥśāsana and drinks his blood, keeping the vow he made in the dice hall.

Indra asks the fallen daitya king Prahlāda how he stays calm after losing his empire, and Prahlāda teaches that the ātmā is not the doer.

Bhīshma tells Yudhishṭhira of the talk between King Dyumatsena and his son Satyavanta on whether a king may kill to protect order.

How Duryodhana's lavish hospitality won Śalya's promise to drive Karṇa's chariot, and the counter-vara Śalya then gave Yudhishṭhira.

The first dice game of the Sabhā Parva, in which Śakuni wins the Pāṇḍavas' kingdom, their brothers and Draupadī for Duryodhana.

Śampāka, a brāhmaṇa with nothing, teaches Bhīshma that poverty joined with vairāgya is greater than a kingdom.

The mace fight between Bhīma and Duryodhana at Samantapañcaka, the last single combat of the Kurukshetra war.

Vidura tells Dhṛtarāshṭra the story of a man in a well, hanging by a vine and licking honey, to show life in saṃsāra.

With divine sight from Vyāsa, Gāndhārī walks the Kurukshetra battlefield beside Kṛshṇa and mourns the fallen heroes one by one.

Vyāsa tells Yudhishṭhira how King Marutta won Saṃvarta as his priest, found a mountain of gold, and made peace with Indra.

After the Kurukshetra war, Gāndhārī gives Kṛshṇa a śāpa: the Yādavas will destroy one another in thirty-six years, and Kṛshṇa accepts it.

Sārasvata, the son of Dadhīca and the river Sarasvatī, keeps the Vedas alive in a twelve-year drought and teaches sixty thousand ṛshis.

On the seventeenth day Yudhishṭhira tells Arjuna to give away the Gāṇḍīva, and Kṛshṇa guides Arjuna away from killing his own brother.

After Droṇa's death, Sātyaki and Dhṛshṭadyumna accuse each other of adharma in the Pāṇḍava camp, and Bhīmasena and Arjuna hold Sātyaki back.

Bhagavān Vyāsa calls the fallen warriors of Kurukshetra out of the Gaṅgā for one night, and their widows follow their husbands to the lokas.

Kṛshṇa tells Yudhishṭhira how Śālva attacked Dvārakā with the flying city Saubha and how Kṛshṇa destroyed Śālva and the Saubha.

Bhīshma tells Yudhishṭhira how Gautamī, a hunter, a serpent, Mṛtyu and Kāla argued over a boy's death, and how karma alone was found to be its cause.

A divine wind brings Draupadī a Saugandika lotus, and Bhīma goes to Kubera's lake for more, defeats the yakshas, and wins Kubera's blessing.

The ṛshi Śamaṭha tells Yudhishṭhira of the great yajña of the rājarshi Gaya, which made the place on the Phalgu the tīrtha of Gayā.

The account of Garuḍa: his birth, how he wins amṛta to free his mother Vinatā from Kadrū, and why he becomes Bhagavān Vishṇu's vāhana.

On the night of the fourteenth day of the Kurukshetra war, Karṇa uses Indra's Śakti on the rākshasa Ghaṭotkaca, and Bhagavān Kṛshṇa both weeps and laughs.

On the night after Duryodhana falls, Aśvatthāmā kills the sleeping Pāñchāla and Sṛñjaya army, and Duryodhana dies after hearing the news.

Duryodhana goes to Dvaitavana on a cattle-inspection journey, is captured by the gandharva Citrasena, and is freed by the Pāṇḍavas.

Sāvitrī follows Yama, wins four varas and brings her husband Satyavat back to life, as Mārkaṇḍeya tells Yudhishṭhira.

A vulture and a jackal argue over a dead child at Naimisha, one urging the family to leave and one to stay, until Bhagavān Śaṃkara grants the child a hundred years of life.

A brāhmaṇa asks King Seduka for a thousand horses and is sent to King Vṛshadarbha, who first strikes him and then gives a full day's tax revenue.

Prajāpati, in the form of a golden swan, teaches the Sādhya devas that truth, self-control, tapas and mastery of the mind lead to moksha.

Yudhishṭhira asks Vidura and his brothers which of dharma, artha and kāma is greatest, and then gives his own answer: moksha.

Śalya tells Karṇa the parable of a boastful crow that challenged a swan to a race across the ocean and had to be carried home on the swan's back.

Bhīshma tells Yudhishṭhira of three fish whose pond is drained: the far-sighted one escapes, the right-timing one escapes, the procrastinator dies.

A brāhmaṇa seized by a man-eating rākshasa calms him with gentle words alone, and answers why the rākshasa has turned pale and thin.

In devaloka, Sumanā asks the radiant Śāṇḍilī how she got there, and Śāṇḍilī lists the conduct of a faithful wife.

Hārīta Maharshi's teaching on how a wandering renunciant should live, speak, eat and think, told by Bhīshma to Yudhishṭhira.

Agastya's lotus goes missing at Prabhāsa, many ṛshis and kings swear oaths, and Indra owns up that he took it to hear dharma taught.

Indra, disguised as a king, tries to take the elephant that the brāhmaṇa Gautama raised, and in the end leads Gautama to Brahmaloka.

Vyāsa urges Yudhishṭhira to recite the Śiva Sahasranāma, and thirteen ṛshis and devas tell what Bhagavān Śaṅkara gave them through it.

Nārāyaṇa takes the horse-headed Hayagrīva form, sings the Sāmaveda to draw away Madhu and Kaiṭabha, and brings the stolen Vedas back to Brahmā.

Vyāsa tells Yudhishṭhira, after Abhimanyu's death, how Nārada consoled King Sṛñjaya with the accounts of the sixteen greatest kings.

After the last Kaurava forces fall on Day 18, Duryodhana flees alone and hides under the water of Dvaipāyana lake.

Bhīshma tells Yudhishṭhira how Nimi first gave śrāddha for his son Śrīmanta, how Atri taught him the full rite, and why Agni eats first.

King Ambarīsha, in svarga, asks Indra why his former commander Sudeva ranks above him, and Indra answers that battle is a yajña.

Bhīshma tells Yudhishṭhira of a jackal and a monkey who were friends in a past life, and of the fate of one who breaks a pledge to a brāhmaṇa.

Indra asks Bṛhaspati what one teaching makes a person the standard for all beings, and Bṛhaspati answers: kind, honest speech.

Śrutāvatī, daughter of Bharadvāja, cooks berries over her own legs to win Indra as her husband, and Badara-pācana Tīrtha takes its name.

King Indradyumna falls from svarga when his fame fades on earth, and an owl, a crane and an ancient tortoise confirm his deeds so that he returns.

Bhīshma tells Yudhishṭhira of a śūdra who learned the śrāddha rite from a muni, and of the king's laughter in their next lives.

Indra kills Triśiras and Vṛtra, hides from brahmahatyā, and Nahusha rules svarga until Agastya's śāpa throws him down as a serpent.

Śuka goes to King Janaka of Videha at Vyāsa's word, waits seven days, and learns about the āśramas and about how the jñānī leaves the body.

Janamejalya, cast out after unknowingly causing a brāhmaṇa's death, is taught the way of expiation by the ṛshi Indrota and is made pure by an Aśvamedha.

Bhīshma tells Yudhishṭhira how Śuka Maharshi rose beyond all the guṇas into brahmapada, and how Mahādeva gave Vyāsa Śuka's chāyā.

On the eighth day of the Kurukshetra war the Nāga warrior Irāvanta, son of Arjuna, is killed by the rākshasa Alambusha, and Ghaṭotkaca then fights Alambusha.

On the thirteenth day of the Kurukshetra war, Abhimanyu enters Droṇa's Cakravyūha alone, is cut off by Jayadratha, and is killed by six mahārathis and Duḥśāsana's son.

Bhīshma tells Yudhishṭhira how Śuka, the son of Vyāsa, was born from a pṛshatī through Mahādeva's vara, already enlightened.

Asita Devala asks the ṛshi Jaigīshavya why praise and blame do not move him, and Jaigīshavya describes the way of the person of steady wisdom.

At the end of the Virāṭa Parva, Arjuna gives Uttarā to his son Abhimanyu in marriage at Upaplavya, with Kṛshṇa, Balarāma, Drupada and many kings present.

A ṛshi turns a dog into a cheetah, tiger, elephant, lion and śarabha, and the śarabha turns on him.

King Vasumān of the Janaka line meets a muni of the Bhṛgu line in a forest and hears about the two paths of dharma, dāna, and Mahābhisha and Yayāti.

Agastya Maharshi keeps a twelve-year sattra without any harm to beings, and wins the rain from a proud Indra by the force of his tapas.

Three episodes from the Vana Parva about King Śibi Cakravartin: the road dispute with Suhotra, the pigeon and the hawk, and Brahmā's test.

At the end of his sarpa-yajña, King Janamejaya asks to see his dead father Parīkshit, and Vyāsa shows him, with Śamīka and Śṛṅgī.

Agastya Maharshi marries Lopāmudrā, destroys the rākshasa Vātāpi at Ilvala's feast, and wins the wealth that brings the birth of his son Dṛḍhāsyu.

Indra, disguised as a brāhmaṇa, asks Prahlāda for his śīla as a vara, and dharma, truth, conduct, strength and Lakshmī leave with it.

King Somaka gives his only son Jantu to the fire to gain a hundred sons, and later chooses to share his purohita's punishment in Yama's realm.

The Vindhya mountain grows so high that it blocks the sun, and Agastya makes it bow down until he returns from the south.

At the Rājasūya, Śiśupāla denounced Kṛshṇa, Bhīshma answered, and after one hundred offences the Sudarśana Cakra ended Śiśupāla's life.

The brāhmaṇa Kauśika does japa near the Himālaya for a thousand years, refuses every reward offered to him, and goes to brahmaloka without rebirth.

Bhīshma tells Yudhishṭhira how Aila asked Kaśyapa about brāhmaṇas and kshatriyas, and about Rudra within, and why a king needs a learned purohita.

The 1,008 names of Śiva in the Mahābhārata Śānti Parva, Chapter 284, given to restore Daksha's yajña, with an inner meaning for each name.

Kṛshṇa, Arjuna and Bhīma go to Girivraja as brāhmaṇas, and Bhīma kills Jarāsandha after a fourteen-day fight, so the Rājasūya can go forward.

Bhīma is seized by a python near the Sarasvatī. It is King Nahusha, freed from Agastya's śāpa by Yudhishṭhira's answers.

The Mahābhārata account of the birth of Kārttikeya (Skanda), told by Mārkaṇḍeya to Yudhishṭhira, from Svāhā's work to the slaying of Mahishāsura.

The ṛshi Jaratkāru finds his ancestors hanging in a pit and agrees to marry so that a son can free them.

Prahlāda asks a wandering brāhmaṇa who lives like a python how he stays free of grief, and the brāhmaṇa explains his way of life.

Rukmiṇī asks Lakshmī in Kṛshṇa's presence where she dwells, and Lakshmī answers; Bhīshma tells this to Yudhishṭhira in the Anuśāsana Parva.

The rākshasa Jaṭāsura enters the Pāṇḍava camp on Gandhamādana as a brāhmaṇa, seizes four of them, and is killed by Bhīma.

Bhīshma tells Duryodhana the life of Ambā, from her abduction at Kāśī to her rebirth as Śikhaṇḍī, in the Udyoga Parva of the Mahābhārata.

Two times Śrī Mahālakshmī appears before Indra in the Mahābhārata Śānti Parva, and tells where she lives, who stays with her, and what drives her away.

Jayadratha of Sindhu carries off Draupadī in the forest, is caught by Bhīmasena, is spared by Yudhishṭhira, and wins a vara from Bhagavān Śiva.

The Āṅgirasa teaching on tapas and dāna and the account of the origin and forms of Agni, from the Vana Parva of the Mahābhārata.

Indra, in the form of a jackal, stops the poor brāhmaṇa Kāśyapa from giving up his life and teaches him the worth of human birth.

Bhīshma tells Yudhishṭhira how jvara, the divine fever, was born from Bhagavān Śiva's anger and teja at Daksha's yajña.

Nārada tells Yudhishṭhira how Dhṛtarāshṭra met his end, and Yudhishṭhira performs the last rites and śrāddha for Dhṛtarāshṭra, Gāndhārī and Kuntī.

King Sṛñjaya's son, who gave gold from his body, is killed by thieves. Nārada comforts the king with sixteen accounts and brings the boy back to life.

A righteous Kekaya king, seized by a rākshasa, describes the dharma of every person in his kingdom, and the rākshasa lets him go.

The second dice game of the Sabhā Parva, in which Yudhishṭhira loses and the Pāṇḍavas go into thirteen years of exile after swearing terrible oaths.

Sudarśana, son of Agni, vowed as a householder to defeat Mṛtyu through hospitality to guests. Dharma tested him, and he and Oghavatī passed.

Kshemadaśī, a prince of Kosala who lost his kingdom, learns from the muni Kālakavṛkshīya and is reconciled with Janaka of Videha.

At Maṇipura, Arjuna fights his own son Babhruvāhana and falls, and Ulūpī revives him and tells why the Vasus and Gaṅgā had decreed this fight.

A parrot refuses to leave a withering tree that raised him. Indra tests him, is moved by his loyalty, and brings the tree back to life with amṛta.

The Kālakeya asuras hide in the ocean and kill ṛshis by night, so the devas ask Agastya to drink the ocean dry.

The rest of the Aśvamedha horse's year: Arjuna passes Magadha, Cedi, Daśārṇa, the Nishādas, Dvārakā and Gāndhāra, and invites each defeated king to the yajña.

Vyāsa teaches his son Śuka about yugas, creation, dissolution, the stages of life, yoga and desire, in chapters 231 to 254 of the Mokshadharma Parva.

On the second day of the Kurukshetra war, Bhīmasena destroys the Kaliṅga army and kills King Bhānumanta and his son Śakradeva.

After the Vṛshṇis destroy one another, Arjuna goes to Dvārakā, consoles Kṛshṇa's wives, and hears from Vasudeva's grief and Kṛshṇa's last charge.

The woman renunciate Sulabhā enters the mind of King Dharmadhvaja Janaka through yoga to test his knowledge, and answers every objection he raises.

King Āṅgarishṭha asks the ṛshi Kāmandaka how a king who fell into adharma through desire can set himself right. Bhīshma tells it to Yudhishṭhira.

Arjuna spends five years in Indra's Amarāvatī, receives weapons, learns the arts from Citrasena, answers Urvaśī's śāpa, and sends word to Yudhishṭhira through Lomaśa.

Vyāsa tells Dhṛtarāshṭra how the divine cow Surabhi wept before Indra for her beaten son, and Indra sent rain to free the ox.

The ṛshi Bharadvāja teaches King Śatruṃjaya of Suvīra the emergency statecraft of Kaṇika: daṇḍa, spies, timing, and four animal comparisons.

After the horse's year, Arjuna comes back to Hastināpura, Kṛshṇa and Yudhishṭhira speak of his hardships, and Babhruvāhana arrives to greet Kuntī.

King Uśīnara gives his own flesh, and at last himself, to save a pigeon that fled to him from a hawk, and passes a test of dharma.

A pigeon couple give their own lives to feed the hunter who trapped them, and the hunter, moved by what he saw, gives up his life too and reaches svarga.

After five years in Indraloka, Arjuna comes back to his brothers on Gandhamādana with fourteen divine astras, and the Yakshayuddha Parva ends.

Syūmaraśmi defends yajña, and the Sāṃkhya teacher Kapila answers with ahiṃsā and jñāna, ending with how all four āśramas lead to Brahman.

After the war Kuntī tells Yudhishṭhira that Karṇa was her firstborn, and Nārada tells how the śāpas of Paraśurāma and a brāhmaṇa sealed his fate.

Arjuna learns that Abhimanyu is dead and swears to kill Jayadratha before the next sunset, or enter fire himself.

The ṛshi Taṇḍi does ten thousand years of tapas, sees Mahādeva, sings a stotra to Śiva, and receives his grace. Upamanyu tells it to Kṛshṇa.

On the seventeenth day of the Kurukshetra war, Arjuna kills Karṇa with the Āñjalika arrow, and a great light rises from Karṇa's body into the sun.

Arjuna fights the Saindhava princes while guarding the Aśvamedha horse, and Duḥśalā brings her infant grandson to the field to ask for peace.

Bhīshma teaches Yudhishṭhira, through the cry of the ṭiṭṭibha bird, how a learned person should bear the abuse of a base person.

Kārtavīrya Arjuna steals Jamadagni's divine cow, Paraśurāma kills him, and after Jamadagni's death Paraśurāma clears the earth of kshatriyas twenty-one times.

On the night before the fourteenth day, Arjuna dreams of Bhagavān Śiva and receives the Pāśupatāstra a second time, to slay Jayadratha.

Trita is pushed into a well by his brothers Ekata and Dvita, performs a yajña from inside it, and the well becomes a tīrtha on the Sarasvatī.

The devas, ṛshis, rivers and mountains gather at Sthāṇu Tīrtha on the Sarasvatī and consecrate Kārttikeya as commander of the deva armies.

Arjuna does severe tapas in the Himālaya, fights Bhagavān Śiva in the form of a Kirāta hunter, and receives the Pāśupatāstra.

Jābali Maharshi is proud of his tapas. A voice sends him to the merchant Tulādhāra of Vārāṇasī, who teaches him that ahiṃsā is the highest dharma.

Before leaving for the forest, Dhṛtarāshṭra performs *śrāddha* for his fallen sons and kinsmen, and Yudhishṭhira opens the Pāṇḍava treasury for ten days of giving.

Arjuna, guarding the Aśvamedha horse, defeats the Trigarta warriors and spares them, as Yudhishṭhira had ordered.

The last part of the Udyoga Parva, Chapters 101–196: the armies gather at Kurukshetra, Ulūka's embassy, Bhīshma's list of warriors, and the story of Ambā.

Kṛshṇa tells Arjuna of the brāhmaṇa Kauśika, whose strict truth-telling led robbers to kill innocent people and sent him to naraka.

Arjuna fights Vajradatta, son of Bhagadatta, for three days at Prāgjyotishapura and spares him, as Yudhishṭhira had ordered.

On the eve of the war Duryodhana sends Ulūka, son of Śakuni, with insulting messages to the Pāṇḍava heroes, and each hero answers.

Bhīshma tells of Kāyavya, a robber chief who kept a strict code of protecting brāhmaṇas and the weak, and so reached *siddhi*.

Bhīshma tells Yudhishṭhira how the ṛshi Ashṭāvakra passed a night of testing in the far north and won Suprabhā, the daughter of Vadānya.

Bhagavān Śiva and Devī Umā talk on Himavat: the third eye, Śiva's form, the teaching of dharma, strī-dharma, and Bhīshma's closing words to Yudhishṭhira.

Vidura tells Dhṛtarāshṭra how Prahlāda judged truly between his own son Virocana and the brāhmaṇa Sudhanvā at the *svayaṃvara* of Keśinī.

The yogī Jaigīshavya lives silently in Asita-Devala's āśrama, and Devala finds him in every world he flies to, then asks to be taught moksha.

A starving brāhmaṇa family of Kurukshetra gives its last saktu to a guest, who is Dharma himself, and all four rise to svarga in their own bodies.

Bhīshma tells Nakula how the sword Asi rose from Brahmā's *yajña* on Himavat and passed from Rudra through Vishṇu and many kings to the Pāṇḍavas.

Born bent in eight places, the boy Ashṭāvakra defeats the scholar Vandi in King Janaka's court and frees his father Kahoḍa.

Bhīshma tells Yudhishṭhira how the brāhmaṇa Dharmāraṇya, after a fifteen-day fast, takes up uñchavṛtti, the gleaning of fallen grain.

Bhīmasena kills Kīcaka, commander of King Virāṭa's army, and his 105 brothers, after Kīcaka insults Draupadī in the Matsya court.

How the brāhmaṇa Āstīka stopped Janamejaya's sarpa-yāga and saved the nāgas, with the narratives that lead up to it.

Bhīshma tells of a camel with a hundred-yojana neck that grew lazy and was eaten by a jackal, and Manu's teaching that victory is rooted in intelligence.

Rājarshi Kuru ploughs a field for years until Indra grants that all who die there reach the highest worlds, and the place becomes Kurukshetra.

At the Avākīrṇa tīrtha on the Sarasvatī, the ṛshi Baka Dālbhya teaches King Dhṛtarāshṭra the duty of a king through a milch cow and her calf.

The brahmarshi Utathya teaches King Māndhātā that a king exists for dharma, not for his own enjoyment, as Bhīshma tells Yudhishṭhira.

Bhīma kills the rākshasa Kirmīra, brother of Baka and Hiḍimba, on the Pāṇḍavas' night road to Kāmyakavana.

Indra visits the very long-lived ṛshi Baka Dālbhya and asks him about the sorrows and the joys of a life of a hundred thousand years.

Ṛshi Uttaṅka meets Bhagavān Kṛshṇa in the desert, sees the Viśvarūpa, and recalls his search for Madayantī's earrings.

Bhīshma tells Yudhishṭhira how Vyāsa met a frightened insect that had been a cruel moneylender, and led it by stages to Brahmaloka.

Mārkaṇḍeya Maharshi tells the Pāṇḍavas how he saw the radiant child Bāla Mukunda on a vaṭa leaf in the ocean of pralaya.

The Kauravas raid King Virāṭa's northern cattle, and Arjuna, as Bṛhannaḷā, drives out their whole army.

After the slaughter at Prabhāsa, Balarāma's serpent form enters the sea and Kṛshṇa, struck by the hunter Jara's arrow, ascends to his own abode.

Kṛshṇa tells Arjuna of the hunter Balāka, whose killing of a cruel creature brought him puṇya, to show that dharma looks at the heart of an act.

Dadhīca gives his body so that Tvashṭā can forge the Vajra, and Indra slays Vṛtra with it.

The Harivaṃśa's Vishṇu Parva tells of Nārada's visit to Kaṃsa, Kṛshṇa's birth, Vasudeva's crossing of the Yamunā and the exchange with Yaśodā's daughter.

Balarāma travels along the Sarasvatī to its source during the Kurukshetra war, hearing the account of each tīrtha, and returns for the mace fight.

The ṛshi Vāmadeva teaches King Vasumana how a king stays in dharma, in three chapters of the Śānti Parva told by Bhīshma to Yudhishṭhira.

The Harivaṃśa tells of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa's boyhood among the cowherds: Pūtanā, Kāliya, Govardhana, the Rāsa nights, and the call from Kaṃsa.

Bali, once ruler of the three worlds and now fallen, teaches Indra that kāla alone is the doer of all rising and falling, and Śrī leaves Bali's body.

The twelve-year forest exile of Yudhishṭhira and his brothers after the dice game, as told in the Vana Parva, the third book of the Mahābhārata.

Arjuna and Duryodhana both ask Kṛshṇa for help. Kṛshṇa offers his army or himself without weapons. Arjuna chooses Kṛshṇa and Duryodhana the army.

Ushā dreams of Aniruddha, Chitralekhā brings him to Śoṇitapura, and Kṛshṇa faces Bhagavān Śiva in battle to free him from Bāṇāsura.

Lomaśa tells Yudhishṭhira how the earth began to sink after Naraka's death, and how Bhagavān Vishṇu as Varāha lifted her from the waters.

In the Aśvamedhika Parva, Kṛshṇa consoles Yudhishṭhira with the Indra-Vṛtra account as a teaching of jñāna, the Ātmayuddha, and the Kāmagīta.

Kṛshṇa leaves Upaplavya, goes to Hastināpura, speaks at the Kaurava court, and hears Duryodhana refuse peace, in Udyoga Parva Chapters 72 to 100.

In the Nārāyaṇīya, Varāha draws three piṇḍas from the mud on his tusks and declares himself the three pitṛs, the origin of piṇḍa-dāna.

After the Anugītā, Kṛshṇa leaves Hastināpura for Dvārakā, meets Uttaṅka on the way, and reaches his parents Vasudeva and Devakī during the Raivataka festival.

Bhagīratha's tapas brings Gaṅgā down from svarga, Śiva catches her in his locks, and her waters free the sixty thousand sons of Sagara.

A guru teaches a seeker that Vāsudeva is the Paramātmā and source of all creation, in Śānti Parva Chapters 210–217, told by Bhīshma to Yudhishṭhira.

Kṛshṇa goes to Hastināpura as the Pāṇḍavas' ambassador to ask for five villages and peace, and Duryodhana refuses.

Bhīshma answers Yudhishṭhira's question with the itihāsa of King Bhaṅgāsvana, who became a woman through Indra's māyā and chose to stay one.

Vasishṭha Maharshi teaches King Karāla Janaka the Sāṃkhya-Yoga path from the kshara to the akshara, in Śānti Parva Chapters 302–308.

Kṛshṇa rejoices when Ghaṭotkaca dies, because Karṇa has spent the Indra-śakti, and tells Arjuna the plan behind the war.

Bhīshma tells Yudhishṭhira how Śukra, swallowed by Bhagavān Śiva, spent crores of years inside him and was freed by Pārvatī.

Vasu, king of Cedi, rules carelessly in a dispute between Indra and the ṛshis about animal yajña and falls at once into Rasātala.

Before the Śiva Sahasranāma is taught, Kṛshṇa tells how Upamanyu's teaching and his own tapas brought him the sight of Śiva and Pārvatī and sixteen varas.

In the Gandhamādana forest Bhīma cannot lift an old monkey's tail, meets his elder brother Hanumān, and receives his vara for the great war.

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa asks Nārada what to do when his kinsmen Āhuka and Akrūra are rivals, and Nārada tells him to be the steady centre of the Yādavas.

During Kṛshṇa's twelve-year vrata for a son, a fire from his tejas burns a mountain and Vishṇu restores it, as Bhīshma tells Yudhishṭhira.

On the tenth night Karṇa goes to the fallen Bhīshma, who speaks of Karṇa's birth, his rank, his deeds and the war, and blesses him to fight.

King Ugrasena asks Bhagavān Kṛshṇa why everyone honours Nārada, and Kṛshṇa lists the virtues that make Nārada dear to all.

Yudhishṭhira is consoled and rules from Hastināpura. Kṛshṇa tells Arjuna it is time to return to Dvārakā.

At the Rājasūya, Bhīshma answers Śiśupāla by declaring Kṛshṇa to be Nārāyaṇa, then recounts Kṛshṇa's avatāras and deeds.

Bhīshma tells Yudhishṭhira how kingship began: the nītiśāstra, the line from Virajasa to Vena, Vena's death, and the birth and coronation of Pṛthu.

Bhīshma tells Yudhishṭhira how the brāhmaṇa Gautama killed the crane king who had fed him, and why the ungrateful have no expiation.

On the tenth day of the Kurukshetra war Bhīshma falls to Arjuna's arrows and lies on the bed of arrows, waiting for Uttarāyaṇa.

King Vicikhna praises ahiṃsā as the highest dharma and says it is greater than a yajña that involves killing animals.

A poor brāhmaṇa does tapas to gain wealth for a yajña. The divine being Kuṇḍadhāra teaches him that dharma is the highest of the three aims of life.

Bhīshma gives his last words, asks Kṛshṇa's leave, withdraws his prāṇa through the cakras, and departs from the bed of arrows at Kurukshetra.

Vidura leaves his body by entering Yudhishṭhira in the forest, and Vyāsa tells the court that Vidura was Dharma himself, born through Māṇḍavya's curse.

Sūrya warns Karṇa in a dream, Kuntī's mantra and Karṇa's birth are told, and Karṇa gives Indra his kavaca and kuṇḍalas.

On the bed of arrows Bhīshma praises Bhagavān Vishṇu-Nārāyaṇa; Kṛshṇa then lifts his pain and gives him clear memory to teach Yudhishṭhira.

Vidura teaches the grieving Dhṛtarāshṭra about karma, death, saṃsāra and moksha after the news of Duryodhana's death.

Kuntī tells Vyāsa the full story of Karṇa's birth, and Vyāsa tells her that devas beget children in five ways and that she is without fault.

Bhṛgu Maharshi teaches Bharadvāja Maharshi how creation arose, what the ātmā is, how varṇa is known, the four āśramas, daily conduct and the path to moksha.

At Upaplavya in Virāṭa's kingdom the Pāṇḍavas and their allies decide to send an envoy to Hastināpura while they prepare for war.

The armies gather at Kurukshetra, agree the rules of war, take their formations, and Arjuna sings the Durgā Stotra before the first battle.

In a twelve-year famine the starving ṛshi Viśvāmitra tries to take dog-meat from a Śvapaca, and the two debate āpaddharma.

The first ten days of the Kurukshetra war under Bhīshma, and the seventeenth day, when Arjuna killed Karṇa.

Kuṇirgarga's daughter grows old in tapas without a husband, marries Śṛṅgavanta for one night, and blesses the tīrtha that bears her name.

Vyāsa tells Dhṛtarāshṭra how Bhūdevī asked for relief, how Bhagavān Vishṇu sent the devas to be born, and how Duryodhana was born as a part of Kali.

The Pāṇḍavas travel to the holy tīrthas of Bharatavarsha with the ṛshi Lomaśa, who brings Indra's message and tells the story of each place.

Arjuna leads the Vṛshṇi women, children and elders out of Dvārakā before the sea swallows it; at Pañcanada robbers carry off many women.

Seven ṛshis, Arundhatī and two helpers starve in a famine, refuse a king's gifts, outwit his Kṛtyā, and pass a test of greed set by Indra.

The close of the Mahābhārata: where the heroes of the war went, the end of Janamejaya's serpent yajña, and how the epic was passed on.

On the seventeenth day of the war Arjuna kills Karṇa's son Vṛshasena before Karṇa's eyes, to answer the killing of Abhimanyu.

Bodhya, a ṛshi of perfect peace, names six teachers: Piṅgalā, a bird, a snake, a bee, an arrow-maker and a maiden. Chapter 178 of the Śānti Parva.

Bhīshma tells Yudhishṭhira how Vyāsa met the young ṛshi Maitreya in Vārāṇasī and taught that dāna, tapas and learning all have great worth.

The song of the dānava Vṛtrāsura before his last battle with Indra, a teaching on detachment, bhakti to Bhagavān Vishṇu and calm in the face of death.

King Janaka of Mithilā tells the ṛshi Māṇḍavya that nothing is his, even if all of Mithilā burns. Bhīshma tells this to Yudhishṭhira.

How Indra slew the asura Vṛtra with the Vajra that Bhagavān Vishṇu entered, as told in the Vana Parva and the Mokshadharma Parva of the Mahābhārata.

Lomaśa tells how King Yuvānāśva drank the ṛshis' sacred water and how his son Māndhātā was born from his left side and named by Indra.

Bhagīratha tells Brahmā that no gift or yajña brought him to Brahmaloka, but anaśana, the secret of fasting. Bhīshma tells this to Yudhishṭhira.

Bhīshma's account of the jackal who was once King Paurika, the tiger who made him minister, and why he chose to fast unto death after being proved innocent.

King Parīkshit marries Suśobhanā, daughter of the frog-king Āyus, and his sons Śala and Dala keep the ṛshi Vāmadeva's horses.

Pūjanī the sparrow lives in King Brahmadatta's palace. When the prince kills her chick, she blinds him, and she and the king argue about it.

Arjuna tells Vyāsa of the fall of the Vṛshṇis and the failure of his weapons, and Vyāsa teaches him about Kāla, time.

On Gandhamādana, Bhīma kills the yaksha Maṇimanta, and Kubera tells the Pāṇḍavas of Agastya's śāpa and promises them protection.

Vyāsa tells Aśvatthāmā why Kṛshṇa and Arjuna cannot be harmed, and tells Arjuna that Mahādeva walked before him in the war.

Maṅkī loses his last two bulls to a camel, speaks to desire itself, and in that moment gives up all craving. Śānti Parva, Chapter 177.

On Vaijayasta mountain Bhagavān Śiva asks Brahmā who he meditates on, and Brahmā teaches him about the paramātman and the four vyūhas.

Yudhishṭhira tells Dhṛtarāshṭra how many warriors fell at Kurukshetra and which lokas four kinds of warriors reach.

Manu Svāyambhuva asks Bṛhaspati about the highest dharma, and Bṛhaspati teaches the guṇas, Sāṃkhya and Yoga, and the paramātmā.

Dreadful omens fill Dvārakā, Kṛshṇa sends the Yādavas to Prabhāsa, and there they drink, quarrel and destroy one another with iron pestles.

After Indra killed Vṛtrāsura, the pāpa of brahmahatyā was shared among the pipal tree, the rivers, the earth and women, each given a vara.

Kaṇva tells how Indra's charioteer Mātali searches the worlds with Nārada for a husband for his daughter Guṇakeśī.

Bhīshma tells Yudhishṭhira how a speaking deer offered himself for the yajña of the brāhmaṇa Satya, and why ahiṃsā comes before every rite.

Mārkaṇḍeya tells how a tiny fish grows to fill the ocean and carries Vaivasvata Manu's boat through the mahā-pralaya to Naukābandha.

King Janaka banishes a brāhmaṇa, who asks where his kingdom ends. Janaka's answer shows that nothing is truly his, and the brāhmaṇa is Dharmadevatā.

At a forest lake a Yaksha asks Yudhishṭhira questions on dharma, and Dharmarāja gives back his four brothers and three varas.

Māya, the dānava builder saved from the Khāṇḍava fire, builds a matchless assembly hall at Indraprastha for Yudhishṭhira.

Yama visits the ṛshi Gautama at Pāriyātra and tells him how to repay the debt to his parents and reach the purest lokas.

A young brāhmaṇa, Medhāvī, tells his father not to wait for the later āśramas but to seek moksha today, because Mṛtyu does not wait.

Kṛshṇa answers Arjuna's request to hear the Gītā again by telling the itihāsa of Kāśyapa and a siddha: the Anugītā.

The Yānasandhi Parva of the Udyoga Parva covers the council at Upaplavya and ends with the decision to send Kṛshṇa to Hastināpura as peace ambassador.

Bhīshma tells how Mṛtyu was born from Brahmā's anger, refused to take lives, and accepted her work only after Brahmā's assurance.

In the Mahābhārata, Bhīshma teaches the practical means of yoga: how to overcome the inner defects that block moksha, and how the layers of the mind settle into pure awareness.

King Mucukunda attacks Kubera at Alakā, wins only through Vasishṭha's tapas, and then refuses the earth as a gift from Kubera.

Yudhishṭhira reaches Svarga in his own body, is shown Naraka, refuses to leave his brothers, and passes his third and last test.

A brāhmaṇa teaches the grieving King Senajit of Mithilā that saṃsāra is like logs in the sea, and tells him the gāthā of Piṅgalā.

Mārkaṇḍeya tells Yudhishṭhira how the poor ṛshi Mudgala fed Durvāsa six times without anger, then refused Indra's chariot to seek moksha.

Hearing that Dhṛtarāshṭra, Gāndhārī and Kuntī died in a forest fire, Yudhishṭhira weeps for Kuntī above all and blames Agni for forgetting the help Arjuna once gave him.

Vṛshṇi youths mock three ṛshis at Dvārakā, and the ṛshis' śāpa brings forth the iron mushala that will destroy the Vṛshṇis and Andhakas.

The brāhmaṇa Kauśika learns the highest dharma from the Dharma-Vyādha, a righteous hunter and meat-seller of Mithilā, in the Mahābhārata's Vana Parva.

At the start of the Aśvamedhika Parva, Yudhishṭhira collapses in grief after the water-rites, and Dhṛtarāshṭra, Kṛshṇa and Vyāsa each speak to him.

Bhīshma tells Yudhishṭhira of Lomaśa the cat and Palita the mouse, enemies who join together to survive and part when the danger ends.

The earth, crushed by adharma, goes to Brahmā and Bhagavān Vishṇu, and the devas are sent to be born on earth as portions of themselves for the Mahābhārata war.

After the night massacre, Aśvatthāmā fires the Brahmāśiras at the Pāṇḍavas, Arjuna answers it, and Vyāsa and Nārada stop the two weapons from burning the world.

In the Anuśāsana Parva, Bhṛgu hides in Agastya's matted hair and curses Nahusha to fall from Indra's throne as a serpent.

Arjuna goes into twelve years of forest exile, marries Ulūpī and Citrāṅgadā, frees five apsarases, and reaches Dvārakā with Kṛshṇa.

A rākshasa named Cārvāka, dressed as a sannyāsī, accuses Yudhishṭhira in the palace courtyard, and the assembled brāhmaṇas destroy him with a single huṃkāra.

The Mahābhārata is told in the Naimishāraṇya forest, where Ugraśravā Sauti recites it to Śaunaka and the ṛshis during a twelve-year satra.

Aurva is born from his mother's thigh, his anger becomes the fire under the ocean, and Parāśara's rākshasa yajña is stopped.

A golden-sided mongoose speaks at the end of Yudhishṭhira's Aśvamedha and says a poor brāhmaṇa's gift of saktu was greater than the whole yajña.

Bhīma kills the rākshasa Baka at Ekacakrā and frees the town from the tribute of food and a human being.

Bhīshma answers Yudhishṭhira's four questions: how a pāpātmā arises, how a dharmātmā lives, how vairāgya grows, and how moksha is reached.

Bṛhadaśva tells Yudhishṭhira how Nala of Nishadha lost his kingdom to Kali, wandered in disguise, and was restored with Damayantī.

Duryodhana poisons Bhīma and throws him into the Gaṅgā, and in the nāga world Vāsuki gives him eight pots of nāga-rasa to drink.

Nārada asks Asita-Devala where the universe comes from and where it returns, and hears of the five great elements and time.

Devavrata gives up the Kuru throne and vows lifelong brahmacarya so that Śāntanu can marry Satyavatī, and is named Bhīshma.

Bhīshma tells Yudhishṭhira of an old Cāṇḍāla who remembers his former birth and gives his life to guard a brāhmaṇa's wealth, to be freed from that state.

In the forest āśrama near Kurukshetra, Nārada tells of ancient kings and foretells the end of Dhṛtarāshṭra, Gāndhārī, Kuntī, Vidura and Sañjaya.

Arjuna marries Citrāṅgadā, the daughter of King Citravāhana of Maṇipura, and their son Babhruvāhana stays in Maṇipura as heir.

Nārada asks Yudhishṭhira more than sixty questions on kingship, describes the sabhās of Yama, Varuṇa, Kubera, Indra and Brahmā, and tells of the divine plan.

Vyāsa tells how Draupadī, in a past birth, prayed to Bhagavān Śiva five times for a husband and was given five husbands in her next birth.

Jamadagni threatens to shoot down Sūrya for scorching Reṇukā, and Sūrya, seeking refuge, gives the world the umbrella and the sandals.

The Vana Parva tells how the asura Naraka, son of Bhūdevī, grew so strong that the earth sank under his weight, and how Bhagavān Vishṇu destroyed him.

Kings gather at Pāñcāla to win Draupadī, and Arjuna, in a brāhmaṇa's disguise, strings the great bow and strikes the target.

Bhīshma tells Yudhishṭhira how Cirakārī, who always took long to act, delayed his father's angry command and so saved his mother's life.

Kṛshṇa and Satyabhāmā ride Garuḍa to Prāgjyotisha, slay Mura and Narakāsura, free sixteen thousand women and return Aditi's earrings.

Drupada's doubt about Draupadī marrying all five Pāṇḍavas is ended by Vyāsa, and the wedding is held with Kuntī's blessing and Kṛshṇa's gifts.

At Gaṅgādvāra, Bhagavān Śiva tells Jayadratha of Vishṇu's Varāha, Nṛsiṃha and Vāmana avatāras and of Kṛshṇa's protection of Arjuna, then grants a boon.

As his guru-dakshiṇā, Droṇa sends the Kuru princes to capture King Drupada of Pāñcāla, and Arjuna brings Drupada to him alive.

Lomaśa tells Yudhishṭhira how Cyavana, blinded by Sukanyā, was given youth by the Aśvins and then won them a share of the soma.

Aśvatthāmā releases the Nārāyaṇāstra on the Pāṇḍava army, and Kṛshṇa tells every warrior to lay down arms and bow.

Ekalavya, refused by Droṇa, learns archery before a clay image of him, and later gives his right thumb to Droṇa as guru-dakshiṇā.

The Nārāyaṇīya is Bhīshma's account of what Nārada learned from Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa on Śveta-dvīpa, with the four vyūhas and the Sāttvata dharma.

Gaṅgā marries King Śāntanu, drowns their first seven sons, and then returns the eighth, Devavrata, who becomes Bhīshma.

How Daksha's śāpa made Soma waste away, and how Soma's bath at the Sarasvatī and the sea gave the tīrtha Prabhāsa its name.

Arjuna goes down to Pātāla in Indra's chariot and destroys the three crore Nivātakavacas, then brings down the flying city Hiraṇyapura.

Bhīma kills the rākshasa Hiḍimba in the forest, marries his sister Hiḍimbā, and their son is Ghaṭotkaca.

Paraśurāma tells the Kaurava sabhā how the proud king Dambhodbhava was humbled by Nara and Nārāyaṇa, as a warning to Duryodhana.

Pañcaśikha Kāpileya tells King Janaka the Lokāyata and Bauddha views, answers both, and teaches sarvātyāga as the way to moksha.

Duryodhana plots to burn the Pāṇḍavas alive in a house of lac at Vāraṇāvata, and they escape through a secret tunnel.

Pañcaśikha tells King Janaka that old age and death cannot be stopped, and that moksha through jñāna is the one way across them.

Kaca learns the mṛtasañjīvanī vidyā from Śukrācārya, is killed three times, and parts from Devayānī with a śāpa on each side.

Vasuhoma tells Māndhātā how daṇḍa vanished, how Mahādeva Rudra made it again, and how it passed down to human kings.

After the Jarāsandha Vadha, the four younger Pāṇḍavas march in four directions so that Yudhishṭhira can perform the Rājasūya Yajña.

King Kalmāshapāda, held by a rākshasa, kills Śakti and Vasishṭha's other sons; Vasishṭha frees him and Aśmaka is born.

Bhīshma tells Yudhishṭhira what dharma is: its three sources, its purpose, the place of conduct, and why satya is the highest.

Parāśara Maharshi's nine-chapter teaching to King Janaka in the Mahābhārata, on duty, the guṇas, war, karma and the path to moksha.

The minister Kaṇika advises Dhṛtarāshṭra on rājanīti: the four upāyas, how to treat enemies, secrecy and spies, and the jackal's account.

How Rāmachandra took the tejas of Paraśurāma with an arrow from Bhagavān Vishṇu's bow, and how Paraśurāma won it back at Vadhūsarā tīrtha.

The birth of Karṇa to Kuntī and Bhagavān Sūrya, his adoption by Adhiratha and Rādhā, and the later gift of his kavaca and kuṇḍala to Indra.

Bhīshma teaches Yudhishṭhira that karma follows the doer like a shadow and ripens at its own time, in the Mahābhārata's Śānti Parva.

How Parīkshit, the last heir of the Kuru and Pāṇḍava line, was born after Abhimanyu's death and saved from Aśvatthāmā's brahmāstra by Bhagavān Kṛshṇa.

Bhagavān Agni asks Kṛshṇa and Arjuna to hold off Indra while he burns the Khāṇḍava forest; they receive divine weapons and win a vara from Indra.

Dhaumya describes the holy tīrthas of the east, south, west and north to Yudhishṭhira in the Vana Parva of the Mahābhārata.

How King Parīkshit insulted the muni Śāmika, was cursed by Śṛṅgi and died by Takshaka's bite, and how his son Janamejaya vowed to destroy the nāgas.

Why King Mahābhisha was reborn as Śāntanu, and why the eight Vasus were born as the sons of Gaṅgā, the last of them Bhīshma.

How the brāhmaṇa Kauśika, who killed a bird in anger, was sent by a faithful wife to learn dharma from the Dharma-Vyādha of Mithilā.

Arjuna saves the dānava builder Maya from Kṛshṇa's Sudarśana cakra at the burning of Khāṇḍava, and Indra grants Arjuna a vara.

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa puts an iron statue of Bhīma in Dhṛtarāshṭra's arms, and the king crushes it in rage, in the Strī Parva.

The first great narrative of the Mahābhārata: Dhaumya's three disciples, Pulomā and Cyavana, Agni's śāpa, and Ruru and Pramadvarā.

Nārada visits the Pāṇḍavas at Indraprastha, tells of Sunda and Upasunda, and the brothers make their agreement about Draupadī.

Mārkaṇḍeya tells Yudhishṭhira how king Kuvalāśva killed the buried asura Dhundhu and became Dhundhumāra, in the Vana Parva.