To truly understand Indian culture, you have to read and understand the Mahabharata story, the values of the characters, the guidance given by the sages, and the underlying ethos of the story. The following excerpt from Sri Aurobindo’s writing shows how closely linked the Mahabharata is to ancient Indian thought, culture, and life.

“The Mahabharata especially is not only the story of the Bharatas, the epic of an early event which had become a national tradition but on a vast scale the epic of the soul and religious and ethical mind and social and political ideals and culture and life of India. It is said popularly of it and with a certain measure of truth that whatever is in India is in the Mahabharata. The Mahabharata is the creation and expression not of a single individual mind, but of the mind of a nation; it is the poem of itself written by a whole people.”

— SABCL, Volumes 14, pages 282-293

–

The Mahabharata is the longest epic in the world at about 100,000 shlokas or couplets. Along with being the longest epic, it is also the itihasa of Bharata.
The meaning of itihasa is: so indeed it was. On the face of it, itihasa seems to refer to a historical account, but that is not the real meaning of this word in the context of the Mahabharata. In this context, itihasa refers to a narrative that is built on a historical core, complemented with mythical and semi-fictional stories to drive home a teaching. In the case of the Mahabharata story, the teaching is how to live according to the four proper goals of life, known as the four purusharthas. Specifically, these purusharthas are: dharma, artha, kama, and moksha. Dharma refers to the principle that sustains self and the whole, artha refers to prosperity, kama refers to pleasure, and finally, moksha refers to the liberation from the cycle from birth and death.

The mahabharata story

The popular view about Mahabharata is that it’s the story of conflict between cousins (Kauravas and Pandavas) over land or property. But that’s a mistaken view. The conflict was the fallout of a larger goal – a cosmic goal – that had to be achieved when Dwapara yuga was changing into Kalyuga. The goal was to re-establish dharma at a time when there was a lot of suffering on Earth. So the Mahabharata is the story of conflict between those who were aligned with dharma and those who were acting contrary to dharma. The conflict had to happen to re-establish dharma and bring back conditions that would sustain, nourish, and uphold all life on Earth. 

The seed of this conflict was sown in Satya Yuga when the asuras were defeated by the devas and banished from heaven. These asuras were powerful, power-hungry, and cruel. Thrown out of heaven, they started to take birth on Earth as kings and in other positions of power. These asuras in human form began to use their power to dominate others and create suffering. 

Jarasandha,  Shishupala, Duryodhana, and many others were negative forces in human form. Eventually, the asuras created so much suffering for Mother Earth and her creatures that she went to Brahmadeva for help. The grandsire had anticipated this event and had already thought of a solution. He asked the devas and other celestial beings to be born on Earth and enter into conflict with the asuras to re-establish dharma. Sri Krishna, Mata Kunti, Draupadi, the Pandava brothers, and several other characters were celestials born as humans at Brahmadeva’s request. 

The Mahabharata is the story of how the devas and celestials, after being born on Earth in human form, vanquished the asuras and re-established dharma. It contains various trials and tribulations they had to go through to fight for the dharma. It shows the dilemmas faced by various characters and how certain people made dharma-aligned decisions against all odds, while others made decisions opposed to dharma even though they could have easily done the right thing. We also see the repercussions of these decisions. Finally, we see the results of certain peoples’ adharmic decisions on the collective.

Having established the root cause of the conflict described in the Mahabharata, let us now look at the main events which manifested as a conflict between the Pandavas (sons of Pandu) and their cousins, the Kauravas (sons of Dhritarashtra).

Pandu and Dhritarashtra

Let’s begin the story from the point when King Pandu ruled over Hastinapura, the capital of the Kuru kingdom. He was one of three brothers: Dhritarashtra, Pandu, and Vidura. Dhritarashtra was the eldest brother, but Pandu was made the king because Dhritarashtra was blind. Pandu was a brave and noble king who expanded the borders of the kingdom.

After returning from war, Pandu, along with his wives Kunti and Madri, went to the forest for a few days to relax. One day, he went hunting in the forest and shot a deer with an arrow. The deer was coupling with its partner when it was fatally injured. They were actually a human couple (a rishi and his wife) who had transformed into animals for privacy. The deer returned to his human form and cursed Pandu that he too would die when he got intimate with his partner. 

Filled with grief, Pandu handed over the throne to his blind brother Dhritarashtra and left the kingdom to live in a forest and perform penance. His two wives, Kunti and Madri, followed him, abandoning the riches and luxuries of royal life.

Pandu could not birth children with his wives because of the rishi’s curse. However, his elder wife Kunti had been blessed with a boon in her younger days. According to the boon, she could invoke any devata (celestial being) and have children with them. With the help of this boon, Kunti birthed three children (Yudhishthira,  Bhima, and Arjuna) with three devatas, and Madri birthed twins (Nakula and Sahadeva). The children grew up in the ashrams, along with their parents and other brahmins. 

However, one day Pandu was overcome with desire for his beautiful wife, Madri, and the rishi’s curse came true. Pandu died immediately and grief-filled Madri decided to follow her husband to the other world.

The Rise of Adharma

The brahmins of the forest advised and helped Kunti return to the palace in Hastinapura with the children. The citizens and elders from the royal family welcomed Kunti and the five children (known as the Pandavas) with open arms, although King Dhritarashtra’s sons and the king himself resented their presence and slowly grew jealous of them. 

Duryodhana made several attempts to harm the Pandavas. He tried to kill Bhima twice, but fortunately, Bhima was saved both times. In one of these attempts, Bhima emerged stronger than before. 

All the Kura princes trained under the tutelage of Dronacharya. Several other children also learned from Guru Dronacharya. One of them was Karna, a bright boy, adopted by Adhiratha, a charioteer and a friend of King Dhritarashtra. Just like Duryodhana was jealous of all the Pandavas, Karna was jealous of Arjuna and always tried to put him down. Eventually, Duryodhana and Karna became close friends and the former even made Karna the king of Anga.

The Pandavas were brave, virtuous, noble, and loved by the people and elders of the Kuru court. Yudhishthira, the oldest, had a strong grasp of dharma. Because of these factors, Yudhishthira was made the crown prince, which infuriated Duryodhana and made him even more insecure. He planned to send the Pandavas and their mother to a town called Varanavata and burn down the house in which they would stay.  Fortunately, the Pandavas were alerted and saved by their uncle, Vidura, who arranged to dig escape tunnels from the special, flammable house that Duryodhana had built for them. After escaping from Varanavata, the Pandavas decided to stay safe and remain in hiding. They stayed in various forests.

During their stay in the forest, Maharishi Veda Vyasa met them once and told them they were destined to marry Draupadi, the princess of Panchala. Later, they heard about Draupadi’s swayamvara and decided to go to the capital city of Panchala with a group of brahmins and ascetics. Arjuna (still in disguise) fulfilled the challenge, devised by King Drupada,  in the swayamvara and was garlanded by Draupadi as her husband. What followed was an unconventional marriage in which Draupadi married all five Pandavas. 

After marriage, Kunti, Draupadi, and the Pandavas returned to Hastinapura and declared they were alive. The elders decided to split the kingdom and give one part to the Pandavas to maintain peace between them and Dhritarashtra’s sons. Dhritarashtra gave the Pandavas the dry and barren half of the kingdom. However, with their hard work and wise policies, the Pandavas converted that land into a flourishing kingdom and built a grand palace in the capital city of Indraprastha. Furthermore, they conducted a Rajasuya yagna after which Yudhishthira became the emperor of Bharata.

Duryodhana was unable to tolerate the prosperity and respect the Pandavas had gathered. He plotted to harm them again. This time, he arranged for a game of dice with Yudhishthira. In the game that followed, Yudhishthira was defeated by deceit, and he not only lost his kingdom, but the five Pandavas and Draupadi became slaves of the Kauravas. However, Duryodhana and his brothers did not stop with usurping the Pandavas’ wealth and kingdom. They also insulted Draupadi and tried to disrobe her. 

Bhima was infuriated when he saw Draupadi being humiliated. He vowed revenge on the Kauravas. Draupadi also tried to speak up for herself, but, except for Vidura and Vikarna, the entire audience was silent. However, it seems like the heavens responded to her plea, and various ominous omens and sounds appeared. These omens scared Dhritarashtra’s wife, Gandhari. She asked Dhritarashtra to return everything back to the Pandavas and put an end to the game. The game of dice ended, and the Pandavas left the gambling hall to return to their kingdom.

However, Duryodhana immediately schemed another game. The Pandavas were called back for this game when they were en route to their kingdom. This time, the stakes were different. Whoever lost, would have to go into exile for thirteen years. Deceit was used once again by the Kauravas; the Pandavas lost and had to leave their kingdom and go into exile for thirteen years.

As we can see, almost every interaction between the Pandavas and the Kauravas only served to deepen the conflict. It is also noteworthy, that every time the Pandavas were on the receiving end of Duryodhana’s schemes.

The people of Hastinapura also sympathized with the Pandavas and Draupadi when they left for exile and many of them followed the Pandavas into the forest.

One day, Duryodhana happened to find out where the Pandavas were staying in the forest. Unsatisfied by the pain he had already inflicted on the Pandavas, Duryodhana decided to humiliate them further. Duryodhana, his brothers, Karna, and all their wives went decked in royal pomp to the place where the Pandavas lived in simplicity. However, the Kauravas were challenged in the forest by the Gandharvas because Duryodhana messed with them with his arrogance. The Gandharvas being superior in warfare and possessing skills that common humans weren’t, routed the Kaurava army and took Duryodhana as their prisoner. Duryodhana’s friend, Karna, was unable to bear the Gandharvas’ onslaught and fled the scene to save his life. Ultimately, upon Yudhishthira’s insistence, Arjuna fought with the Gandharvas and freed Duryodhana. The Gandharva was Arjuna’s friend who agreed to release Duryodhana. The humiliator was humiliated, but instead of being grateful to his cousins for helping him, Duryodhana became even angrier with the Pandavas. 

During the exile, the Pandavas met several sages and visited sacred places. Arjuna went to heaven to get celestial weapons and blessings from the devatas where he met the Gandharva and became good friends with him. 

Life wasn’t easy for the Pandavas. Draupadi was carried away by lustful men, twice. Once, by a rakshasa called Jatasura, and the second time, by Jayadratha, the king of the Sindhu region and brother-in-law of Duryodhana. The first time, she was saved by Bhima, while the four younger Pandavas saved her the second time. 

Finally, they completed twelve of the thirteen years of exile. They had only one more year of exile remaining. However, there were special rules for the last year. The Pandavas and Draupadi would have to stay in disguise and if their disguise was exposed before the year ended, they would have to spend another thirteen years in exile under the same rules. 

Draupadi and Pandavas disguised themselves, hid their weapons in a tree, and went to the Matsya kingdom. All of them found employment in the king’s palace. Draupadi disguised herself as a hair-dresser, called herself a sairandhri, and found work as Queen Sudeshna’s hair-dresser and maid. Yudhishthira disguised himself as a brahmin called Kanka and found employment in King Virata’s court. Bhima disguised himself as a cook and found work in the royal kitchen. He called himself Vallabha. Arjuna disguised himself as a eunuch and dance teacher called Brihanalla and worked as Princess Uttarā’s dance teacher. Nakula disguised himself as Gratika and found work in the king’s stable as a horse-keeper. Sahadeva called himself Tantripala and worked as a keeper of the king’s cattle.

The year of disguise would have been uneventful, but the commander-in-chief of King Virata’s army, a man called Keechaka, saw (disguised) Draupadi in Queen Sudeshna’s chamber and was filled with lust for her. Keechaka also happened to be the queen’s brother and a powerful warrior whom King Virata depended on for a strong army. Keechaka tried to forcefully obtain Draupadi, but she escaped his clutches and ran to King Virata’s court for protection. However, Virata simply looked the other way, and Yudhishthira disguised as Kanka, censured Draupadi for creating a scene in the King’s court. That night, Draupadi told Bhima about what had happened. Together, they made a plan. Draupadi invited Keechaka to her room the next day. Bhima would disguise himself in women’s clothes and wait in her room for Keechaka. Everything went as planned, and when Keechaka entered the room, he was met by Bhima instead of Draupadi. A fierce fight between the two mighty warriors followed, in which Keechaka was killed by Bhima.

News of Keechaka’s death spread rapidly. It surprised many people because Keechaka was a skilled and powerful warrior. He wasn’t easy to overpower, and, yet, the manner of his death indicated that he’d been overpowered by someone far mightier than him. This made Duryodhana suspect that the Pandavas were hiding in Matsya kingdom and Bhima might have killed Keechaka. Duryodhana saw this as a golden opportunity to expose the Pandavas and send them on another thirteen years of exile. 

He made a plan with an ally king who was not on good terms with King Virata. This king would attack the Matsya kingdom from one border, while the Kauravas, taking advantage of the Matsya army being engaged, would steal their cattle. Duryodhana was certain that if the Pandavas were hiding there, they would certainly help the Matsya king, and he would expose them.

When Matsya kingdom was attacked by Duryodhana’s ally, Bhima, Nakula, and Sahadeva accompanied the army to help them, and when the Kauravas stole the cattle, Arjuna (still disguised as Brihanalla) went with Prince Uttara as his charioteer to fight the Kaurava army and get the cattle back. Uttara became a bundle of nerves on the battlefield when he saw the mighty Kaurava army. Arjuna encouraged the young prince and exchanged roles so that Uttara became the charioteer and Arjuna became the warrior. Arjuna defeated the Kaurava army single-handedly. 

As he had planned, Duryodhana exposed Arjuna’s identity, but when the Kuru elders did their calculations, they found that thirteen years had already elapsed, and the Pandavas had successfully completed the exile.

After the battle, the Pandavas came out of hiding but continued to stay in the Matsya kingdom. King Virata was overjoyed that the illustrious Pandavas had stayed in his kingdom. His daughter, Princess Uttarā, whom Arjuna tutored, was married to Arjuna’s son, Abhimanyu. After the exile, the Pandavas met with their allies in King Virata’s palace and also received guidance from Krishna.

The Re-establishment of Dharma

Messengers went back and forth between the Kauravas and Pandavas. Duryodhana refused to return the Pandavas’ kingdom to them. As a final attempt to maintain peace, Yudhishthira proposed that the Pandavas would accept five villages instead of their entire Kingdom. Krishna himself went to Hastinapura with the message. However, Duryodhana not only refused the peace proposal but also tried to imprison Krishna.

At this point, war was the only way forward. Both sides met with their natural allies and tried to woo other kings to ally with them. All the kings of Bharata got involved in the conflict.

The battle, that was soon fought, lasted for eighteen days. The Pandavas won the battle but except for ten warriors, everyone else perished.

This is the main story of the conflict of the Mahabharata that resulted in vast destruction, due to Duryodhana’s greed and inability to tolerate his cousins’ prosperity, followed by the re-establishment of dharma. The re-establishment happened after the war. Yudhishthira was distraught by the destruction and did not want the throne. He wanted to leave everything and retire to the forest. 

However, Mata Kunti, his brothers, and Krishna convinced him to accept the throne and bring back hope and prosperity to the people of the land once again. Yudhishthira relented and became the king. Soon after that, an Ashwamedha Yagna was conducted, after which, Yudhishthira became the emperor of Bharata, and brought hope and prosperity back into the lives of the people.

The Pandavas ruled for about thirty years, after which, they crowned Arjuna’s grandson, Parikshit, the king, and left for the final teertha yatra (pilgrimage) of their lives.

The Pandavas’ Return to Heaven After Completing Their Work on Earth

When they were climbing the difficult slopes of the Himalayas, Draupadi and the four younger Pandavas fell one by one. In the end, only Yudhishthira could enter heaven in his human body (after a test devised by Indra Deva and Dharma). However, in heaven, Draupadi and the Pandavas regained their celestial bodies and re-united in more peaceful and joyous conditions.

Who Wrote the Epic Mahabharata?

Maharishi Veda Vyasa composed the epic Mahabharata, however, there’s more to the topic of who wrote the epic Mahabharata? Please read on to find out the details.

After composing The Mahabharata, Maharishi Vyasa narrated the story to his son, Suka. Suka taught it to Rishi Vaishampayana. Sometime after that, King Janamejaya (Parikshit’s so and Arjuna’s great-grandson) conducted a yagna called sarpa satra (snake sacrifice). During the yagna, Janamejaya expressed the desire to know more about his ancestors and why the great war of Kurukshetra was fought. Rishi Vaishampayana narrated the Mahabharata to Janamejaya and everyone else who had gathered at the yagna.

The text of the Mahabharata tells us that a bard called Ugrasrava Sauti heard it at the yagna and further narrated the epic to ascetics at Naimisha forest. The epic was, most likely, propagated by various bards who traveled and narrated it at different places.
Right now, the Mahabharata full story consists of 100,000 shlokas (couplets). However, all these shlokas may not have been composed by Veda Vyasa himself. Many scholars believe that Veda Vyasa wrote about 24,000 shlokas while the rest were added by later sages and poets. Some people have attributed an even smaller number of 8800 shlokas to Veda Vyasa, however, the number 24,000 shlokas has greater consensus.

The Mahabharata PDF

The Mahabharata story has captivated the interest and imagination for centuries and we are fortunate that this wonderful composition is available in several digital formats with the Mahabharata PDF being one of them. The file which you would download depends on the size and language of the version you want to read. 

The Mahabharata is a massive epic that runs into several thousand pages. So, if you are new to the story or would like to get an overview first, then the PDF download of the condensed English translation by C. Rajagopalachari. 

However, if you want to dive into the deep end, then we’ve got recommendations for English and Hindi translations. 

If you want to read the English translation of the unabridged Mahabharata, we recommend Ganguli’s book. Click here to download the unabridged English translation of the Mahabharata by Kisari Mohan Ganguli.

If you’d like to read the complete Mahabharata in Hindi, then we strongly recommend the complete Mahabharata in Hindi published by Gita Press. This version is based on the Neelkanthi commentary of the epic written in the late 17th century.
We also have references to PDF downloads of several other local language translations on our Mahabharata PDF page, and even though not a PDF, our Mahabharata summary page will give you a bird’s eye view of the epic.