The Story of the Mahabharata Briefly

In some ways, the entire story of the Mahabharata is an explanation of how our world, the world
of the Kali Yuga, came into being, and how things got to be as bad as they are. The Ramayana
has its share of suffering and even betrayal, but nothing to match the relentless hatred and
vengeance of the Mahabharata. The culmination of the Mahabharata is the Battle of Kurukshetra
when two bands of brothers, the Pandavas and the Kauravas, the sons of two brothers and thus
cousins to one another, fight each other to death, brutally and cruelly, until the entire race is
almost wiped out.
The five sons of Pandu, the Pandavas, are the heroes of the story. The eldest is King
Yudhishthira. Next is Bhima, an enormously strong fighter with equally enormous appetites.
After Bhima is Arjuna, the greatest of the warriors and also the companion of Krishna. The last
two are twins, Nakula and Sahadeva. These five brothers share one wife, Draupadi (she became
the wife of all five of them by accident, as you will learn).
The enemies of the Pandavas are the Kauravas, who are the sons of Pandu's brother,
Dhritarashtra. Although Dhritarashtra is still alive, he cannot manage to restrain his son
Duryodhana, who bitterly resents the achievements of his cousins, the Pandavas. Duryodhana
arranges for his maternal uncle to challenge Yudhishthira to a game of dice, and Yudhishthira
gambles everything away, even himself. The Pandavas have to go into exile, but when they
return they engage the Kauravas in battle. Krishna fights on the side of the Pandavas, and serves
as Arjuna's charioteer. The famous "Song of the Lord," or Bhagavad-Gita, is actually a book
within the Mahabharata, as the battle of Kurukshetra begins. When Arjuna faces his cousins on
the field of battle, he despairs and sinks down, unable to fight. The Bhagavad-Gita contains the
words that Krishna spoke to Arjuna at that moment.
The Pandavas do win the battle. Duryodhana is killed, and the Kaurava armies are wiped out.
But it is hardly a happy ending. Yudhishthira becomes king, but the world is forever changed by
the battle's violence. If you are familiar with the Iliad, you might remember how that epic ends
with the funeral of the Trojan hero Hector, a moment which is utterly bleak and sad. The same is
true for the Mahabharata. There are many truths that are learned in the end, but the victory, such
as it is, comes at a terrible price.
INTRODUCTION
The Mahabharata (composed between 300 BC and 300 AD) has the honor of being
the longest epic in world literature, 100,000 2-line stanzas (although the most
recent critical edition edits this down to about 88,000), making it eight times as
long as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey together, and over 3 times as long as the Bible
(Chaitanya vii). According to the Narasimhan version, only about 4000 lines relate
to the main story; the rest contain additional myths and teachings. In other

words, the Mahabharata resembles a long journey with many side roads and
detours. It is said that Whatever is here is found elsewhere. But whatever is not
here is nowhere else.
The name means great [story of the] Bharatas. Bharata was an early ancestor of
both the Pandavas and Kauravas who fight each other in a great war, but the
word is also used generically for the Indian race, so the Mahabharata sometimes
is referred to as the great story of India.

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Mahabharata Summary

Bharat Varsh

Two sons, Dhritarashthra and Pandu, are born to Vichitravirya, king of Kurus. Dritrashtra is the
elder, but because he is born blind, he is disqualified from becoming king and Pandu takes his
place. Dritrashtra is married to Gandhari, who, out of love and respect for her blind husband,
willingly keeps herself blindfolded day and night. Once, while hunting in the forest, Pandu is
cursed by a sage that he will die if he ever became intimate with a woman. Since he is childless
at the time, he leaves the kingdom to his brother and goes into the forest with his wives to
perform penance.
In the forest, Kunti and Madri invoke varous gods to beget five sons - Yudhishthira, Bhima and
Arjuna for Kunti, and the twins Nakula and Sahadeva for Madri. They are known as the
Pandavas. Pandu dies shortly, when the sage's curse took effect as Pandu and Madri, inflamed by
passion, embrace. Madri burns herself on Pandu's pyre and Kunti returns to Hastinapur, the

capital of the Kuru clan. Since the Pandavas are the rightful heirs to the throne of Hastinapur, this
is deeply resented by the sons of Dhritarashthra, the Kauravas, especially Duryodhana the eldest.
Duryodhanas bitterness and hatred boil out when he is just a teenager, and he continuously seeks
and wishes death upon the Pandavas. His hatred is nourished by his slippery uncle, Shakuni. An
idea of Shakunis character can be gathered from his advice to Duryodhana, Duryodhana, God
gave speech to man not to express himself, but to hide what is in his mind. Aided by Shakuni,
Duryodhana executes many plots to surreptitiously kill the Pandavas, but thanks to their luck,
capabilities and some outside interventions, they escape unscathed. Some of these outside
interventions came from unusual quarters. One such was the revival of a poisoned Bhima by the
Nagas or snake people, when they give him Navapashana, an elixir made of nine deadly poisons
mixed together in precise combinations. Navapashana is still prepared today among the siddhas
and yogis of South India.
With hatred and animosity growing between them, the Pandavas and Kauravas grow up in
Hastinapur and learn various martial skills from their teacher Drona. Karna, the eldest son of
Kunti who was born to and abandoned by her when she was just a teenager, also enters the story.
Though an exemplary archer, everyone believes him to be the son of the charioteer who found
the baby Karna and raised him as his own child. No one but Kunti knows the truth and she keeps
it to herself out of shame and fear. In fact, Karna is now the rightful heir to the throne, though no
one knows it except Kunti. Karna is befirended by Duryodhana, who sees his archery skills as a
valuable counter to Arjuna's archery.
As the story progresses, the Pandavas are forced into hiding in the forest to escape the Kauravas
assassination attempts. During their time in the forest, Arjuna wins the hand of Draupadi, the
child of Drupada, the powerful king of Panchala. Due to an inadvertant reply from Kunti,
Draupadi becomes the common wife of all the Pandavas. Guided by Krishna, the divine
incarnate and the Pandavas' cousin, the Pandavas slip through the many traps laid by
Duryodhana and return to claim one half of the kingdom. But Yudhisthara, the eldest Pandava,
has a weakness for gambling, and Shakuni, a master of the dice game, tricks him into gambling
away his wealth, kingdom and even Draupadi, whom the Kauravas attempt to dirobe. She is only
saved by Krishna's Grace. In shame for allowing such a thing to happen to a woman's honor, the
elders of the court cancel the entire game and return everything to the Pandavas, only to have
Yudhishthira lose it all over again!
Bereft of their wealth and honor, the five brothers, their wife, and mother, are forced into an exile
of twelve years, plus one year incognito (during which they narrowly escape detection), after
which they return to reclaim their half of the kingdom. Of course, the Kauravas refuse. This
inevitably leads to the Kurukshetra war, the mother of all battles where every king in the land
had to choose sides. It is just before the beginning of the war that Krishna imparts the Bhagavad
Gita to Arjuna and gives him the Vishwaroopa Darshana, a glimpse of the divine.
The war lasts eighteen days, each filled with unremitting bloodshed. The Kaurava army has 11
akshaunis or divisions of soldiers and the Pandavas have 7, making a total of 18. There also
happen to be 18 chapters in the epic. The first day belongs to the Kauravas, while the second
belongs to the Pandavas. The third day falls to the Kauravas again as Bhishma (Vichitravirya's

brother), the Kaurava commander and the eldest of the Kuru clan slays many Pandava soldiers.
On day four, Bhima slays eight of the Kauravas. Arjuna's son Iravan is killed on day eight. On
day nine, Krishna, who had promised not to take up arms and would stay as Arjuna's charioteer,
loses his temper with Bhishma for using powerful divine weapons (astras) against common
soldiers. He takes his sudarshan chakra to slay Bhishma, but Arjuna pacifies him. The Pandavas
plot to remove Bhishma from the war since his prowess is wrecking havoc on the Pandava army.
Bhishma is a man of many morals and would never raise a weapon when faced by a woman, so
the Pandavas place Shikhandi as a shield in front of Arjuna when he fights Bhishma on the tenth
day.
Shikhandi was a princess Amba in a previous birth and was abducted by Bhishma along wiht her
sisters to marry Vichitravirya. However, Amba had sworn to marry only king Shalya, and so
Bhishma returns her to Shalya's kingdom. However, Shalya loses interest in Amba after her
abduction and spurns her. Amba goes weeping to Bhishma and demands that he make up for his
rash abducion by marrying her. Bhishma will have nothing of the sort since he has taken a vow
of celibacy. Amba, distraught and broken, takes her life, promising to bring death Bhishma in her
next life. Using Shikhandi as a shield, Arjuna takes Bhishma down, thus fulfilling
Shikhandi/Amba's vow.
On the thirteenth day, Abhimanyu, Arjuna's son is killed unfairly, when he is attacked by many
warriors at once, a ploy that is against the rules of conduct in battle. Both sides begin to drop all
codes of conduct from this point and the war turns increasingly ruthless and unscrupulous. On
day fourteen, Arjuna takes a vow that he will kill Jayadratha - one of those responsible for
Abhimanyu's death - before the sun sets, or take his own life. The Kauravas rally around
Jayadratha and prevent Arjuna from coming anywhere near him. As the day ends, Krishna
creates an illusion of sunset by raising a dust storm, deceiving the Kauravas into thinking that
they have managed to protect Jayadratha. However, the sun is still up, and while the Kauravas
are busy rejoicing, Arjuna takes Jayadratha's head off. On Day fifteen, Drona decimates the
Pandava army, and Yudhisthara, the ever-truthful, is forced to lie to Drona that Ashwathama
(Drona's son) has been killed. Drona drops his arms in grief and sits in meditation, and
Drishtadyumna (Draupadi's brother and son of Drona's sworn enemy Drupada) beheads him.

Bheeshma lies on a bed

of arrows.

Dushasana, the second eldest among the Kauravas and the one most involved in trying to disrobe
Draupadi, is killed by Bhima. On day seventeen, Karna is killed by Arjuna. On the final and
eighteenth day, Yudhisthara kills Shalya and Shakuni is killed by Sahadeva. Bhima breaks
Duryodhana's thighs and leaves him for dead. The war is won by the Pandavas but it is not much
of a victory. Many of their family and friends are dead, in fact none of their sons survive the war.
The story winds down with the aftermath of the battle, and the kingship of Yudhisthara.

A brief overview of the Mahabharata

Yudhisthira says: Forgiveness is the gateway to heaven

History of the Mahabharata

The Epic Mahabharata belongs to the group of scriptures called Smriti - the
remembered word of God (see literature). Shruti (Vedas and Upanishads) is the group
of scriptures that represent the cosmic sound of God that people once heard.
If you are looking for an operating system to read or download various documents, try PC-BSD a free operating system with ease of use in mind.

To specify a certain date of the Mahabharata events, historians compare various texts
with true historical incidents. Thus, they can calculate dates such as when, for
example, Krishna died. Albeit doubts can be cast on various conclusions of such
approaches, for Hindus the Krishna's death starts the new era - Kali Yuga. The
majority of scholars, historians and Hindu sages agree on the year 3102 BC (January
23). The Mahabharata ends with Krishna's death and there is a general consensus
on the above date.
The earliest known historical records about this valuable book made Panini, an
Indian Sanskrit grammarian from the 4th century BC. Western scholars often deform
Indian history and screw it up to 2000 years BC only. A typical example is a
statement from Encyclopedia Britannica (2005 Deluxe Edition) where it is said:
"The traditional date for the war that is the central event of the Mahabharata is
1302 BC, but most historians prefer a later date". However, no source is given and
no reference to how Hindus perceive the concept of "Brahma ages" (Dvapara Yuga,
Kali Yuga, etc.) is presented. As we can see above, the distortion is too undisguised.
Not a "preference", of course, but only an in-depth study supported with (cited)
arguments can claim that a particular date is correct or not. The Mahabharata
also unveils some important historical events that archeologists can document in a
number of excavations the age of which goes back to the time before 4th century
BC. These excavations have illustrations of the Mahabharata events on them.
As a written document, the Mahabharata had developed gradually and it was
supplemented later. If we accept the general opinion of Hindus (date of Krishna's
death), its story must have happened before the year 3102 BC.

On the Indonesian island Java there is a version of the Mahabharata that developed territorially
independently from the Indian subcontinent - Kakawin Bharatayuddha is an ancient poetical
rendering of the Mahabharata.

Krishna and Arjuna are not only cousins

Vasudeva (Krishna's father) and Kunti (mother of the Pandavas) were brother and
sister. Arjuna later married Krishna's sister Subharda, so he was also Krishna's
brother-in-law.
The story
The authorship of the epic is traditionally ascribed to Vyasa, who is also one of the most
important characters of the book. The first section of the Mahabharata introduces a few things
and characters such as Ganesha - who, at the Vyasa's request - writes down the epic
uninterruptedly in one time interval while Vyasa keeps dictating it.
Although there are several other things written in the beginning of the book, the main plot starts
evolving around the story of King Shantanu (King of Hastinapura). Shantanu met Ganga, was
enthralled by her beauty, they started living together and she gave him children. But Ganga, in
order to protect her children's souls from the curse once Vashishta had imposed upon them (their
children were actually eight Vasus being cursed by Vashishta), decided to kill them. Upon
agreeing with Shantanu to become his partner she lays down a condition that he would never ask
her anything.
When after birth of their eighth child
Ganga goes to the river to throw her
little innocent boy into it, Shantanu is so
depressed that he bursts out in anger and
asks Ganga why she keeps killing all
their children. However, upon breaking
his promise not to ask any questions
Ganga decides to leave, but the King
receives a promise that his last son will
come back one day.
Ganga keeps her promise and after some
time she comes back and returns her eighth son - Devavrata. When Devavrata grows into a
handsome prince, Shantanu meets Satyavati and falls in love with her. But their marriage is
almost impossible, as Satyavati's father asks the King that it must be his daughter's children not anyone else in the world - who would once inherit the throne.

King Shantanu is unable to agree. Had he agreed, Devavrata would have lost his legitimate right
to become the successor of the throne. But Devavrata decides to help the Fates' steerage by an
Oath that will constrain him to eternal celibacy. As soon as he takes the Oath before the
Satyavati's father, he becomes a new man with a new name - Bhishma.
Shantanu and Satyavati have two children - Chitrangada and Vichitravirya. But the children
do not live a long life and Shantanu falls ill and dies too. Satyavati is confronted with kingless
Hastinapura - there is no successor of the throne. Bhishma refuses it because of his oath. She
therefore asks Vyasa - a saint and her firstborn son, to help her. Vichitravirya was married to
Ambika and Ambalika. Satyavati asked Vyasa to procreate a successor for the throne. Vyasa,
although reluctant, after some time agrees and goes to Ambika first (first Vichitravirya's wife),
but she gets so scared by seeing his dirty ascetic body that she, while they make love, keeps her
eyes closed in anguish. Later she gives birth to Dhritarashtra, who is unfortunately blind.
Satyavati therefore asks Vyasa to help her again. Now it is the Ambalika's turn, the second
Vichitravirya's wife, but she, after seeing Vyasa, gets so scared that she looses all color and
becomes pale. She gives birth to Pandu who is also pale.
Pandu becomes King, but one day he makes a big mistake and shoots a sage Kindama while he
(Kindama) makes love with his spouse in the woods, being transformed to animals. As a
consequence of this, the mating deer couple was seriously hurt and they transformed themselves
back to human form. The male part, Kindama, after being shot by the Pandu's deadly arrow, gets
so angry that his inescapable curse mutilates all Pandu's future life - the verdict is: if Pandu
ever sexually associates with a woman, he falls right away into the hands of death. After the
curse Pandu renounces the material world and Dhritarashtra, his stepbrother, becomes King of
Hastinapura.
Pandu had two wives - Madri and Kunti. One day he cannot defend himself against Madri's
sexual appeal, which makes him so desirous that the Kindama's curse straightens out its
awaiting hands of death.
The Pandavas

Kunti wants to fulfill her maternal expectations, but she has no man. She recollects the moment
when her first son Karna was conceived from an arcane mantra one sage had given her once.
Surya, the Sun God, appeared to her then. Thus, Kunti remembers her secret mantra and gives
birth to three sons (other two come from Madri), which are referred to as the Pandavas.
Yudhisthira's father was Yama; Bhima's father was Vayu, Arjuna's father was Indra. Then it
was Madri who gave birth to two other sons - the twins, whose fathers were Ashwins (divine
twins). Madri's sons are Nakula and Sahadeva. These all are the five Pandavas.
The Kauravas

Pandu and Dhritarashtra are stepbrothers and their descendants - the Pandavas and Kauravas,
later fight for the throne of Hastinapura. Dhritarashtra had a son - Duryodhana, who was
very evil. Although the Mahabharata says that Dhritarashtra had one hundred sons, when the
story unfolds in reference to the Kauravas, the epic pays most attention predominantly to
Duryodhana, Karna, Gandhari (Dhritarashtra's wife), Shakuni (Gandhari's brother) and a
few other persons on the Kaurava's part.
The Kauravas also have support from important royal advisors and teachers such as Drona (a
superb teacher of martial arts), Kripa (a chief priest of the kingdom), Ashwattama (Drona's
son), Bhishma, and Vidura (the third son whom Vyasa had conceived with a maiden - he later
became the chief minister in the Dhritarashtra's kingdom).
Conflicts between the Pandavas and Kauravas

The generally accepted rule on the basis of which a successor of the throne was appointed had
been historically based mostly on the hereditary principle (father - first-born son). When
Satyavati had decided that the Hastinapura's crown would glow on the Vyasa's offshoots, she
had not expected that Dhritarashtra's and Pandu's sons would be in conflict. Yudhisthira was
older than Duryodhana and after Dhritarashtra's death the legitimate successor of the throne
would be Yudhisthira. For Duryodhana, the King Dhritarashtra's first-born son, this was a big
pain and he therefore strived every effort to contrive all unthinkable intrigues and plots with aim
to kill the Pandavas.
Exile and War

By inviting the Pandavas to play a dice game, Duryodhana misuses their kind-heartedness. The
game turns up to be a fiendish decoy where with assistance of the treacherous and double-faced
Shakuni the Pandavas lose everything including themselves. They have a wife - Draupadi, and
when the Kauravas ordered that she must come before them and look upon her humiliated
husbands, the Kauravas then hanker after seeing her undressed. But a miracle happens and her
dress unwinds as if being made of endless cloth strips. Draupadi then speaks loud to
Dhritarashtra and asks - did Yudhisthira put her at stake before, or after he became a
slave? An emotional and impressive Draupadi's self-defending long monologue makes
everybody still for a long time until suddenly, under the pressure of Draupadi's honesty and
well-argued words, King Dhritarashtra makes the result of the game void.
Duryodhana gets so angry that he invites the Pandavas to play a second game where exile is at
stake - either the Pandavas or Kauravas spend 12 years in exile. The Pandavas lose again and
go to exile.
After 12 years (with one more year of anonymity - 13 years all together, which was the
Duryodhana's condition), they come back and the war between the two family clans is imminent.

Duryodhana refuses to accept their successful concealment during the anonymity year; both
family clans communicate via messengers only. Krishna becomes one of them, too, and with
intention to stop the war he demands only five villages for the Pandavas. Duryodhana refuses
this offer too.
Divine Weapons

In the Mahabharata, divine weapons are used and here is a brief overview of them:

Agneyastra is the fire weapon, which belongs to God Agni, master of

flames. Drona and Arjuna used it.

Brahmastra is the Brahma's weapon. It is the most sinister weapon and

few trustworthy scholars suggested that it could have the power of atomic
destructiveness.

Gandiva is a miraculous bow God Agni gave to Arjuna.

Kaumodaki is the Lord Vishnu's invincible celestial mace.

Narayanastra is the missile weapon of Lord Vishnu.

Pashupatastra is the Lord Shiva's weapon, one of the most destructive

ones.

Vajra is the weapon (thunderbolt) of Indra, a combination of sword, mace

and spear.

Vimana (also Viman, Vihmana, Viwan) is the Sanskrit term for a flying
machine and it has several occurrences in the Mahabharata. It is translated
with words such as "celestial car" or "celestial vehicle" and an example from
the Mahabharata (Ganguli English translation) is: "The gods also, with their
spouses, respectfully invited thereto, came on their celestial cars and seated
thereon shone like blazing fires."

Vishnu's chakra (Sudarsana discus) is a sharp spinning disc - a very

dangerous weapon.

Conclusion

The Epic Mahabharata is the book about two family clans - the Pandavas and the Kauravas,
where Krishna is depicted as the avatar of God Vishnu and who appears in His true form to
Arjuna in a dialogue on the battlefield just a few moments before the war takes place. This
probably the most precious historical dialogue in the Mahabharata is referred to as
Bhagavadgita (or Bhagavad Gita), where Krishna shines light on many Arjuna's doubts in his
indecisiveness about going to war. For example, Arjuna asks, "How can I fight with people

whom I respect?" But Krishna answers that going away without responding to such humiliation
would result in historical records referring to the Pandavas as cowards. Apart from many other
things, Krishna gives to Arjuna also answers to many religious questions including those about
life after death and the immortality of soul.
Finally, the Pandavas win.

Top 10 Characters of Mahabharata

Digvijaya Singh
TopYaps Editor

With downright magnitude and superfluous philosophical depth, Mahabharata is a mega saga
which comprises the essence of war, politics, religion, parenting, ethics and Dharma . This grand
epic is all about the friction between two collateral branches of the Kuru clan to overpower the
throne of Hastinapur. Youll become tongue-tied after witnessing the vivid records of
fundamental philosophers, mighty warriors, cryptical thinkers, sages and devoted wives of this
heroic tale. Were counting down top 10 characters of Mahabharata with cognition of Yato
Dharma Tato Jayah (where there is righteousness, there shall be victory). May these characters
inspire you!

10. Yudhisthira:

Yudhisthira is a terribly troubled yet harmless-soul character of the worming epic

Mahabharata. Also known as Dharmaraj, Yudhisthira has a great attachment with morality,
truth, commitment and righteousness. His innocent and non-aggressive traits are indeed eyecatching, but it is a matter of fact that he cant take even the slightest political decision by his
own because he lacks the decision-making prowess and is tremendously addicted to the
consultations offered by Krishna, Arjuna and Bhima. He gambled like a slack and cheerfullyirresponsible player, and lost his entire kingdom as well as Draupadi to the Kauravas; yet he
enjoys our respectfulness.
(img source: vedicgyaan.com)

9. Shakuni:

Sure enough, Shakuni is one of the most scorned personalities in Hindu mythology. Brother of
Gandhari and a proficient king-maker, Shakuni is considered as the great-grandfather of all

gamblers throughout the existence of planet earth. He is the person who poisoned the mind of his
explosive nephew Duryodhan and fueled-up the destructive war of Mahabharata, thus becoming
the cause of the destruction of the Kauravas.
(img source: indianetzone.com)

8. Dhritarashtra:

Dhritrashtra is one of the dominating characters of Mahabharta who has a very low self-esteem
and believes that his blindness is a curse, making him unfit to rule. Its depicted in Mahabharta
that Dhritarashtra has a great envy against his brother Pandu and his paragon advices for the
betterment of Kuru dynasty. It was Dhritrashtras emotional blindness and rapacious look
towards the throne which made his son Duryodhana a hot-headed and egocentric human being.

(img source: utkarshspeak.blogspot.in)

7. Gandhari:

A blindfolded mother of a hundred sons, a puppet for her blind husband, and a lady who died
every moment she lived; Gandhari is undisputably the wisest female character of the
Mahabharata. Gandhari is a lady of immense natural power and always favors Dharma. One by
one, she witnessed her hundred sons going down like skittles, but she never left the domain of
righteousness and refused her own son to wish victory into the battlefield.
(img source: kamyabology.com)

6. Dronacharya:

The royal guru to Pandavas and Kauravas and a ferocious warrior of tremendous combating
skills, Guru Dronacharya is a significant character of Mahabharata. Committed to protect
the realm of Hastinapur, Guru Dronacharya supported the Kauravas and remained firm like
an inexorable hero in the battle of Kurukshetra where casualties went beyond the human
imagination and corpses got piled up, becoming the food for the birds.
(img source: columbia.edu)

5. Duryodhana:

Duryodhana is a massively strong leader, a magnificent warrior and an epitome of friendship, but
in Mahabharata, he stands at one side of a gulf which is seemingly unbridgeable between the
parameters of good and evil. Indeed, Duryodhana belongs to the evil side of the gulf, holding the
traits of greed and jealousy to a specific magnitude, but here one must remember that
Duryodhana is known for his hospitality, bigheartedness and benevolence. And these traits are
enough to mark him as a real Kshatriya. Moreover, he cant be labelled with the bad boy
term in the case when Draupadi was disrobed, because in the game of dice, Pandavas were also
to blame.
(img source: kids.gen.com)

4. Arjun:

A gallant warrior and a skilled archer, best known for stringing numbers of arrows in a fraction
of second and that with deadly accuracy, Arjun is a Pandava prince as well as the most adorable
disciple of Guru Drona. Enlightened with the cognition of selfless action, the character of Arjun
in Mahabharata teaches what you should do while confronting an abominable moral crisis.
Diverting our minds from the sensual pleasures of the world, he instructs that rather than
celebrating the good fortune or crying over the bad, you have to be always joyful as it is the very
foundation for daily living.
(img source: indianetzone.com)

3. Krishna:

Apart from being the most lovable of all Gods in India, Lord Krishna can also be seen as the
biggest political reformer from the Mahabharata who can easily beat even the modern-day
diplomats man-to-man. No one can describe Lord Krishna in words; he excels in everything. But
if one keeps his Godly image out and brings him at par to the level of any other human, Krishna
remains the coolest and wittiest character ever. In the Mahabharata, Krishna goes around doing
his deeds in a manner justifying his birth as an avatar and fulfilling the promises he made in
upholding righteousness.
(img source: 1.bp.blogspot.com)

2. Karna:

Karnathe central character and one of the unsung heroes of the Mahabharatais an invincible
warrior despite of being an ill-fated prince ever since his birth. Throughout the epic he justified
his never-say-die attitude and courageously confronted all the odds of his destiny. His character
in Mahabharata has an everlasting fame because he teaches how can one present himself better
than the destiny and accomplish everything with shatterproof determination.
(img source: 4.bp.blogspot.com)

1. Bhishma Pitamah:

Sentinel of the prosperity of Hastinapur and a great combatant in classic sense, Bhishma
Pitamah is the most potent character of the Mahabharata as well as the finest illustration of
ethics and fairness. The oldest stalwart of the kingdom of Hastinapur; Bhishma Pitamahs
personal life was full of frustration and solitariness, but for others he was a disciplined spartan
and an embodiment of loyalty and truth. Bhishma Pitamahs peerless statesmanship and other
impeccable characteristics still inspire his ardent followers across the world.
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