Mahabharata

• Mahabharata - honor of being the longest epic in world literature with more than 200,00 individual lines and nearly 2 million words.
• Mahabharata - composed of 18 books called "Parvas"
• Mahabharata - written by "Veda Vyasa"
• Shantanu, the king of Hastinapura, is married to the beautiful river goddess Ganga, who gave birth to Devavrata, a wise and a strong prince. Eventually, Shantanu also marries Satyavati, mother of Vyasa, promising her that her future son will be the king. SHantanu has two sons with Satyavati, but both are short-lived.
• Satyavati asks her elder son to marry Ambika and Ambalika, the widows of her dead son Vichitravirya.
• Ambika gave birth to a blind child, named Dhritarashtra and her sister Ambalika to a pale skinned child Pandu.
• Dhristarashtra, because of his blindness, becomes ineligible to take the throne, and his stepbrother Pandu becomes the king.
• Pandu has a curse on him that would die if he gets into a relationship with a woman.
• Pandu's first wife Kunti holds a blessing from gods to bear children and she gave birth to Yudhishthira, the very strong Bhima, and the great warrior Arjuna.
• Before getting married to Pandu, Kunti tries to test her blessing, and she gives birth Karna. She abandons him in the fear of humiliation.
• Madri, Pandu's second wife, borrows Kunti's secret and she gave birth to the twins Nakula and Sahadeva.
• King Pandu dies after mating with his second wife, and his brother Dritharashtra becomes the king.
• Dritharashtra and his wife Gandhari have a hundred children, the Kauravas. Duryodhana is the eldest.
• Five sons of Pandu are called Pandavas. Both the Pandavas and Kauravas grow up with dislike towards each other.
• Pandavas, with their physical strength, positive attitude and good deeds, become popular among the subject of the country. On the other hand, the Kauravas are seen to be jealous and wicked.
• Kauravas challenge Pandavas to a game of dice and defeat them with treachery.
• Pandavas lost everything, including their wife Draupadi.
• Kauravas imposed a 12-year exile on the Pandavas.
• During the exile period, Kauravas make several attempts to kill their cousins but Pandavas escape with the support of their maternal uncle Lord Sri Krishna
• After completing their 12-year exile, Pandavas seek back their part of the empire. But their cousins refuse to give it, leading to the great war of Kurukshetra.
• Kurukshetra - war lasts for about 18 days in the field of Kuru clan, and so the name Kurukshetra
• Pandavas won the war with the support of Sri Krishna the god of Hinduism, but the victory comes at the cost of the lives of their relatives and loved ones.