Adi Parva Summary: The Book of Beginnings

Quick answer: The Adi Parva is the first of the eighteen books of the Mahabharata. It explains how the epic came to be told, traces the Kuru dynasty from its ancestors to Bhishma's vow, and tells the births and youth of the Pandavas and Kauravas, the house of lac, Draupadi's svayamvara, the founding of Indraprastha, and the burning of the Khandava forest.

In the critical edition of the Mahabharata (Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune), the Adi Parva has 225 chapters. References below are book.chapter.verse in that edition.

How the epic is told

The Mahabharata is a story within a story. The bard Ugrashravas, son of Lomaharshana, arrives at the forest of Naimisha, where the sage Shaunaka and others are holding a long sacrifice, and offers to tell them the great story (1.1). He had heard it at the snake sacrifice of King Janamejaya, Arjuna's great-grandson, where Vyasa's pupil Vaishampayana recited it at the king's request (1.54 onward).

The opening chapters also contain a summary of the whole work and a list of its hundred sub-books (1.2). The well-known story that Ganesha wrote the epic down as Vyasa dictated it is not in the critical edition's text; it is found in the vulgate (the commonly printed text).

The snake sacrifice and Astika

Janamejaya's father Parikshit had died from the bite of the serpent Takshaka. To avenge him, Janamejaya held a sacrifice to burn all snakes. It was stopped by the young brahmin Astika, whose mother was a naga and whose father was a sage (1.13 to 1.53). The long tales around it include the story of Garuda bringing the nectar from the gods.

The ancestors of the Kurus

Vaishampayana then tells the lineage of the Bharatas and Kurus. Among the stories:

• Shakuntala and Dushyanta, parents of Bharata, from whom the Bharata line takes its name (1.62 to 1.69).
• Yayati, who took his son Puru's youth in exchange for his own old age, and gave Puru the kingdom (1.70 to 1.80).
• Shantanu and Ganga. King Shantanu marries the goddess Ganga on condition that he never question her. She drowns seven of their sons at birth; when he stops her at the eighth, she leaves him, and that son is Devavrata (1.91 to 1.93).

Bhishma's vow

Shantanu fell in love with Satyavati, daughter of a fisherman chief, who would give her only if her son became king. To make the marriage possible, Devavrata gave up his right to the throne and vowed never to marry, so that no son of his could claim it. The gods rained flowers and cried "This is Bhishma", "the one of the terrible vow" (1.94.90 to 93). See Bhishma in the Mahabharata.

Vyasa and the next generation

Satyavati's sons died young and childless. At her request, her elder son Vyasa, born before her marriage, fathered sons on the two widowed queens: blind Dhritarashtra, pale Pandu, and, by a maid, Vidura (1.99 to 1.100).

Pandu became king. Out hunting, he shot the sage Kindama while he was mating in the form of a deer, and was cursed to die if he ever lay with a woman (1.109.26 onward). He retired to the forest with his wives Kunti and Madri. Using a mantra Kunti had received as a girl, the gods fathered the five Pandavas: Yudhishthira by Dharma, Bhima by Vayu, Arjuna by Indra, and the twins Nakula and Sahadeva, born to Madri by the Ashvins (1.114 to 1.115). Pandu died when he forgot the curse, and Madri followed him in death (1.116). Gandhari bore Dhritarashtra a hundred sons, Duryodhana the eldest, and a daughter.

Before her marriage Kunti had tested the same mantra and borne a son to the Sun god, born with armour and earrings. She set him afloat on a river; he was raised by the charioteer Adhiratha and named Karna (1.104). See Karna's story and Kunti.

Drona's students

The princes were taught arms by Drona. In his test, only Arjuna saw nothing but the head of the target bird (1.123.58 to 66). At the public tournament, Karna matched Arjuna's feats and was mocked as a charioteer's son; Duryodhana made him king of Anga on the spot (1.124 to 1.127). As their teacher's fee, the princes captured King Drupada of Panchala and brought him to Drona (1.128.2 to 5). See Drona and Ashwatthama.

The house of lac

Jealous of the Pandavas, Duryodhana had a house of lac built at Varanavata and sent Kunti and her sons to live there, meaning to burn them inside. Warned by Vidura, they escaped through a tunnel, and the house burned with Purochana, the minister in charge, inside (1.132 to 1.137). The Pandavas lived in hiding in the forest. Bhima killed the rakshasa Hidimba and married his sister Hidimba, mother of Ghatotkacha (1.139 to 1.144), and at Ekachakra he killed the rakshasa Baka who was devouring the townsfolk (1.145 to 1.152).

Draupadi's svayamvara

King Drupada held a svayamvara for his daughter Draupadi, with a revolving target above a pool and a bow that few could string (1.176). Arjuna, disguised as a brahmin, hit the target. Back at the potter's house, the brothers announced that they had brought alms, and Kunti, without looking, told them to share it equally (1.182.2). Vyasa explained to Drupada why Draupadi could wed all five, with the story of the five Indras (1.189). Krishna met the Pandavas there for the first time (1.183). See Draupadi in the Mahabharata.

Indraprastha and Arjuna's travels

With their survival now known, Dhritarashtra gave the Pandavas half the kingdom, the wild Khandavaprastha, where they built the city of Indraprastha. On Narada's advice, telling the story of the demon brothers Sunda and Upasunda (1.200 to 1.204), the brothers agreed that whoever intruded on another while he was with Draupadi would go into exile for twelve years. Arjuna broke the rule to fetch weapons for a brahmin and left (1.204 to 1.205). On his travels he married the naga princess Ulupi, the princess Chitrangada of Manipura, and finally Krishna's sister Subhadra (1.206 to 1.213).

The burning of the Khandava forest

The book ends with Krishna and Arjuna helping Agni burn the Khandava forest. Agni gives Arjuna the Gandiva bow and Krishna his discus, and together they hold off Indra himself (1.214 to 1.225). From the fire they spare the asura architect Maya, who in return builds the Pandavas' assembly hall at the start of the next book. See Krishna in the Mahabharata.

What comes next

The Sabha Parva opens with Maya's hall, Yudhishthira's royal sacrifice and the game of dice.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Adi Parva?

The first book of the Mahabharata, "the book of the beginning": the frame of the story, the Kuru ancestry, and the youth of the Pandavas and Kauravas.

How many chapters are in the Adi Parva?

225 in the critical edition.

Who narrates the Adi Parva?

Ugrashravas, to the sages at Naimisha; within his telling, Vaishampayana narrates to King Janamejaya (1.1, 1.54).

Is the story of Ganesha writing the Mahabharata in the Adi Parva?

It is in the vulgate's Adi Parva but not in the critical edition's text.

Where is Bhishma's vow?

Adi Parva 1.94, where he gets the name Bhishma (1.94.90).

Related reading

• Mahabharata: The Complete Guide
• Mahabharata story summary
• Bhishma Parva summary
• Bhishma in the Mahabharata
• Arjuna in the Mahabharata
• Mahabharata FAQ

Sources

1. The Mahabharata, critical edition (Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune, 1933 to 1966); electronic text BORI 1999, via Indology: indology.info/bombay/mahabharata. References are book.chapter.verse in this edition.

Last reviewed: 12 November 2026.