Mahabharata FAQ: Parvas, Verses, Characters and Editions

Quick answer: The Mahabharata is the Sanskrit epic of the Kuru family, traditionally ascribed to Vyasa. It has 18 parvas (books), with the Harivamsha as a supplement, and is traditionally said to have a hundred thousand verses. The Bhagavad Gita is in the Bhishma Parva. The war at Kurukshetra lasted eighteen days. Several famous episodes are not in the critical edition of the text. The answers below give references and link to the pages that cover each topic fully.

References are book.chapter.verse in the critical edition (Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune). The commonly printed vulgate numbers its chapters differently.

About the text

Who wrote the Mahabharata?

Tradition ascribes it to the sage Vyasa (Krishna Dvaipayana), who also appears in it, and says that Ganesha wrote it down as he dictated. Scholars see it as a text that grew over several centuries. See Mahabharata: The Complete Guide.

How many parvas are in the Mahabharata?

Eighteen: Adi, Sabha, Aranyaka (Vana), Virata, Udyoga, Bhishma, Drona, Karna, Shalya, Sauptika, Stri, Shanti, Anushasana, Ashvamedhika, Ashramavasika, Mausala, Mahaprasthanika and Svargarohana. The Harivamsha, on Krishna's life, is a supplement.

How many verses does the Mahabharata have?

Traditionally "a hundred thousand", counting the Harivamsha. The critical edition is shorter: its electronic text has about 73,000 numbered verse units (including some prose) in 1,995 chapters, by our count.

Which is the longest parva?

The Shanti Parva, with 353 chapters in the critical edition. The Aranyaka Parva is next, with 299.

When was the Mahabharata composed?

Tradition places the war at the end of the Dvapara Yuga. Scholars usually date the composition of the text across several centuries, roughly from 400 BCE to 400 CE.

What is the critical edition?

An edition prepared at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune, from hundreds of manuscripts and published from 1933 to 1966. It prints the text common to the manuscripts and moves passages found only in some of them to notes and appendices.

What is the vulgate?

The text known with the 17th-century commentary of Nilakantha, printed in many Indian editions. It includes passages the critical edition leaves out.

About the story

Who were the Pandavas?

The five sons of Pandu's queens: Yudhishthira, Bhima and Arjuna, sons of Kunti, and the twins Nakula and Sahadeva, sons of Madri, each born from a god. See the Mahabharata story summary.

Who was Karna?

Kunti's eldest son, born from Surya before her marriage and raised by a charioteer; he fought for Duryodhana and was killed by Arjuna on the seventeenth day (8.67). See Karna in the Mahabharata.

Why was Bhishma called Bhishma?

Because of his "terrible" vow to renounce the throne and remain celibate so that his father could marry Satyavati (1.94.88). See Bhishma in the Mahabharata.

Why did Draupadi have five husbands?

The epic gives several reasons: Kunti's words telling her sons to share what they had brought, and Vyasa's account of her earlier birth (1.157 and 1.188 to 1.189). See Draupadi in the Mahabharata.

What was the stake in the game of dice?

In the second game, the losers would spend twelve years in the forest and a thirteenth year in disguise; if discovered in the thirteenth year, they would go back for another twelve. The Pandavas lost.

How long did the Kurukshetra war last?

Eighteen days.

How many armies fought at Kurukshetra?

Eighteen akshauhinis (divisions): eleven for the Kauravas and seven for the Pandavas.

Who commanded the Kaurava army?

In turn: Bhishma (days 1 to 10), Drona (days 11 to 15), Karna (days 16 and 17), Shalya (day 18), and after the battle Ashvatthama led the night raid.

Who survived the war?

The text names few survivors: on the Pandava side the five Pandavas, Krishna and Satyaki; on the Kaurava side Ashvatthama, Kripa and Kritavarma. Yuyutsu, Dhritarashtra's son who had crossed to the Pandavas, also lived.

Who killed Duryodhana?

Bhima, in a mace duel on the eighteenth day, striking his thighs (9.57).

How did the Pandavas die?

Thirty-six years after the war, after the destruction of the Yadavas (16.1), the Pandavas and Draupadi set out for the Himalayas. Draupadi fell first (17.2.3), then the brothers one by one, until only Yudhishthira and a dog reached the gate of heaven.

The Gita and other teachings

Where is the Bhagavad Gita in the Mahabharata?

In the Bhishma Parva: chapters 23 to 40 in the critical edition, 25 to 42 in the vulgate. See all 18 chapters of the Gita explained.

Where is the Vishnu Sahasranama?

In the Anushasana Parva, taught by Bhishma: chapter 135 in the critical edition, chapter 149 in the vulgate.

What is the Yaksha Prashna?

The questions a yaksha asks Yudhishthira at a lake, which he answers to bring his brothers back to life (3.296 to 3.298).

What is Vidura Niti?

Vidura's counsel to the sleepless Dhritarashtra on the eve of war, in the Udyoga Parva.

What is and is not in the critical edition

Did Draupadi laugh at Duryodhana and call him a blind man's son?

Not in the critical edition. There the servants, Bhima, Arjuna and the twins laugh at him (2.43.6 to 2.43.9).

Did Krishna save Draupadi's honour in the dice hall?

In the critical edition, another garment keeps appearing whenever Duhshasana pulls one away (2.61.41), with no prayer to Krishna. In the vulgate and in devotion, Krishna answers Draupadi's prayer.

Did Draupadi refuse Karna at her svayamvara?

That refusal is in the vulgate, not in the critical edition.

Is Barbarika (Khatu Shyam) in the Mahabharata?

Not in Vyasa's text. His story comes from later Puranic and regional tradition.

Is it unlucky to keep the Mahabharata at home?

Some families hold this belief; it is a popular custom, not a teaching of the text, which itself praises reading and hearing the epic.

Sources

1. The Mahabharata, critical edition, ed. V. S. Sukthankar and others (Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune, 1933 to 1966); electronic text BORI 1999, via Indology: indology.info/bombay/mahabharata. Chapter and verse-unit counts made from this text on 12 November 2026.
2. Mahabharata with Nilakantha's commentary (vulgate), for passages outside the critical edition.
3. John Brockington, The Sanskrit Epics (Brill, 1998).

Last reviewed: 12 November 2026.