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Notwithstanding the enthusiasm, with which my poor friend, Pratapa Chandra Roy, always endeavoured to fill me. I am sure

my energies would have flagged and patience exhausted but for the encouraging words which I always received from these

patrons and friends of the enterprise.

Lastly, I should name my literary chief and friend, Dr. Sambhu C. Mookherjee. The kind interest he took in my labours, the

repeated exhortations he addressed to me inculcating patience, the care with which he read every fasciculus as it came out,

marking all those passages which threw light upon topics of antiquarian interest, and the words of praise he uttered when any

expression particularly happy met his eyes, served to stimulate me more than anything else in going on with a task that

sometimes seemed to me endless.

Kisari Mohan Ganguli

Calcutta

THE MAHABHARATA

ADI PARVA

SECTION I

Om! Having bowed down to Narayana and Nara, the most exalted male being, and also to the goddess Saraswati, must the

word Jaya be uttered.

Ugrasrava, the son of Lomaharshana, surnamed Sauti, well-versed in the Puranas, bending with humility, one day approached

the great sages of rigid vows, sitting at their ease, who had attended the twelve years' sacrifice of Saunaka, surnamed Kulapati,

in the forest of Naimisha. Those ascetics, wishing to hear his wonderful narrations, presently began to address him who had

thus arrived at that recluse abode of the inhabitants of the forest of Naimisha. Having been entertained with due respect by

those holy men, he saluted those Munis (sages) with joined palms, even all of them, and inquired about the progress of their

asceticism. Then all the ascetics being again seated, the son of Lomaharshana humbly occupied the seat that was assigned to

him. Seeing that he was comfortably seated, and recovered from fatigue, one of the Rishis beginning the conversation, asked

him, 'Whence comest thou, O lotus-eyed Sauti, and where hast thou spent the time? Tell me, who ask thee, in detail.'

Accomplished in speech, Sauti, thus questioned, gave in the midst of that big assemblage of contemplative Munis a full and

proper answer in words consonant with their mode of life.

"Sauti said, 'Having heard the diverse sacred and wonderful stories which were composed in his Mahabharata by KrishnaDwaipayana, and which were recited in full by Vaisampayana at the Snake-sacrifice of the high-souled royal sage Janamejaya

and in the presence also of that chief of Princes, the son of Parikshit, and having wandered about, visiting many sacred waters

and holy shrines, I journeyed to the country venerated by the Dwijas (twice-born) and called Samantapanchaka where formerly

was fought the battle between the children of Kuru and Pandu, and all the chiefs of the land ranged on either side. Thence,

anxious to see you, I am come into your presence. Ye reverend sages, all of whom are to me as Brahma; ye greatly blessed who

shine in this place of sacrifice with the splendour of the solar fire: ye who have concluded the silent meditations and have fed

the holy fire; and yet who are sitting--without care, what, O ye Dwijas (twice-born), shall I repeat, shall I recount the sacred

stories collected in the Puranas containing precepts of religious duty and of worldly profit, or the acts of illustrious saints and

sovereigns of mankind?"

"The Rishi replied, 'The Purana, first promulgated by the great Rishi Dwaipayana, and which after having been heard both by

the gods and the Brahmarshis was highly esteemed, being the most eminent narrative that exists, diversified both in diction and

division, possessing subtile meanings logically combined, and gleaned from the Vedas, is a sacred work. Composed in elegant

language, it includeth the subjects of other books. It is elucidated by other Shastras, and comprehendeth the sense of the four

Vedas. We are desirous of hearing that history also called Bharata, the holy composition of the wonderful Vyasa, which

dispelleth the fear of evil, just as it was cheerfully recited by the Rishi Vaisampayana, under the direction of Dwaipayana

himself, at the snake-sacrifice of Raja Janamejaya?'

"Sauti then said, 'Having bowed down to the primordial being Isana, to whom multitudes make offerings, and who is adored by

the multitude; who is the true incorruptible one, Brahma, perceptible, imperceptible, eternal; who is both a non-existing and an

existing-non-existing being; who is the universe and also distinct from the existing and non-existing universe; who is the

creator of high and low; the ancient, exalted, inexhaustible one; who is Vishnu, beneficent and the beneficence itself, worthy of

all preference, pure and immaculate; who is Hari, the ruler of the faculties, the guide of all things moveable and immoveable; I

will declare the sacred thoughts of the illustrious sage Vyasa, of marvelous deeds and worshipped here by all. Some bards have

already published this history, some are now teaching it, and others, in like manner, will hereafter promulgate it upon the earth.

It is a great source of knowledge, established throughout the three regions of the world. It is possessed by the twice-born both

in detailed and compendious forms. It is the delight of the learned for being embellished with elegant expressions,

conversations human and divine, and a variety of poetical measures.

In this world, when it was destitute of brightness and light, and enveloped all around in total darkness, there came into being, as

the primal cause of creation, a mighty egg, the one inexhaustible seed of all created beings. It is called Mahadivya, and was

formed at the beginning of the Yuga, in which we are told, was the true light Brahma, the eternal one, the wonderful and

inconceivable being present alike in all places; the invisible and subtile cause, whose nature partaketh of entity and non-entity.

From this egg came out the lord Pitamaha Brahma, the one only Prajapati; with Suraguru and Sthanu. Then appeared the

twenty-one Prajapatis, viz., Manu, Vasishtha and Parameshthi; ten Prachetas, Daksha, and the seven sons of Daksha. Then

appeared the man of inconceivable nature whom all the Rishis know and so the Viswe-devas, the Adityas, the Vasus, and the

twin Aswins; the Yakshas, the Sadhyas, the Pisachas, the Guhyakas, and the Pitris. After these were produced the wise and

most holy Brahmarshis, and the numerous Rajarshis distinguished by every noble quality. So the water, the heavens, the earth,

the air, the sky, the points of the heavens, the years, the seasons, the months, the fortnights, called Pakshas, with day and night

in due succession. And thus were produced all things which are known to mankind.

And what is seen in the universe, whether animate or inanimate, of created things, will at the end of the world, and after the

expiration of the Yuga, be again confounded. And, at the commencement of other Yugas, all things will be renovated, and, like

the various fruits of the earth, succeed each other in the due order of their seasons. Thus continueth perpetually to revolve in

the world, without beginning and without end, this wheel which causeth the destruction of all things.

The generation of Devas, in brief, was thirty-three thousand, thirty-three hundred and thirty-three. The sons of Div were

Brihadbhanu, Chakshus, Atma Vibhavasu, Savita, Richika, Arka, Bhanu, Asavaha, and Ravi. Of these Vivaswans of old,

Mahya was the youngest whose son was Deva-vrata. The latter had for his son, Su-vrata who, we learn, had three sons,--Dasajyoti, Sata-jyoti, and Sahasra-jyoti, each of them producing numerous offspring. The illustrious Dasa-jyoti had ten thousand,

Sata-jyoti ten times that number, and Sahasra-jyoti ten times the number of Sata-jyoti's offspring. From these are descended the

family of the Kurus, of the Yadus, and of Bharata; the family of Yayati and of Ikshwaku; also of all the Rajarshis. Numerous

also were the generations produced, and very abundant were the creatures and their places of abode. The mystery which is

threefold--the Vedas, Yoga, and Vijnana Dharma, Artha, and Kama--also various books upon the subject of Dharma, Artha,

and Kama; also rules for the conduct of mankind; also histories and discourses with various srutis; all of which having been

seen by the Rishi Vyasa are here in due order mentioned as a specimen of the book.

The Rishi Vyasa published this mass of knowledge in both a detailed and an abridged form. It is the wish of the learned in the

world to possess the details and the abridgement. Some read the Bharata beginning with the initial mantra (invocation), others

with the story of Astika, others with Uparichara, while some Brahmanas study the whole. Men of learning display their various

knowledge of the institutes in commenting on the composition. Some are skilful in explaining it, while others, in remembering

its contents.

The son of Satyavati having, by penance and meditation, analysed the eternal Veda, afterwards composed this holy history,

when that learned Brahmarshi of strict vows, the noble Dwaipayana Vyasa, offspring of Parasara, had finished this greatest of

narrations, he began to consider how he might teach it to his disciples. And the possessor of the six attributes, Brahma, the

world's preceptor, knowing of the anxiety of the Rishi Dwaipayana, came in person to the place where the latter was, for

gratifying the saint, and benefiting the people. And when Vyasa, surrounded by all the tribes of Munis, saw him, he was

surprised; and, standing with joined palms, he bowed and ordered a seat to be brought. And Vyasa having gone round him who

is called Hiranyagarbha seated on that distinguished seat stood near it; and being commanded by Brahma Parameshthi, he sat

down near the seat, full of affection and smiling in joy. Then the greatly glorious Vyasa, addressing Brahma Parameshthi, said,

"O divine Brahma, by me a poem hath been composed which is greatly respected. The mystery of the Veda, and what other

subjects have been explained by me; the various rituals of the Upanishads with the Angas; the compilation of the Puranas and

history formed by me and named after the three divisions of time, past, present, and future; the determination of the nature of

decay, fear, disease, existence, and non-existence, a description of creeds and of the various modes of life; rule for the four

castes, and the import of all the Puranas; an account of asceticism and of the duties of a religious student; the dimensions of the

sun and moon, the planets, constellations, and stars, together with the duration of the four ages; the Rik, Sama and Yajur

Vedas; also the Adhyatma; the sciences called Nyaya, Orthoephy and Treatment of diseases; charity and Pasupatadharma; birth

celestial and human, for particular purposes; also a description of places of pilgrimage and other holy places of rivers,

mountains, forests, the ocean, of heavenly cities and the kalpas; the art of war; the different kinds of nations and languages: the