Mahābhārata (IV)
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Attributed (authorship debated)
- Condition of the text:
- No scanning noise detected (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
- Extent:
- ~520,000 words · 2,486 passages
Cite this work
- APAMahabharata. (n.d.). The Mahabharata, Vol. IV (Books 13-18) — Ganguli [Mahābhārata (IV)]. Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/mahabharata/the-mahabharata-vol-iv-books-13-18-ganguli
- MLAMahabharata. The Mahabharata, Vol. IV (Books 13-18) — Ganguli [Mahābhārata (IV)]. Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/mahabharata/the-mahabharata-vol-iv-books-13-18-ganguli.
- ChicagoMahabharata. The Mahabharata, Vol. IV (Books 13-18) — Ganguli [Mahābhārata (IV)]. Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/mahabharata/the-mahabharata-vol-iv-books-13-18-ganguli.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
The last six books: the continuation of Bhishma's instructions, the horse sacrifice, the withdrawal of the elders to the forest, the ruin of Krishna's clan, and the final road to the mountain.
Context and history
The poem does not end with victory but with the winding up of it: the victors are left alone, Krishna's own people destroy themselves in a drunken brawl, and Yudhishthira climbs the mountain to die, followed by a dog that refuses to leave him. The episode of the dog is the ending the tradition remembers best, and it reads as the poem's verdict on everything it has told. Ganguli's translation, 1883-1896.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
with great beauty. No creature, O Yudhisthira, had ever been born before among womankind, that was possessed of such beauty as that excellent damsel who was the daughter of Duryodhana. The god Agni himself courted the beautiful princess Sudarsana, and taking the shape of a Brahmana, O monarch, sought her hand from the king. The king was unwilling to give his daughter in marriage to the Brahmana who was poor and not of the same rank with himself. Thereupon Agni vanished from his great sacrifice. The king, grieved at heart, then addressed the Brahmanas, saying,--'Of what sin have I, ye excellent Brahmanas, or you, been guilty, that Agni should disappear from this sacrifice, even as good done unto wicked men disappears from their estimation. Great, indeed, must that sin of ours be for which Agni has thus disappeared. Either must the sin be yours, or, it must be mine. Do you fully investigate the matter.'--Then hearing the king's words, O foremost prince of Bharata's race, the Brahmanas, restraining speech, sought with concentrated faculties the protection of the god of fire. The divine carrier of oblations, resplendent as the autumnal Sun, appeared before them, enveloping his self in glorious refulgence. The high-souled Agni then addressed those excellent Brahmanas, saying,--'I seek the daughter of Duryodhana for my own self.' At this all those Brahmanas were struck with wonder, and rising on the morrow, they related to the king what had been said by the fire-god. The wise monarch, hearing the words of those utterers of Brahma, was delighted at heart, and said,--'Be it so.'--The king craved a boon of the illustrious fire-god as the marriage dower,--'Do thou, O Agni, deign to remain always with us here.'--'Be it so'--said the divine Agni to that lord of Earth. For this reason Agni has always been present in the kingdom of Mahismati to this day, and was seen by Sahadeva in course of his conquering expedition to the south.…