The Stories of Mahabharata

King Ushinara In this episode of the Stories of Mahabharata, Rishi Lomasha tells the Pandavas two exciting stories. In the first story, he tells the story of Rishi Chyavan who regained his youth with the help of the celestial physicians the Ashwini Kumar twins. The second story narrates the tale of King Ushinara who was willing to give his body and life to save a little dove who took his refuge. L...

Parashurama kills Kartavirya According to the Hindu scriptures, Lord Vishnu appeared on earth nine times to purge the earth of evil (his 10th appearance is yet to happen). Parashurama was the sixth incarnation. In this episode, Rishi Lomasha tells the Pandavas the story of Parashurama and how he passed his father Rishi Jamadagni's cruel test and later killed the evil King KartyaVirya who had a tho...

Bhagirath and Ganga Rishi Lomapada tells Yudhistira and his entourage the tale of Bhagiratha and how he brought Ganga from the heavens to the earth and then led her to the oceans, thus forming the mighty river. He then tells them the story of Rishwasringa and how he was seduced by a clever courtesan who brought the young Rishi to the Kingdom of Anga to help bring rains to the cursed land. Listen t...

Agastya drinks the ocean After spending few years in the Kamyaka forest, the Pandavas embark on a grand pilgrimage to visit the various holy places around the country. and learn about their glorious legends. Rishi Lomasha volunteered to be their guide. On their first stop, they visit the Ashrama of Rishi Agastya. Lomasha tells them the stories of the strange miracles performed by Agastya. Listen t...

Urvashi curses Arjuna Arjuna visits the heavens to acquire more weapons from his father Indra. Apart from acquiring the skills in using the divine weapons, Arjuna also begins taking lessons in music and dance from the Gandharva Guru Chitrasena.  There he meets the beautiful Apsara, Urvasi and Arjuna's resolve gets tested once again. Listen to this episode below and don't forget to provide your fee...

Kirata and Arjuna Story Yudhistira realized that to conquer the Kauravas, he needs to have powerful weapons. He sends Arjuna on a quest to acquire divine and powerful weapons from the gods. Arjuna travels far and meets Lord Shiva in a strange circumstance. The pleased lord Shiva fulfils our heroes wish. Listen to this special episode of the Vana Parva or the Forest Chapter of the Mahabharatas. Hos...

Krishna fights Salwa and his Vimana (airship) Sauvanagar The Pandavas are now in exile in the forest. One day  Krishna visits the Pandavas in the forest to express his solidarity.  He apologizes for not being able to attend the game of dice and stop this misfortune from befalling on the Pandavas. He then tells the Pandavs the story of how he destroyed King Salwa and his airship (Vimana) called Sau...

Sudipta Bhawmik and Avi Ziv The other day, Avi and I sat together to chat about what goes on behind the scenes of “The Stories of Mahabharata”  podcast. We talked about how Avi goes about designing the sound for the podcast. And I spoke about the development process of each episode from the writer and performers point. Our objective was to connect to our listeners and to share our process with the...

The Sun God and Yudhistira The Pandavas go into exile as per the conditions of the game.  The Sun god gifts Yudhistira with the magic bowl to feed his followers. Upset by Vidura's harsh comments Dhritarashtra banishes him. But he couldn't live without him either. So he calls Vidura back to the palace. Rishi Maitreya visits Hastinapura and curses Duryodhana for his arrogance. Listen to this episode...

The Pandavas going into exile Duryodhana was not happy when Dhritarashtra returned the Pandavas their kingdom and all the wealth they had lost in the game of dice to Shakuni. So he and Shakuni came up with another plan. They invited Yudhistira back to Hastinapura and challenged him to play one last game of dice. But this time, the wager was different. It was proposed, whoever loses the game will h...

Draupadi's Insult Yudhistira bets his wife Draupadi in the game of dice and loses her to the Kauravas. Dussasana drags Draupadi to the assembly hall in front of everybody. And there, the Panchal princess is subject to the cruelest humiliation while her husbands sit still with their eyes shut and heads hung low. The Kuru elders, Bhishma, Drona, Kripa and Dhritarashtra also sit and watch the inhuman...

The Game of Dice The greatest mistake Yudhistira made in his life was to agree to play the game of dice with Duryodhana. He knew, the game wouldn't be fair, but still he couldn't refuse. His excuses were, that he couldn't say no to his uncle Dhritarashtra, and also he would never retreat when challenged. But was that the real reason? Listen to this episode and be the judge. Hosted on Acast. See ac...

Shakuni Duryodhana's envy of the Pandavas keeps consuming him. Moreover, he is humiliated by falling for the illusions of the grand palace Maya had built for them. But scheming Shakuni has a plan to rob Yudhishthira of his kingdom. Even the righteous emperor has a blind spot. Duryodhana and Shakuni work out their game plan to shred Yudhistira to pieces. Listen to this exciting episode below: Hoste...

The Slaying of Sishupala Sishupala, the King of Chedi, was an invited guest to King Yudhistira's Rajasuya sacrifice ceremony. He had accepted Yudhistira as his emperor. But when Yudhistira decided to offer Krishna his first worship as the most revered man present in the audience, Sishupala lost his cool. He had an old animosity with Krishna, and he lashed out at him with outrageous insults. Krishn...

Bhima Slays Jarasandha Jarasandha, the mighty King of Magadha, was feared by everybody, including the almighty Lord Krishna. Jarasandha planned to offer one hundred Kings as human sacrifice to his Lord. He had captured eighty-six of them and was in the process of capturing fourteen more to complete his mission. Krishna takes Bheema and Arjuna with him to Magadha to kill Jarasandha and release the...

The Blazing Khandava Forest Agni requests Arjuna and Krishna to help him burn down the Khandava forest for the flesh and fat of the animals in the forest would cure him of his loss of appetite. Arjuna and Krishna helps him, and a great fire rages through the forest killing all creatures who lived there. Krishna and Arjuna spared Maya Asura's life, and to express his gratitude Maya builds a magnifi...

Arjuna Abducts Subhadra This is the thirteenth episode of the stories of Mahabharata. We have progressed quite a bit, but we have a long way to go. In this episode we hear couple of fascinating stories. In the first story, Arjuna rescues the five Apsaras from their curse. And in the second story, Ajuna falls in love with Krishna's sister Subhadra, and at Krishna's suggestion, he forcefully abducts...

Arjuna and Ulupi Dhritarashtra offered Pandavas the land of Khandava, a barren and uninhabited piece of land, to set up their Kingdom. To everybody's surprise, Yudhishtira accepts the offer. In Khandava, the Pandavas setup their capital in Indraprastha, a grand city build by Lord Indra himself.  Rishi Narada tells the Pandavas the story of Sunda and Upasunda and advises them to setup a rule among...

Dhritarashtra and Yudhistira When the blind king Dritarashtra learned that the Pandavas have survived the fire in Varanavata and have gained a strong ally, King Drupada of Panchala by marrying his daughter Draupadi, he was in deep trouble. He had already declared Duryodhana to be the crown prince of Hastinapura. Now if the Pandavas come back to Hastinapura and demand the throne, what would he do?...

Draupadi's Marriage After passing Drupad's test, Arjuna wins Draupadi as his bride. But when the Pandavas arrive at their home, their mother Kunti asks them to do something that changes their lives for ever. Listen to this amazing episode below. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Arjuna attempts to hit the target while Krishna, Draupadi and Drupada watch. Listen to another episode of the stories of Mahabharata. In this episode, we go to the city of Kampilya in Panchala, where the Pandavas attend the Swayavara of Draupadi, King Drupada's daughter. There, Arjuna passes the most difficult test set for an archer and wins Draupadi as his bride. Listen to the podcast below. And...

The Flaming House of Varanabata The stories of Mahabharata continues with this eighth episode – The Flaming house of Varanabata. With the advice from Shakuni, Duryodhana comes up with a devious plan to kill the Pandavas. Dhritarashtra sends the Pandavas to Varanabata to attend a festival. But the Pandavas escape the trap set for them and flee into the forest. There Bheema encounters the demo...

Drona takes his revenge on Drupada The stories of Mahabharata are not only about kings and gods and demons. It is also a tale of ethics, morality and politics.  The needs and conflicts that drive each character are the same that drives us today. The great weapons teacher Drona Acharya was a Brahmin. A Brahmin was supposed to have the noblest of qualities and free of petty politics and trivialities...

Kunti and Karna In this episode of the stories from Mahabharata, Drona arranges for a grand show where his students, the Kuru princes demonstrate their prowess with arms. Arjuna dazzles the audience by his prowess with a variety of arms and weapons. But suddenly Karna enters the arena and the story takes a dranstic turn which none could have expected. Listen to this episode on the player below, or...

Drona tests his students In this episode, Guru Dronacharya arrives in Hastinapura and awes the Kuru princes with his skills. Bhishma retains him as the royal arms and weapons trainer for the Pandava and Kaurava brothers. Arjuna excels in archery. Ekalavya, a tribal boy, comes to Drona to learn from him. Drona refuses to accept him as a student. But Ekalavya masters the art of archery by practicing...