acaturvadano brahmā dvibāhuraparo harih|
abhālalocana śambhur bhagavān bādarāyana ||

This is the first sloka of Mahabharata. This sloka means Vyasa is like Brahma but without four faces. It also means he is like Vishnu with two hands. It also means Vyasa is like Shiva but does not have the third eye. The last word in the Sloka, “Badarayanah,” is another name for Vyasa.

Vyasa is like Brahma, the creator of the world since he created a large MahaKavya 5000 years ago. Vyasa is like Vishnu and sustains the world by educating us about good values. Like Shiva, Vyasa helps us dissolve the negative qualities that we have.

itihāsapradīpena mohāvaranaghātinā|
lokagarbhagrham krtsnam yathāvat samprakāśitam||

The lamp of Itihaasa removes the ignorance that we have. The lamp brightens and shows us the essence of the whole world as it is. It shows us the reality as it is, nothing more or less. That is Mahabharata. Thus, the sloka compared Mahabharata to a lamp, that too to the primary lamp (Pradipa) that lights all other lamps.

niśrenyau brahmalokasya vāgdevyāh karnakundale |
dharmadrumamahāmūle vālmīkivyāsayoh krtī||

In this Sloka, in the tree of Dharma, the roots are said to be the creations of Valmiki and Vyasa, i.e Ramayana and Mahabharata. These two Kavyas are the staircase to heaven. These two Kavyas are the ornaments of Devi Saraswati.

Hunting is extremely painful to the environment and shouldn’t be done for fun. Our culture preaches – Sham no dvipade, sham chatushpade let there be joy to the creatures walking on two legs, as well as four. Hunting was never supposed to be an act of pleasure in ancient Bharat. It was a practice, done by the Hunters for a living and the Kings to sharpen their war skills. There were specific rules to hunt, so that the natural setting of the animals is not disrupted, hunting was forbidden during the mating seasons. Hunting was only an occasional activity for the Kings and not a regular sport. King Pandu made such a mistake of hunting for fun, once.

When Kunti was just 12 years old, she was blessed by Sage Durvasa as he was impressed by her hospitality. The sage, being far-sighted, gave her a boon, through which she could get a son from any god that she wished to invoke.

Young Kunti received a boon from Durvasa that she could get a son from any god that she wished to invoke. Filled with curiosity, Kunti invoked the Sun God – Suryanarayana soon after receiving the boon. To her astonishment, the Sun god appeared and blessed her with a radiant baby, gifted with divine earrings and armour. Thus, Karna was born.

Kunti feared that she would be unable to answer the society, for having a child. She put him in a golden basket with a lot of wealth and floated him off in a river. The charioteer of Bhishma- Adhiratha Sushain, found this child and brought him home. His wife mothered Karna with great affection. Her name was Radha, hence Karna was also called Radhey. Since he was sent with a lot of gold, Karna was called Vashusena.

Yudhishtira Yudhi Sthirah – Yudhi Sthirah – युधि स्थिरः युधिष्ठिरः – Stable in battle

Kunti prayed to Yamadharma, the guardian of Dharma for her first child. Yudhishtira was born, the one with great intellect, poise and balance. He would be very stable in war.

Madri too wished to have children, Kunti transferred her boon to Madri, enabling her to invoke the blessings of a god. Madri invoked the Ashvini Kumaras and begot twins, Nakula and Sahadeva. They both were charming and possessed healing powers. They were very skillful in the field of medicine. Sahadeva could foretell the future as well.

Soon, after this, Pandu passed away. Once, when he was in the company of Madri, he forgot his curse, and fell dead. Following this, Madri too gave up her life.

When Kunti gave birth to Yudhishtira, Gandhari was still pregnant. Realising that Kunti had already given birth to the eldest son of the family and as per tradition, he will inherit the throne, Gandhari grew impatient. She forcefully pulled out the fetus.

At this disastrous site, Vyasa Maharishi arrived and saved the fetus by smearing the fetus with water. The fetus split into 100 pieces. He put each of the piece in a Kumbha containing ghee. After attaining maturity, the pots broke and from them emerged the 99 sons of Dhritarashtra, the eldest being Duryodhana along with one daughter.

Sage Bharadvaja was a great teacher. Among his disciples were Drona and Drupada. Drona was his own son and Drupada was the crown prince of Panchala. Drona and Drupada were thick friends. Looking at the poverty of Drona, Drupada had promised half of his kingdom to his friend, when he became King in future. Both the friends got busy with life as they grew up.

Dronacharya married Kripi, who is the sister of Kripacharya. Kripacharya was the first Guru of Kauravas and Pandavas.

Drona was extremely poor and had no money to even feed his son Ashvatthama properly. His son had never drank milk in his life, his friends would tease him saying he has never seen milk. Saddened by this, Drona mixed wheat flour and sugar in water and fed it to his son, saying that it is milk. Soon, young Ashvatthama realised this folly and felt cheated by his parents, Drona dejected by his terrible condition, approached his old and dear friend Drupada, and reminded him of the promise he had once made.

Drupada, now a proud king, insulted and mocked the poverty of Drona and sent him away. Betrayed by his friend, Drona resolved to train capable kshatriyas, who would be better Kings than Drupada and would be able to defeat Drupada in battle. Eventually this would lead to Drona becoming the Guru of Kauravas and Pandavas. While the poverty of Drona made him approach Draupada, it was only the breaking of promise that made Drona take a vow.