The recitation
Mahabharata characters
Twenty-two enriched profiles from a graph of 751 named figures. Search any name — including aliases such as Devrat, Radheya, or Panchali — or open a sitting below.
- KrishnaVasudeva’s eighth child. Vishnu among the Vrishnis. Arjuna’s charioteer. The still centre of the war.
- ArjunaThird Pandava, son of Indra. Nara to Krishna’s Narayana. The Gita is spoken to him.
- DraupadiBorn of Drupada’s fire. Wife of the five. The sabha is done to her. Mother of the Upapandavas, murdered sleeping.
- KarnaKunti’s first child, raised by Adhiratha and Radha. Duryodhana’s friend. Arjuna’s other self.
- DevavrataBhishma. Ganga’s son. The vow of celibacy that lets Satyavati’s line take the throne.
- KuntiPritha, Vasudeva’s sister. Mother of Karna in secret, then of the three elder Pandavas.
- DuryodhanaEldest of the hundred. Named Suyodhana at birth. Kali in a prince. The mace is his.
- YudhishthiraEldest Pandava, son of Dharma. The dice, the exile, the half-lie to Drona, the dog on the mountain.
- GandhariQueen who binds her own eyes. Mother of the hundred, from a mass of flesh divided into jars.
- VyasaKrishna Dvaipayana. Author of the Bharata. By niyoga, father of Dhritarashtra, Pandu, and Vidura.
- DronaThe princes’ acharya. Father of Ashwatthama. Slain in meditation after Yudhishthira’s half-truth.
- SubhadraSister of Krishna and Balarama. Arjuna’s wife. Mother of Abhimanyu.
- BhimaSecond Pandava, son of Vayu. The appetite and the vows: Duhshasana’s blood, Duryodhana’s thigh.
- DhritarashtraThe blind king. Father of the hundred. He knows what is right and does not stop the dice.
- PanduThe pale king. Cursed not to embrace a woman; the Pandavas are his by the gods.
- ViduraBorn of a maid and Vyasa. Dharma in a shudra body. The epic’s conscience, unused.
- ShakuniGandhari’s brother. The dice are his. He plays the sabha for Duryodhana.
- AshwatthamaDrona’s son. The night slaughter. The astra at Uttara’s womb. Cursed to wander wounded.
- AbhimanyuArjuna and Subhadra’s son. Learns the chakravyuha in the womb — only the way in.
- BalaramaKrishna’s elder brother. Shesha born as a man. Teaches the mace to both Bhima and Duryodhana, then refuses the war.
- GhatotkachaBhima and Hidimbi’s son. Krishna spends Karna’s unfailing Shakti on him at night, to save Arjuna.
- ShikhandiAmba reborn. Bhishma will not loose a weapon on him. Arjuna shoots from behind that refusal.
Everyone else lives on the family tree. Thin records are not published as separate pages.