Sit with a name
Open someone you already carry. The page is the sitting. The map then shows only who the story actually ties to them.
Kurukshetra
Explore the Mahabharata Through 751 Characters
Search any name, trace how two people are connected, browse family branches, and follow the story through key relationships. The Mahabharata — also called the Mahabharat — is the family that drove them onto this field, and the eighteen mornings that emptied it.
Sit with Krishna Sit with Arjuna The vow that made this war
751 named · 18 kulas · 1174 bonds
Krishna holds the reins.
How to sit
Three doors. Each one is enough.
Walk the kula
Every named figure, house by house. Parents, spouses, gurus sit in rows — the family that drove them onto the field.
Tie two names
How Karna meets Arjuna. Blood, a vow, a guru, a story-bond. The shortest path is the one a reader needs.
Guided stories
Seven question-led sittings. Each page keeps the full answer if the map never loads.
- Why Bhishma Could Not Inherit HastinapuraA vow on a riverbank is why Hastinapura has no clear heir.
- The Five BrothersPandu cannot father children. The gods do it for him — and Draupadi marries all five.
- Karna’s Two MothersThe tournament’s stranger is Kunti’s first child, raised as a suta.
- The Dice and the SabhaA game of dice is how a wife is staked. One brother speaks. The rest do not.
- Why the Grandsire FallsAmba’s unfinished marriage becomes Shikhandi. Bhishma will not shoot.
- The Boy in the WheelAbhimanyu learns the chakravyuha in the womb — only the way in.
- Why This Story Is Being ToldA king is killing snakes. A boy walks in. The recitation can begin.
The eighteen days
Sanjaya sits with the blind king and tells the war as it happens. Ten days under Bhishma, five under Drona, two under Karna, the last under Shalya.
- 1The song before the first arrow
- 2Arjuna meets the grandsire
- 3The Kauravas press
- 4Eight of the hundred fall
- 5Satyaki holds Drona
- 6A melee without a name
- 7The grandsire still unhurt
- 8Iravan, and the rakshasa night
- 9The chakra is raised
- 10Shikhandi, and the bed of arrows
- 11Drona takes the army
- 12Bhagadatta and the elephant
- 13The boy inside the wheel
- 14Jayadratha before sunset
- 15The elephant named Ashwatthama
- 16Karna’s two days begin
- 17The wheel sticks
- 18Shalya, the lake, the thigh
A name you already carry
Open one person. Then walk only who the story actually ties to them.
- 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.
The blood in the traces
Pandava, Kaurava, Yadava — the houses that reach this morning.
- Yadu–VrishniYadavas, Andhakas, Vrishnis: Krishna’s blood.
- House of ShantanuGanga, Satyavati, Devavrata, Vyasa, the widows of Vichitravirya.
- PandavasKunti, Madri, the five brothers, Draupadi, and their sons.
- KauravasDhritarashtra, Gandhari, the hundred, Duhsala, Yuyutsu.
- PanchalaDrupada, Dhrishtadyumna, Draupadi, Shikhandi.
- PrimordialBrahma, Vishnu, Shiva, and the mind-born.
- Daksha’s housePrajapatis and the daughters who seed every later kula.
- Kashyapa’s wivesAditi, Diti, Danu, Kadru, Vinata, and the rest.
- DevasAdityas, Rudras, Vasus, Ashvins — the shining ones.
- Daityas & DanavasHiranyakashipu’s line, Puloma’s sons, Vrishaparva.
- NagasKadru’s serpents: Shesha, Vasuki, Takshaka, and the named host.
- SuparnasVinata’s birds: Aruna, Garuda, and their brood.
- ChandravamshaSoma through Yayati and the five sons who split the world.
- Puru–BharataPuru to Bharata to Kuru, before Hastinapura’s last house.
- Other kingdomsMatsya, Magadha, Chedi, Gandhara, Madra, Sindhu, Kashi, Vidarbha.
- Gurus & BhargavasBhrigu’s line, Bharadvaja, Drona, Kripa, Parashurama.
- Rakshasas & NishadasHidimba, Baka, Ekalavya, and the forest houses.
- Sages & the tellingThe narrators of the Mahabharata, rishis, and witnesses of the sacrifice.
Open the family tree — every named figure, house by house. How this was compiled. The book was first called Jaya. This is mahabharata.online, from EthicsLab Limited. Privacy · Support.