Thread by @kkumarkg

Today is Ganesh Chaturthi, the birthday of Ganapathi. Ganapathi is the scribe who wrote the Mahabharata as described by Veda Vyasa. Starting today, a thread on interesting facts, twists and turns in the #Mahabharata. Hope to continue this in the coming days

1. Vyasa first approached Brahma to be his scribe. Brahma sent him to Ganesha who agreed on condition that he would not have to stop and wait for Vyasa to compose. Vyasa agreed with a counter condition - that Ganesha would not write till he understood what Vyasa was describing.

Vyasa would compose difficult verses, which would give him time even as Ganesha stopped to understand the verse! In between, his pen broke! So as not to break the flow, Ganesha broke his own tusk and continued writing!

2. Mahabharata and Harivamsha cover 7 generations

Emperor Shantanu
His Sons Bheeshma, Chitrangada & Vichitraveerya
Vichitraveerya’s sons Dhritarshtra & Pandu
Their sons, Kauravas and Pandavas
Arjuna’s son Abhimanyu
Abhimanyu’s son Pareekshit
Pareekshit’s son Janamejaya.

3. There are strong female characters in four of these generations

Satyavathi, who ensures the continuation of the royal line after Vichitraveeryas death

Amba, elder sister of Ambika and Ambalika, who is reborn as Shikhandini to kill Bheeshma

Gandhari, doting mother who supports Duryodhana’s quest to be king

Kunti widow who brings up five sons in the path of Dharma

Draupadi, wife of the Pandavas, who is insulted by the Kauravas and when the Pandavas are ready for peace, reminds Krishna that she needs to be avenged

4. Many characters born out of wedlock, have decisive roles

Veda Vyasa - born to Satyavati before her marriage

Vidhura - born to the maid Ambika sent in her place to Vyasa for niyoga

Karna - born to Kunti before her marriage

Yuyutsu - born to Gandhari's maid by Dhritarashtra

5. There are four Krishna's

Vyasa - his birth name is Krishna

Sri Krishna - avatar of Vishnu

Draupadi - Her actual name is Krishna.

Arjuna - One of Arjuna’s 10 names is Krishna because of his dark color

Poundraka Vasudeva - imposter who claimed he was the actual Sri Krishna

6. The Bhagavad Gita is not the only Gita. There are many gitas. Gita means song. So, Bhagavad Gita is the song of Bhagavan. Some of the other Gitas are
Janaka Gita
Ashtavakra Gita
Anu Gita
Vyadha Gita
Ribhu Gita
Uddhav Gita

Here is a comprehensive list hinduism.stackexchange.com/questions/4981…

7. Maha Vishnu has 10 major avatars and many Amshavatars, of which 24 are prominent. 3 of the main avatars and one Amshavatar are present in the #Mahabharata. The major avatars present in the Mahabharata are Parasurama, Balarama and Sri Krishna while the Amshavatar is Veda Vyasa

8. Shiva is also present in the Mahabharata through his Amshavatars Ashvadhama, Sambha , Kripacharya and Hanuman. The first three play destructive roles. while Hanuman does not have a direct role but helps his younger brother Bheema and is present on Arjuna’s standard

9. Parasurama has three disciples who fight in the Mahabharata war. They are Bheeshma, Drona and Karna. Interestingly, all three fight on the “wrong” side and become commanders of the Kaurava Army. All three are killed in the war.

10. There are some who are present in both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. These include Parasurama, Hanuman and Narada. Shiva narrates the Ramayana to Devi Parvathi. Both of them are present when Bheeshma narrates the Vishnu Sahasranamam to Yudhishtira in the Mahabharata.

11. The Mahabharata is a series of narrations within narrations within narrations. The whole epic is presented as told to Janameyaja, the son of Pareekshit by Maharshi Vaisampayana during the formers snake sacrifice.

Within this, the 18 days of war is as narrated by Sanjaya to Dhritarashtra. The Bhagavad Gita, first narrated to Arjuna by Sri Krishna. is then narrated to Dhritarashtra by Sanjaya and is in turn narrated to Janameyaja by Vaisampayana!

Ugrasrava Sauti hears the narration by Vaisampayana and takes the Mahabharata to the rest of the world. (to be continued…)

Continuing this thread...
12. Shantanu was not in line to became emperor.He was youngest of three brothers.
The eldest, Devapi was disqualified due to illness & retired to the forest. Some narratives state that he is alive and will reestablish the Kuru dynasty after the Kaliyuga

13. The second, Bahlika did not want to rule such a large empire. He founded a kingdom after his own name. Thus, Shantanu became emperor. Without this twist, would there have been a Mahabharata?
Bahlika was regular at the Hastinapura court and fought for the Kauravas in the war

14. Shantanu also had three children; It were the youngest Vichitraveerya’s wives who continued the royal line.
The eldest, Devavrata, gave up the throne so that his father could marry Satyavathi whose father made him promise that he would not claim the throne

He also promised that he would not have any children, and that he would always support whoever sits on the throne of Hastinapura. For this promise, he came to be known as Bheeshma

15. The second son, Chitrangada was killed by a Gandharva also named Chitrangada who did not like a human being to have his name. Thus again, the third son became king; but he too died and without issue.

16. Satyavathi then got her first son, Veda Vyasa to enter into Niyoga with Vichitraveerya's wives. Niyoga finds mention in texts right from the Manu Smriti. It is for continuing the lineage of a man who dies without children, through his wife, and another man of good standing

17. Veda Vyasa is born out of wedlock, with Rishi Parashara. She is quite proud of him, as seen from her asking him to beget the next generation of Hastinapur royals. A generation later, Kunti has Karna out of wedlock with the deva Surya, but gives him up in shame #Mahabharata

18. From Niyoga, Dhritarashtra, the eldest is born blind, because his mother, Ambika closed her eyes upon seeing the Rishi. Because he is blind, he is disqualified to be king.

Thus again, for the third generation, the younger one, Pandu (who was born pale, because his mother Ambalika developed a pale pallor upon meeting Veda Vyasa for niyoga) becomes king

19. Like in the previous two generations of Hastinapur royals, this generation also has three sons. The third, Vidhura, is born to a maid who was sent to the rishi by Ambika in her place.

Ambika did this when Satyavati demanded that niyoga be repeated again to get a healthy child. Vidhura was the most knowledgeable of the three and became the Chief minister. #mahabharatam (to be continued...)