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Thursday, January 10, 2013

The Mother of all confusions - Family-Tree of Mahabharata

Whatever is there in the world is here!

What is not here is nowhere in the world!

This phrase about Mahabharata can be deemed as true as truth itself. This huge epic, with plenty of stories and infinite tales never ceases to fascinate its readers with the dimensions it covers. However, confused in the maze of stories and tales, one actually forgets the actual track. The track of the family-line around which revolves the entire epic. The family-tree of Mahabharata fame Kuru household that ruled over the city of Hastinapur. After my years of understanding the epic, I decided to summarize it. I tried Photoshop, MS Word, Excel, Paint; a combination of these, and many other softwares. I failed. I tried drawing it with pen on a chart paper. I failed there too. Will a blog help to understand it completely? Of course not. But I hope it will still give a better understanding into this confusing maze of relationships.


If there is something more complex and intricate to understand than the nervous system of human beings, it is indeed the family tree of Kurus. Mysterious men and women with weird abilities and interests, confused sexual orientations and impractical desires transform this tree into a labyrinth. Indra, the Emran Hashmi of mythology, and his force comprising of uncountable gods added more to the confusion by fathering sons on women who were either lonely or married to sterile and/or impotent husbands. Besides gods, there were rishis, gandharvs, rakshasas, nagas, asuras, yakshas, nymphs and many more species that married into or provided heirs to the main line of the Kuru clan.


Disclaimer: I have tried my best to keep the flow of the article serial. However, different stories or folk tales may appear here and there depending on the situation. Though the son of each generation had many more sons, I will mention only that son of every generation who was a progeny of the main Kuru bloodline. 

Legend:
God (with capital "G") = The Almighty (Either of the three: Brahma, Vishnu or Shiva)
gods (with small "G") = (Indra, Agni, Vayu, Chandra etc. I might use gods and devtas interchangeably.)

Most of the readers of Mahabharata are interested in knowing about the characters involved in the war only. However, characters that appear in the epic before and after the war were equally interesting. Their passions, their ideals and their decisions go a long way in affecting future generations. It took me three days to decide where to start from. The earliest link of the chain I could find was the guru of the gods, Brihaspati.
....and so begins the mother of all confusions....
Disclaimer: Although I have referred plenty of sources before summarizing this, there can be variations that occur from different narrations and interpolations of the epic over the generations. No offence or spreading of misinformation intended. 
So there was this Rishi called Brishaspati who performed all sorts of yagnas for the gods to help them defeat their eternal enemies, Asuras. His wife was Tara, a young and beautiful woman, who was much exasperated by the indifference of her over-busy husband towards her. As a result, she eloped with Chandra, the Moon-god. A deceived Brishaspati refused to perform any yagna for the gods till Tara returned to him. She returned, but pregnant. On inquiry, she confessed that it was Chandra's son and not Brihaspati’s. In rage, Brishaspati cursed the child in the belly to be born of neutral gender.

The child of neutral gender thus born was Budh. Impossible, as it might have been otherwise, Budh found a woman named Ila and married her. Ila, by the way, was a man before and was transformed to a woman following an accident when she entered a forest where Shiva had cast a spell. Budh's sexuality  varied between the waxing and waning of moon and so did Ila's. Hence, both Budh and Ila complemented each other. They had many sons and daughters. Since Budh emerged from the Moon-god, his lineage was thus known as the Lunar dynasty a.k.a. Chandravansh and his descendants were called Chandravanshis.

One of the sons of Budh, Pururava fell in love with the celestial nymph, Urvashi and married her. She  bore Pururava many sons before she returned to Indra’s abode. After she returned, a heart-broken Pururava became mad and could not rule anymore.

Note: One of the sons of Pururava established the kingdom of Panchala and another one established Gandhar. Over a period of time, the Kuru household accepted wives for their sons from these families transforming the family tree into a family web.

Then there was another descendant named Yayati (great-grandson of Pururava), who was a great fine king but was wronged by circumstances and over-powered by women. He married two women who were best friends turned enemies, one a Brahmin - Devyani; another a royal - Sarmishtha. He bore sons from both and lived happily, but not for long. A curse made him lose his manhood and it could be resolved only if one of his sons would agree to suffer for the father. He  first summoned his elder son Yadu, who stating this was against Dharma, refused. Then he summoned the obedient Puru who agreed. Yayati thus cursed his son Yadu that he and his descendants would never become kings and blessed his son Puru that he and his descendants would. Years later, Yayati released Puru from the curse and went to paradise handing over the throne to  Puru.


Note: Yadu moved away and settled in Mathura. Puru continued to rule in Hastinapur. Generations later, Krishna would be born in the Yadu family and Arjun would be born in the Puru family. Arjun would marry Krishna’s sister, Subhadhra, who would give birth to Abhimanyu. This was, therefore, a wedding within the family.

Moving on, the son of Puru, Dushyanta inherited the throne of Hastinapur. One day, while he was on hunt, he met a woman called Shakuntala in the hermitage of Rishi Kanva. From the union of Dushyanata and Shakuntala was born Bharata, the great king from whom is derived the name of our country, Bhaarat.

Note: Rishi Kanva had adopted Shakuntala when he found her in a forest unattended but sheltered by a flock of birds. Shakuntala was born when the river-nymph Menaka had succeeded in wooing Rishi Kaushik and made him give up his meditation on Indra’s decree. Both Kaushik and Menaka had abandoned Shakuntala as she was the result of no marriage but only momentary passion. Children suffer due to faults of their parents throughout this epic.

Bharata's wives presented many sons to him but he was not satisfied with any of them. He felt his sons did not resemble him, or perhaps, were not as capable as him to inherit his throne. So he adopted a son called Vitatha, who was presented by the gods.

Note: Vitatha was born when Brihaspati (father of Budh) had forced himself upon his younger brother’s wife, Mamata. Both Brishaspati and Mamata had abandoned Vitatha too, just like Shakuntala's parents abandoned her. 

The greatness of Bharata lies in the fact that he gave capability higher priority over blood relations when it came to inheritance. The later kings of the Kuru dynasty would not follow Bharata’s footsteps which will ultimately become the cause of the Great War.

Generations later there was another ruler of the Bharata kingdom, called Shantanu, son of Pratipa and grandson of Kuru, who in turn was the grandson of Bharata. He fell in love with river-goddess, Ganga. Ganga bore Shantanu eight sons. She drowned her first seven sons in river Ganga immediately after their birth and only the last son was kept alive. This son was named Devavrata and for the knowledge and military prowess he possessed he was sure to inherit the throne. Later, Shantanu married an irresistibly attractive fisherwoman, named Satyavati. This marriage was on a condition that Devavrata would renounce the throne and only Satyavati’s children would become the kings. Devavrata happily gave away the throne for his father’s pleasure, much like Puru, and even pledged to stay celibate throughout his life to avoid any conflict between his sons and those of Satyavati. Due to this terrible oath that he took for his father, he was named "Bheeshm". 

Note: Satyavati was the daughter of a King called Uparichara and a cursed-to-be-fish nymph called Girika. How their unison took place defies all scientific logic ever known to mankind and hence, out of scope of this article. Satyavati smelt dreadfully of fish and was also called Matsyagandha. Before her marriage to Shantanu, Satyavati had an encounter with a sage called Parasara who had desired to make love to her in the middle of the river, on an island, keeping her virginity intact yet making the fish-odour to disappear. The son born from this unison was Krishna Dwaipayana, later to be known as Ved Vyas, the compiler of the Vedas and the author of the Mahabharata.

Devavrata's oath to stay celibate is a turning point in the epic as it technically ends the Kuru bloodline. All sons born in the family after this would be through Niyog (explained later) or boons. However, in my opinion, the bloodline ended much earlier when Bharata rejected his sons and adopted Vitatha. But since Vitatha was the son of Brihaspati, who was also the great grand-father of Pururava, probably, the bloodline was back on track!! 


So Satyavati now had three sons: a secret son from Rishi Prasara; VedVyas, and two sons from Shantanu; Chirtrangadha and Vichitryaveer. Chitrangadha died without making much place in the family history. Vichitraveerya however had two wives, Amba and Ambalika, but even he died without giving the Kuru clan an heir.

There was a much prevalent concept of Niyog in those times.


According to this concept, if the man of the family line was impotent, sterile or dead but his wives were fit to bear a child, then a hermit or a god was invited to impregnate the wife. The child thus born would be considered the son of the husband and not of the outsider. These were the laws of marriage. Please note, this was done solely on the will of the woman and was not forced on her. 

Note: As far as I know, the non-husband man who was invited was supposed to be someone who had renounced the world and was less likely to develop any emotional feelings towards the woman he would impregnate. He was not supposed to meet that woman again in life. 

Ideally, this entire lineage should also be named after Brihaspati and not the Moon-god as Tara was Brihaspati’s wife, but I guess it is referred to as Chandravanshi (emerged from the Moon-god) to make readers aware. Or maybe, because Tara's unison with the Moon-god was not Niyog but infidelity.


Coming back to the widows of Vichitraveerya, they had little options left but Niyog. Satyavati requested Bheeshm to be the man but he clearly refused on the grounds that he had taken the vow of celibacy which he would not give up even for the cosmos. Satyavati so summoned her son from Parasara, Ved Vyas to perform Niyog on Amba and Ambalika. Now Vyas was dark, with matted hair and certainly not handsome looking as compared to the earlier Kuru sons who were well-built and were immaculately groomed warriors. During Ambika’s encounter with Vyas, she closed her eyes out of fear and thus was born the blind Dhritarashtra. During Ambalika’s encounter with him, she turned pale and so was born the weak (it was probably a euphemism for impotent/sterile) Pandu. Unsatisfied with the two results, Satyavati wanted another Niyog to take place but Ambika sent her maid instead who gave birth to a perfectly normal Vidur (even though Vidur was perfectly normal and had all the capabilities of a king, he would be denied the throne because he was born of a maid. Such was the irony of the situation!).

Note: I find the involvement of Vyas in Niyog quite controversial as he would re-appear in the epic throughout. However, he was the biggest sage time had ever seen and maybe, he was capable of fathering sons of three women, still being emotionally unattached.

Finally, came the generation that would actually participate in the war at Kurukshetra. Both Dhritarashtra and Pandu wanted their respective wives, Gandhari and Kunti to give birth to sons first so that they would inherit the throne. Dhritarashtra, since was capable and allowed, did his job earlier than Pandu. Pandu, who was sterile and cursed that his unison with his wife will be his moment of death, however had to find another way out. He asked his wife Kunti to summon the gods through the boon she had received as a result of extra-ordinary hospitality she had offered to Rishi Durvasa. Thus gods performed Niyog on Kunti one-by-one and the results were the following:

Dharma: son born was Yudhishthir
Vayu: son born was Bheema
Indra: son born was Arjun
Ashwini Twins (summoned for the second wife of Pandu, Madri): Nakul and Sahadev

Meanwhile, Gandhari’s pregnancy had not resulted in anything and had prolonged unbelievably. An exasperated Gandhari called for her maids and ordered them to hit her belly with an iron rod till a still ball of flesh came out. Rishi Vyas divided this piece into one hundred and one pieces and put them in pots of ghee. Thus were born hundred sons and one daughter of Gandhari.

Note: So one cannot say that test-tube babies are a modern-day invention. The idea does have its roots in this epic.

Collectively, the sons of Pandu-Kunti were called Pandavs and the sons of Dhritarashtra-Gandhari were called Kauravs. 


Altogether, four generations participated in the war at Kurukshetra, with Bheeshm being the oldest Kuru and Abhimanyu (son of the Pandav Arjun) being the youngest. After the war, only the five Pandavs will remain alive and the son of Abhimanyu, in the womb of his mother.


Note: Draupadi had five sons from the five Pandavs: Prativindya from Yudhishthir, Satsoma from Bheem, Shrutakirti from Arjun, Shaitanik from Nakul and Shrutasena from Sahadev. All five sons would be killed at the end of the war by the son of Drona, Ashwatthama.


All said and done, this is how the Kuru family tree would probably look like. Of course, this is highly incomplete with no mention of the sons who resulted from extra-marital affairs or other 'unimportant' marriages. 






Note: This picture is my own hard work. It is still incomplete. And I do realize it can never be completed. Should you still ever want to access this picture in full size, kindly write to me. Displaying it here in full size hampers the look of my blog!

PLEASE DON'T READ THIS: During the thirteenth year of their exile, Pandavs took refuge in the kingdom of Matsya. Matsya was allegedly the kingdom of descendants of a twin brother of Matsyagandha (Satyavati), hence the similarity in names. Uttara from the Matsya kingdom was accepted as Abhimanyu's bride! May God save you from shocks, if any!

78 comments:

  1. Very very Informative and very well Organized and compiled. Although, I got lost in the "Family Web" long time back, I would love to have the full size version of the Family Tree.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! Please send your E-mail Id. :)

      Delete
    2. please send that to pankaj.sharma1804@gmail.com

      Delete
  2. This article is really god kushal... :)
    thank you so much...

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  3. Thanks a lot.. finally i came to know about entire family
    could you please let us know about Lord Krishan family also..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're welcome! And yes I will try. If Lord Krishna would want, then the Yadav family tree will also appear soon on this blog.

      Delete
  4. Heya are using Wordpress for your blog platform?
    I'm new to the blog world but I'm trying to get started and
    create my own. Do you need any html coding knowledge to make your
    own blog? Any help would be really appreciated!

    Also visit my webpage :: More Bonuses

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi,

      Yes, I have used wordpress too. There is almost no knowledge of HTML required to keep your blog running. The in-built functions are more than sufficient.

      Delete
  5. hey can u email me this full size image of family chart on my google ID desaishivansh555@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. OMG!!! This is an awesome blog :) Kudos to u for your effort :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  8. i am satisfied.short bt pointable.unless understandig the skeletal system,the body never be figure out.
    you should carry this type of unique work.best of luck for next.

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  9. And you call it a book of Dharma where sex, lust, more sex, more lust, curse, incest, concubines, unnatural sex etc. etc. and a world wide web of a family tree which cannot be completed. And the author is also a actor (Vyas) in this epic. OMG! what else is missing

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    Replies
    1. How does sex, lust, more sex, more lust, curse, incest, concubines, unnatural sex etc. etc. stop this epic from being a book of Dharma?

      Delete
  10. Its really true that family tree or web is mother of all confusion. I will be glad if you send full size tree to plant and if you can read marathi i will suggest a book by name " Vaays parva" by Jategaokar a good book on Mahabharat. my email is okenitin@gmail.com

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the suggestion Nitin. I do not read Marathi but will try to find the English version of the book. You will get the full size tree to plant very soon. :)

      Delete
  11. Very very well done job of trying to , and probably succeeding in untangling this very tangled web. It will make more sense watching the Mahabharata series on TV.
    Thanks again.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! I too watch the new series on TV regularly. ;)

      Delete
  12. Kanva = Kaashyapa (Note it's 'aa')
    Also
    Kousika = Viswamitra (Rajarishi)

    Born in the dynasty of Brahma’s son Kashyapa, Kanva is also known as Kaashyapa.

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  13. Oh this is awesome Kushal... Surely you have put in a lot of efforts for this piece.. Request you to kindly share a clearer picture of the tree... Thanks.

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  14. Hi Kushal,

    Would it be possible for you to post the high def pic on G+ or flicker and share the link on the blog?

    Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. Hey!

      I could have done that, just that I really am curious to know who all read this till the end wanted to see the pic in high definition. So sorry. :P Please share your email though in case you are interested. Thanks for reading till the end :)

      Kushal

      Delete
  15. Hi Kaushal,

    Very nice and informative blog. Surely a lot of efforts you put for this article. Requesting you to kindly share a clearer picture of famli tree on my id reachsunay92@gmail.com
    Thanks in advance :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, and I hope you have received the pic in high definition.

      And BTW, it's Kushal. :)

      Delete
  16. hi kaushal,

    one correction is needed in flow chart, chitrangadha was unmarried whereas ambika and ambalika was married to vichitravirya.
    But both this ladies gave sons dhitrashtra and pandu from saint Vyas.

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    Replies
    1. Orientation of the chart is the problem :( but I completely understand what you are saying. The post, however, states exactly what you have said.

      Delete
  17. Kindly accept my compliments for your Good Work.
    This article is fantastic and great.
    All the best to you and carry on your good work.
    Could you kindly email me this full size image of family chart on my google id bsk.mipd@gmail.com ?
    God Bless You.
    = B.Sivakumar =

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hi kushal...

    Really nice work....!!!
    If only u could send me the image of family tree...!!!
    Id shahnehal@outlook.com

    Thankyou...!!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Hi....
    Awesome blog.... I liked the way u expressed and explained it in very cool way...
    Could u please send me the full version also...
    "hitesh.manipal@gmail.com"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! You will receive it very soon! :)

      Delete
  20. great job Kushal........
    I appreciate it.
    Kindly share the full size image with me on gopu.dubey@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  21. Fantastic work kushal..
    Kindly share the full size emage of the family tree to my email id. Sherinskumar@gmail.com.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Hey dude!! What have u done is simply awesome.. magnanimous work.... thrilling... just can u tell me the origin about Yuyutsu and the great Shakuni mamaji and how he lost his leg and gained that magical gambling power?

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    1. Thanks a ton! Hope you enjoyed the other articles too :)

      Yuyutsu was Dhritarashtra's son from a concubine (name unknown) who he had taken for his pleasure during his queen-wife's prolonged pregnancy. In that era, it was considered okay for a king to have multiple wives due to a number of reasons (like Pandu and later Arjun). The technicality in a concubine's case was that her son would never inherit the throne as that was reserved only for the main queen's most deserving son.

      It is also suggested that Dhritarashtra took a concubine only to get back at Gandhari as he was annoyed with her for she didn't prove to be an adequate wife. Firstly, much to Dhritarshtra's chagrin, she had blindfolded herself and became a burden for him rather than his strength as wife. Secondly, she had been late in giving Dhritarshtra his first son while Kunti had given birth to Yudhishthir despite the fact that Gandhari became pregnant before Kunti.

      Shakuni "Mamaji" believed that his beloved sister had been married to a blind man only because of the fear of Hastinapur's political power. He pledged that he would do everything in his capacity to ruin Hastinapur. He injured his leg deliberately to remind himself every time he limped that his life's goal is the devastation of Hastinapur. When Shakuni's father died, as per the rituals of Gandhar, he wasn't burnt at the pyre but was rather buried. Shakuni took his father's thighbones and created a pair of dice out of it and the dice possessed the magical power of showing the total that Shakuni had in mind.

      Hope both the questions have been answered :)

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    2. Hi kushal .. Read your notes. Yes it will take years to combine to one page from multitude.
      And the comments - thumbs up and here I need add one point why shakuni want to devast hastinapur. Before that it is revenge on dhuryodhan who made him and his family ( include his father and brothers - total 100) sentenced to death by feeding them with 100 food grains and kith and kin of shakuni made shakuni to eat 100 food grains and be alive and at the death - those dice are his father thighbones.
      Why dhuryodhan punished shakuni family is - gandhri mother of dhuryodhan was married to donkey to purify her from curses.
      Shakuni has always two side and he is chameleon in Mahabharat.

      Delete
  23. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  24. Hi kushal. Thank you for the beautiful depiction of the family tree. If you can send me the full size image on Akshant143@gmail.com.

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  25. It is very difficult to express my appreciation for your work in a single word, but impossible to remain silent. Fabulous. I have two points.
    1. Please send me the full size of the family to my gmail id ggswami@gmail.com
    2. Understanding the relations neatly described by the flowchart, I have become immune to shocks. Hence, Utthra's marriage with Abhimanyu did not shake me in anyway. Even otherwise, is it not normal for a person to marry the daughter of his maternal uncle (mamaji) ? Satyawathi's brother is in the relation of a Mamaji to Satyawathi's clan. Hence the above said marriage seems to be in order only. What do you say Kushal ?

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    1. Thanks for the adulation! :)
      1. Sent.
      2. Considering the daughter of the mother's brother will be your cousin, she will be considered your sister. So I am not sure how would I consider this relation. Still, something to ponder upon is that between Satyavati and Abhimanyu, there was a difference of 5 generations so the relationship between Uttara and Abhimanyu becomes quite distant.

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  26. Abhimanyu and Uttara had a son named "Parikshit". Parikshit's son was Janamejaya...His son will be Aswamedhadatta (a son given by the gods in reward for the sacrifice of a horse ); his son will be Asíma-krishńa ; his son will be Nichakra , who will remove the capital to Kauśámbí, in consequence of Hastinápura being washed away by the Ganges; his son will be Ushńa ; his son will be Chitraratha; his son will be Vrishńimat ; his son will be Susheńa; his son will be Sunítha ; his son will be Richa ; his son will be Nrichakshu ; his son will be Sukhíhala ; his son will be Pariplava; his son will be Sunaya ; his son will be Medhávin; his son will be Nripanjaya ; his son will be Mridu ; his son will be Tigma ; his son will be Vrihadratha; his son will be Vasudána ; and his son will be another Śatáníka; his son will be Udayana ; his son will be Ahínara ; his son will be Khańd́apáni ; his son will be Niramitra ; his son will be Kshemaka : of him this verse is recited; "The race which gave origin to Brahmans and Kshatriyas, and which was purified by regal sages, terminated with Kshemaka; in the Kali age.

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  27. Great effort and excellent work!!!
    As my understanding the original epic by Veda Vyaas got translated to many region languages with some/little variations. We in Telugu has a different reason for Sakuni's revenge but I do agree to go to the main (we call moola bharatam) by Vyaas bhagavan. Again, congrats on an great job done

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  28. Enjoyed reading it. The highlight is your humour used in the "Notes". Was searching for a map of the lineage of this mind boggling EPIC and came across yours. Came to know a lot from here. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Well just want to say few things here.

    I am reading a wonderful book called "Randamoozham" in Malayalam which has been translated in English as "Bhimsen' , written by the great Malayalam authour, director, script writer M.T. VASUDEVAN NAIR.

    Until a week before i have been watching the "talk of the town show "Game Of Thrones" and was completely addicted to this.The story has everything in it, just like our Great Epic.. En-number of characters, awesome places and buildings, which has amazing story line, traced with treachery, incest, lust, brothels, love, kindness, raging wrath, brutal killings,etc etc and finally the WAR for a throne for the rightful HEIR,.

    And since i had watched all the 4 seasons and waiting for the next season, was looking for something similar to watch came across this wonderful book and now i have nothing in mind other than this subject. I see a lot of similarities of GoT with Mahabharata.

    There is a phrase in the book which says " In a battle field one either Kills or gets Kiiled"... In GoT a character speaks a similar dialogue "When you play the game of thrones you win or you die. There is no middle ground."

    "Well Mahabharat period ranges from 5000 B.C. - 6000 B.C and it looks like others, other than Indians, have read it thoroughly and now have made their own editing and characters and changes accordingly.

    I might be wrong, but i guess there is also a possibility where i might also be right.

    Just wanted to share the thought here.

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    1. Thanks for the compliments Jai Shree! I am more glad about the fact that you reached this blog when you were exactly looking for something on this and did not just happen to drop here randomly. :)

      Game of Thrones has kept me engrossed for a while as well and is undoubtedly one of the most engaging series ever! I love to see that you find GOT has so many similarities with the Mahabharata. Even I say this many a times in discussions, rather jokingly though, that GOT is the Mahabharata of West.

      Folk tales and anecdotes from the Great Epic are undoubtedly affected over time, as none of these stories are cast in stone and are rather retold over generations; being affected by people's biases, insecurities and wisdom; retold sometimes for knowledge sharing, sometimes for money-making and sometimes for self-validation. But most importantly, it's retold only to reflect on the present issues of the society at that moment.

      You must have heard of there being so many plays around the Independence War of 1947, inspired from the Mahabharata, when the idea of one united nation needed to gain traction. They mostly focused on brotherhood and related themes showcasing the misunderstandings of the Mahabharata as a caveat for the common suppressed Indians of those times. Today's retellings will focus probably less on those ideas and highlight more about the plight of women in the epic to reflect on their condition in today's times where women are not safe and feminism is gaining traction.

      There's a huge possibility (and I believe it's 100%) that you're right!

      Happy Reading :)

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    2. nice one, good work Kushal... please send me the picture to shanemukesh@gmail.com.. TIA.
      Also read "Parva" from S.L. Bhairappa (Kannada - English translations were available in internet).

      One thing I read somewhere else was Shantanu was Kuru's son.

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    3. plz send me the family tree: shanemukesh@gmail.com

      nice article, one correction: I read somewhere (including Wikipedia) that Kuru's son is Shantanu, in your explanation there is one more guy in between..

      read S.L.Bhairappa's "Parva", a nice "real life" touch to the epic. It's in Kannada but translations were available in net...

      Delete
  29. Thank you for the wonderful information. Can you please share the family tree in HD.

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    1. Yes. If you can share your e-mail address. Thanks!

      Delete
  30. Hey Kushal,
    Nice work.
    Could you please share the pic. My email id is
    90rahul.sharma@gmail.com
    Thanks in advance

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  31. Hi kushal nice blog, informative. Can u please share a pic on mail id vikrambodkhe.mms@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  32. kushal nice work, but you missed kunti and madri wives of pandu

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  33. hi kushal, this was the best flowchart with explanations i read till today. also the the discussions are fabulous. pls send me the detailed family tree. my email is royindranilzap@yahoo.co.in

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  34. kushal excellent way off explaining the great epic in one page, it must have taken a very hard working time. the discussions are also great. pls send me the detailed flowchart of the family tree. royindranilzap@yahoo.co.in

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  35. Hi Kushal.. Great work. Can you pl share the family tree... dphaniraj@gmail.com

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  36. Gt work Kushal.
    I like Mahabharata story because of its twists and turns.
    I like to know more about after war pandavas life till swargarohan.
    Can u pls?

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  37. Wow
    Excellent work ... Can u please send me the complete tree to koolestrythem@gmail.com .
    In few parts of south india it is quite common to marry maternal uncle son or fathers sister son so it is not a huge shock when there is marriage between abimanyu and uthara
    When a woman is given in marriage she is considered to be of different family not the same family
    But ofcourse I personally disagree with that sentiment

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  38. Wow
    Excellent work ... Can u please send me the complete tree to koolestrythem@gmail.com .
    In few parts of south india it is quite common to marry maternal uncle son or fathers sister son so it is not a huge shock when there is marriage between abimanyu and uthara
    When a woman is given in marriage she is considered to be of different family not the same family
    But ofcourse I personally disagree with that sentiment

    ReplyDelete
  39. Very informative,Kushal!!
    Hats off to you...Very informative

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  40. Very good work Kushal ...
    It's been very helpful for my quiz competition. And I bagged the bonanza because of your blog on the web chart of Mahabharata ...I came across your website when i was searching for Mahabharata web chart..
    I also have a small request!:O
    Could u pls post about Ramayana as I need it for my next quiz.
    Enjoyed Reading ur blog!
    Thank you once again!

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  41. Awesome work to get the maze clearer... the vanshas as often stated got me confused about the lineage...if possible please send the "tree" to 2kaushikghosh@gmail.com
    Thanks for your herculean effort.

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  42. I have two questions?

    1)It is clear from u r flowchart that yadu and puru are brothers from different mothers.

    Krishna is 5th generation after yadu.
    Arjun is 10th generation after puru.

    Subhadra is sister of Krishna,marries to Arjun.How thats Possible.

    2)to be .....

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  43. Now i'll hav a fine idea of wats hapeng in da series "suryaputra karn".......thnx kushal I feel blessed wid this knowleadge .......cn I get sm history of karn plizzzzzzz

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  44. This artical is very good. Could you please send me the full family tree to my mail id nagappaankad@gmail.com

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  45. This is so well explained! :D I am currently reading 'The Palace of Illusions' and although I've read Mahabharata from cover to cover as a young girl, I was still befuddled when reading this book. This blog helped me understand the ancient 'Indrani Mukherjee' family better :P
    Thanks :D

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  46. hey I want to access full size of this image so please mail me.
    my email id is just_dhara1989@yahoo.com
    thank you

    ReplyDelete
  47. Hi Kushal! Awesome write up. Can you mail me (at rahulkisku@gmail.com) the full family tree that you'd prepared. It will be much helpful.

    cheers!
    Rahul

    ReplyDelete
  48. Hi....
    Awesome blog.... I liked the way u expressed and explained it in very cool way...
    Could u please send me family tree and the full version....
    "ok.verma.rakesh@gmail.com"

    ReplyDelete
  49. Hi....
    Awesome blog.... I liked the way u expressed and explained it in very cool way...
    Could u please send me family tree and the full version also...
    "ok.verma.rakesh@gmail.com"

    ReplyDelete

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