People and Places

I have listed only the more important characters and have added them only after their crucial actions have already been described in the text.

Amba : The princess of Kasi who Bhishma mistreated .

Anga : The kingdom that Karna was made king of. Believed to be modern day Bengal.

Arjuna: One of the Pandavas. A good marksman and warrior. The ``hero'', if one exists, of the Mahabharata, he has a special relationship with Krishna.

Astika : The half-Naga who saved Takshaka, the Naga prince, at the snake sacrifice of Janamejaya .

Bhima: One of the Pandavas. Large, imposing, somewhat of a bully.

Bhishma : Preceptor of the Bharatas, he plays a prominent role in the story.

Brahmana: A scholarly person.

Brahmin : Any member of the priestly caste.

Dhrishtathra: Blind king; uncle of the Pandavas, father of the Kauravas.

Draupadi: Wife of the Pandavas, daughter of Drupada.

Drona: The guru of the Pandavas and the Kauravas.

Drupada: Father of Draupadi, he wants revenge on Drona.

Duryodhana: Son of Kuru, the leader of the Kauravas. The ``villain'', if one exists, of the Mahabharata.

Ganesha : The elephant-headed son of Siva and Parvati who wrote down the Mahabharata as Vyasa dictated it.

Ganga : Goddess of the Ganges River, mother of Bhishma.

Hastinapura : Capital of the Bharata race. Believed to be on the banks of the Ganges in modern day Uttar Pradesh.

Indra : Head of the Vedic pantheon of gods.

Janamejaya : The grandson of Arjuna at whose snake sacrifice, Vaisampayana narrated the Mahabharata.

Karna: The illegitimate son of Kunti and half-brother of the Pandavas who was abandoned at birth and grew up a charioteer. An ally of the Kauravas and easily the most sympathetic character in the Mahabharata .

Kshatriya : Any member of the warrior caste.

Naga : Translates to snake but can also refer to the indigenous tribes who lived in the forests when the Aryans were settling the plains.

Pandu: The father of the Pandavas.

Parikshita : The descendant of Arjuna who was killed by Takshaka .

Purochana: Minister of Duryodhana; he fails to burn the Pandavas live .

Santanu : Father of Bhishma.

Satyavati : Grandmother of the Kauravas and the Pandavas.

Takshaka : The Naga prince who avenged the murder of an innocent Naga by Parikshita .

Vichitravirya : Second son of Satyavati and Santanu, he died childless.

Vidura: Half-brother and fair-minded minister of Dhrishtarashtra.

Vyasa : The poet who composed the Mahabharata and appears every once in a while to nudge the story along.

Yudhishthira: The eldest of the Pandavas. Fair, but also susceptible to impractical notions of propriety.