Mahābhārata stories for children

Stories from Mahābhārata, laid out to read aloud. This page is generated from stories that have already passed Sandhya Katha's publication gate.

What “with sources” means here. Every story below names the work and passage we checked, carries age guidance, and says when the tradition is variant, regional or oral instead of smoothing those differences away.

5 published stories

The Tail Bhīma Could Not Lift Mahābhārata · Vana Parva (Āraṇyakaparvan) 3.146–150 — Bhīma meets Hanumān Ages 6+ · stable in the checked source The strongest of the Pāṇḍavas finds one thing he cannot move: an old monkey's tail lying across the path. Read the sourced telling → The Crane at the Lake Mahābhārata · Vana Parva — the Yakṣa Praśna Ages 10+ · stable in the checked source Four brothers drink and fall. The fifth is asked what the greatest wonder in the world is, and answers it in one sentence. Read the sourced telling → Ekalavya's Thumb Mahābhārata · Ādi Parva — the training of the princes Ages 12+ · stable in the checked source A forest boy teaches himself archery in front of a clay statue of the teacher who turned him away. Years later the teacher comes to collect his fee. Read the sourced telling → Abhimanyu and the Spiral Mahābhārata · Droṇa Parva, the Abhimanyu-vadha Ages 13+ · variant He knew how to get into the formation. Nobody had ever finished telling him how to get out of it, and the grown-ups sent him in anyway. Read the sourced telling → He Would Not Go In Without the Dog Mahābhārata · Mahāprasthānika Parva Ages 13+ · stable in the checked source At the very end he is offered heaven, in a chariot, by name. There is one condition, and it is about the dog that has been walking with him. Read the sourced telling →

Sandhya Katha chooses one story each night for your child's age and the calendar, and lays it out to be read aloud.

Open tonight's story