Sandhya KathaRāmāyaṇa · Mahābhārata · Purāṇas · Upaniṣads

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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.

14 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 Eye of the Bird Mahābhārata · Ādi Parva, Sambhava Parva, K.M. Ganguli sections CXXXIV–CXXXV Ages 5+ · stable in the checked source A teacher asks each prince what he can see. Only one answer keeps getting smaller. Read the sourced telling → The Last Morsel in the Pot Mahābhārata, Ganguli translation · Vana Parva, section CCLXI (261) Ages 7+ · stable in the checked source Ten thousand guests are bathing before their meal. Draupadī has already eaten, and her vessel will give no more food today. 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 → Karṇa Gives Away His Armour Mahābhārata · Vana Parva, K.M. Ganguli sections CCC and CCCVIII; birth notice Ādi Parva CXI Ages 11+ · stable in the checked source Karṇa is warned exactly what Indra will ask for. When the request comes, he gives anyway. 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 → The Last Errand Before the War Mahābhārata · Udyoga Parva — Ganguli sections XXXI, LVIII, LXXII–CXXXI, CXLVII Ages 11+ · stable in the checked source He goes to ask for five villages instead of a kingdom, and everyone in the room has already told him what the answer will be. 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 → Sāvitrī Follows Yama Mahābhārata · Vana Parva, Pativratā-māhātmya Parva, K.M. Ganguli CCLXLIII–CCLXLVI Ages 9+ · stable in the checked source Yama tells Sāvitrī to turn back. She keeps walking beside him until his own boons change what is possible. Read the sourced telling → Damayantī Chooses Nala Mahābhārata · Vana Parva, Nalopākhyāna Parva, K.M. Ganguli LIII–LVII Ages 9+ · stable in the checked source Damayantī enters to choose Nala and finds five identical Nalas waiting. Read the sourced telling → The Teacher in the Meat Market Mahābhārata, Vana Parva · Sanskrit 3.197–205; Ganguli 205–214 Ages 10+ · stable in the checked source Kauśika expects a teacher in Mithilā. The man waiting for him sells meat and cares for his aged parents. Read the sourced telling → Mudgala Asked What Heaven Would Cost Mahābhārata · Ganguli 258–259 Ages 10+ · variant The heavenly car is ready. Mudgala asks about the happiness of heaven—and its disadvantages—before he decides. Read the sourced telling → The Shopkeeper Whose Scales Were Even Mahābhārata · Ganguli 261–262 Ages 10+ · stable in the checked source An ascetic shelters birds in his hair, then boasts. His journey leads to a trader whose scales are even toward every creature. 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

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