Mahabharata: Vol. 5 Read Online Free PDF

daunting. With something like two million words and ten volumes expected, the exercise seems open-ended. But why translate the Mahabharata? In 1924, George Mallory, with his fellow climber Andrew Irvine, may or may not have climbed Mount Everest. They were last seen a few hundred metres from the summit, before they died. Mallory was once asked why he wanted to climb Everest and he answered, ‘Because it’s there.’ Taken out of context, there is no better reason for wanting to translate the Mahabharata. There is a steep mountain to climb. And I would not have dared had I not been able to stand on the shoulders of the three intellectual giants who have preceded me—Kisori Mohan Ganguli, Manmatha Nath Dutt and J.A.B. van Buitenen.
    Bibek Debroy

Bhishma Parva
    In the 18-parva classification of the Mahabharata, Bhishma Parva is sixth. This segment covers the first ten days of the war and is named after Bhishma, because Bhishma was the commander during this phase of the battle. Other than Bhishma, no major warriors are killed in this parva which also includes the Bhagavad Gita. This parva has 117 chapters. In the 100-parva classification of the Mahabharata, Sections 61 through 64 constitute Bhishma Parva. In the numbering of the chapters in Bhishma Parva, the first number is a consecutive one, starting with the beginning of the Mahabharata. And the second number, within brackets, is the numbering of the chapter within the parva.

Section Sixty-Three
Bhagavad Gita Parva
    This parva has 994 shlokas and twenty-seven chapters.
Chapter 874(14): 13 shlokas

Chapter 875(15): 75 shlokas

Chapter 876(16): 46 shlokas

Chapter 877(17): 39 shlokas

Chapter 878(18): 18 shlokas

Chapter 879(19): 44 shlokas

Chapter 880(20): 20 shlokas

Chapter 881(21): 17 shlokas

Chapter 882(22): 22 shlokas

Chapter 883(23): 47 shlokas

Chapter 884(24): 72 shlokas

Chapter 885(25): 43 shlokas

Chapter 886(26): 42 shlokas

Chapter 887(27): 29 shlokas

Chapter 888(28): 47 shlokas

Chapter 889(29): 30 shlokas

Chapter 890(30): 28 shlokas

Chapter 891(31): 34 shlokas

Chapter 892(32): 42 shlokas

Chapter 893(33): 55 shlokas

Chapter 894(34): 20 shlokas

Chapter 895(35): 34 shlokas

Chapter 896(36): 27 shlokas

Chapter 897(37): 20 shlokas

Chapter 898(38): 24 shlokas

Chapter 899(39): 28 shlokas

Chapter 900(40): 78 shlokas
This section is so named because it includes the Song Celestial or the
     Bhagavad Gita, the teachings of Krishna to Arjuna. The section begins with
     the dramatic news that Bhishma has been killed. When Sanjaya tells
     Dhritarashtra this, Dhritarashtra (and the reader) is astounded, wishing to
     know how this came to be. After a description of thearrangements for war, the rest of this section is the Bhagavad Gita.
Chapter 874(14)
    Vaishampayana said, ‘Sanjaya,
     Gavalgana’s son, was wise. He could see everything, the past, the present
     and the future. In great distress, he suddenly rushed from the field of battle to
     where Dhritarashtra was immersed in thought and told him that Bhishma, the
     intermediate one of the Bharata lineage, had been killed. 1 “O bull among the Bharata lineage! I am Sanjaya and I bow down before
     you. Shantanu’s son, Bhishma, the grandfather of the Bharatas, has been
     slain. He was foremost among all warriors. He was the resort of all archers. That
     grandfather of the Kurus is now lying down on a bed of arrows. Depending on his
     valour, your son embarked on that game of dice. O king! That Bhishma is now lying
     down, having been killed on the field of battle by Shikhandi. On a single chariot,
     that maharatha had earlier defeated all the lords of the earth in a great battle in
     Kashi. 2 Descended from the Vasus, he fought with Rama, Jamadagni’s son, in a
     battle. Jamadagni’s son could not kill him. But he has now been slain by
     Shikhandi. He was like the great Indra in his valour and like the Himalayas in his
     steadfastness. He was like the ocean in his gravity and like the earth in his