Mahabharata Characters and Family Guide

A compact reference for readers who want to remember who is related to whom. Start with the two households, then add the relationships that connect them. This is a selective guide, not a complete genealogy.

हिंदी में पात्रों और परिवारों की मार्गदर्शिका पढ़ें

Before you read: this page reveals family relationships, including Karna's birth. It avoids battle outcomes. Its textual reference is Kisari Mohan Ganguli's English translation of the Adi Parva; section numbering and spellings can differ in other editions.

The Kuru household: where the branches meet

Shantanu and Ganga → Bhishma. Bhishma is also called Devavrata. Shantanu and Satyavati have Chitrangada and Vichitravirya. Satyavati is also the mother of Vyasa, born before her marriage to Shantanu.

Vyasa → Dhritarashtra, Pandu and Vidura. After Vichitravirya dies without children, the text describes Vyasa fathering children to continue the family line. This is why a simple diagram must distinguish biological parentage from dynastic succession. Bhishma belongs to the older generation; he is not the father of Dhritarashtra and Pandu. Read Adi Parva, section XCV.

Dhritarashtra's household

Dhritarashtra + Gandhari → Duryodhana, Duhshasana and their brothers. The familiar rivalry between the Kauravas and Pandavas is a conflict within the extended Kuru family, not between two unrelated families. This short map highlights the names a new reader is likely to encounter first; it does not list every child.

Pandu's household: the five Pandavas

These five are recognised as Pandu's sons. The birth narrative also names divine fathers: Dharma for Yudhishthira, the wind deity for Bhima, Indra for Arjuna, and the twin Ashvins for Nakula and Sahadeva. Both kinds of relationship matter when reading the epic. The family summary in section XCV gives these connections together.

Three connections worth keeping beside you

Draupadi: daughter of Drupada and wife of the five Pandavas. She connects the Pandavas with Panchala. She is a distinct person with her own place in the story, not another name for Kunti. Adi Parva, section CLXLIX, discusses the marriage.

Subhadra and Abhimanyu: Subhadra is Krishna's sister and Arjuna's wife; Abhimanyu is their son. Section XCV records this connection. It is an additional marriage, not a replacement for Arjuna's relationship with Draupadi.

Karna: Kunti's son by Surya, born before her marriage to Pandu and brought up by Radha and her husband. He is also Duryodhana's friend. Birth family, upbringing and allegiance therefore point in different directions. Adi Parva, section LXVII.

Use the guide without flattening the story

When a name recurs, write three short notes: family connection, relationship to the person speaking, and the choice being made in this scene. A family chart answers the first question; it cannot decide a character's loyalties or moral worth for you.

This guide follows the named translation rather than combining television adaptations and later retellings into one account. It is a reading aid to the epic, not evidence of modern ancestry or a claim about the contents of a particular novel.

Explore the eighteen-parva reading map · Discover Mrig: Reborn in the Mahabharata

Mrig is Amrinder Sahota's original Mahabharata-inspired reincarnation fantasy. It is not a translation of the epic.

Prepared with AI assistance. Relationships were checked against the linked passages in Ganguli's public-domain translation, first published 1883–1896. Source check: 6 November 2026.