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A strange mongoose with blue eyes and half its body shining like gold entered the sacrificial ground. To the astonishment of everyone present, the animal spoke in a human voice and declared that Yudhishthira’s magnificent Ashvamedha did not equal the merit of a small quantity of powdered barley once given away by a poor Brahmana family at Kurukshetra.

When Indra arrives in a celestial chariot and offers Yudhishthira entry into heaven, the king faces his final test. Indra refuses to allow the dog to accompany him, but Yudhishthira declares that he will not abandon a creature that has remained loyal to him. At that moment, the dog reveals itself as Dharma, Yudhishthira’s divine father, who had taken animal form to test his compassion, loyalty and commitment to righteousness.

The event takes place after the destruction of the Yadava clan at Prabhasa. Krishna had already witnessed the fulfilment of the curse that brought ruin upon his own people, seen Balarama withdraw from the world, and understood that the purpose of his earthly incarnation had reached its completion. He then entered the forest alone and sat beneath a tree in deep meditation.

By the time the war at Kurukshetra reached this stage, Drona had become almost impossible to stop. His mastery of weapons, knowledge of celestial astras and experience in warfare allowed him to cut through the Pandava forces with devastating effect. Krishna understood that defeating him through ordinary combat would be extraordinarily difficult.

What followed became one of the most dramatic episodes of the Drona Parva. It brought together Bhima’s extraordinary encounter beneath Supratika, the destruction of Pandava chariots, Arjuna’s duel with Bhagadatta, the release of the terrible Vaishnavastra and Krishna’s intervention to save Arjuna.

Ekalavya was the son of Hiranyadhanus, a chief of the Nishadas. He had once approached Dronacharya with the desire to learn archery from the renowned teacher who instructed the Kuru princes. Drona did not accept him among his royal pupils. Ekalavya nevertheless refused to abandon his ambition. He withdrew into the forest, fashioned an image of Drona from clay and treated that image as the presence of his guru. Before it, he began teaching himself the art of the bow. The Mahabharata places this episode in the Adi Parva, within the account of Drona’s training of the princes.

Arjuna believed that mastering greater weapons would strengthen the Pandavas for the struggle that lay ahead. Yet before he could receive the most terrible weapon of all, he would first have to face an opponent whose identity he could not recognise. That encounter would begin with the sudden appearance of a monstrous wild boar and end with Arjuna discovering that the mysterious hunter before him was none other than Mahadeva.

Agni eventually approached Krishna and Arjuna and sought their assistance. Once they agreed, Arjuna used his extraordinary archery to prevent creatures from escaping and to stop Indra’s rain from reaching the forest. The sky above Khandava became covered by his arrows, while Krishna guarded other routes of escape. The burning of the forest became one of the most violent and morally unsettling episodes of the Adi Parva.

They explained that human life carried several obligations. Sacrifice, sacred study and the continuation of one’s lineage were all regarded as important duties, and while Mandapala had performed austerities and religious observances, he had left no children behind. His lack of offspring therefore stood between him and the complete reward he had expected.

Hidden inside a mountain cavern lay a gigantic serpent, immense as a hill and terrible to behold. When Bhima came near, the creature suddenly wrapped its enormous coils around him. Bhima struggled with all his power, but something inexplicable happened. The strength upon which he had relied throughout his life simply disappeared.