Adi Parva

The Adi Parva or the Book of the Beginning is the first of eighteen books of the Mahabharata. आदि is a Sanskrit word that means first.

Adi Parva has 19 sub-books and 236 adhyayas(chapters). The critical edition of Adi Parva has 19 sub-books and 225 chapters.

Adi Parva describes how the epic came to be recited by Ugrasrava Sauti to the assembled rishis at the Naimisha Forest after first having been narrated at the sarpasatra of Janamejaya by Vaishampayana at Taxila. It includes an outline of contents from the eighteen books, along with the book's significance. The history of the Bhāratas and the Bhrigus are described. The main part of the work covers the birth and early life of the princes of the Kuru Kingdom and the persecution of the Pandavas by Dhritarashtra.

The Adi Parva consists of 19 upa-parvas or sub-books(also referred to as little books). Each sub-book is also called a parva and is further subdivided into chapters, for a total of 236 chapters in Adi Parva. The names of 19 sub-books of Adi Parva, along with a brief of each sub-book:

Adi Parva and other books of Mahabharata are written in Sanskrit. Several translations of the Adi Parva are available in English. To translations whose copyrights have expired and which are in public domain, include those by Kisari Mohan Ganguli and Manmatha Nath Dutt.

The translations are not consistent in parts and vary with each translator's interpretations. For example:

ययातीक्ष्वाकुवंशश्च राजर्षीणां च सर्शः|
सम्भूता बहवो वंशा भूतसर्गाः सविस्तराः||४५||
भूतस्थानानि सर्वाणि रहस्यं त्रिविधं च यत्|
वेदयोगं सविज्ञानं धर्मोऽर्थः काम एव च||४६||
धर्मकामार्थशास्त्राणि शास्त्राणि विविधानि च|
लोकयात्राविधानं च सम्भूतं दृष्टवानृषिः||४७||
इतिहासाः सवैयाख्या विविधाः श्रुतयोऽपि च|
इह सर्वमनुक्रान्तमुक्तं ग्रन्थस्य लक्षणम्||४८||विस्तीर्यैतन्महज्ज्ञानमृषिः सङ्क्षेपमब्रवीत्|
इष्टं हि विदुषां लोके समासव्यासधारणम्||४९||
मन्वादि भारतं केचिदास्तीकादि तथापरे|
तथोपरिचराद्यन्ये विप्राः सम्यगधीयते||५०||
विविधं संहिताज्ञानं दीपयन्ति मनीषिणः|
व्याख्यातुं कुशलाः केचिद्ग्रन्थं धारयितुं परे||५१||
तपसा ब्रह्मचर्येण व्यस्य वेदं सनातनम्|
इतिहासमिमं चक्रे पुण्यं सत्यवतीसुतः||५२||

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