Six Stories adapted from the Mahabharata

This set text consists of six short prose stories, adapted into simple Sanskrit from the great epic the Mahabharata, that together trace the origins of the royal house at the centre of the epic. They run from the marriage of King Shantanu to the river-goddess Ganga, through the great vow of their son Bhishma and the curse that shapes the fate of King Pandu, to the death and miraculous saving of the last heir, Parikshit. Read in order, the six stories form a connected chain of cause and effect: a chain of vows, curses and sacrifices that explains how the Pandava and Kaurava lines came to be, and how the dynasty was nearly extinguished and then preserved.

The stories are: (1) A strange wife - Shantanu's marriage to Ganga and her mysterious drowning of their children; (2) The fisherman king's daughter - Shantanu's love for Satyavati and the fisherman's hard condition; (3) Bhishma's vow - the prince's terrible double promise that wins his father his bride; (4) A deer curses Pandu - the hunting accident that dooms King Pandu; (5) Parashurama discovers Karna's lie - the curse that will cost Karna his life; and (6) Drona's son tries to destroy the child in Uttara's womb - the last attack on the dynasty and the saving of the infant Parikshit.