Janamejaya's Horse Sacrifice

 The king tried to conduct a horse sacrifice when he was asked not to, by Vyasa.

What happened?

Read about this, which is unique to the Bengali Mahabharata of Kashidas.

https://writtenbybabu.blogspot.com/2026/05/mahabharata-of-kashidas-0026-forbidden.html

Astika stops the sacrifice

 Janamejaya started the sacrifice. Snakes started getting pulled into the flames. Takshaka went and took refuge under Indra.

Vasuki asked Astika to intervene and Astika went there. What happened?

How is Kashidas's version different from that of Vyasa?

https://writtenbybabu.blogspot.com/2026/05/mahabharata-of-kashidas-0025-astika.html

Retelling the Classics: Kashidasi Mahabharat & Krittivasi Ramayan

 

For over a decade, these blogs have been a home for the English translation of the [Kashidasi Mahabharat / Krittivasi Ramayan]. I am grateful to the thousands of readers who have used this space as a concise reference for these Bengali vernacular classics.

While this archive will remain online for those seeking a short, direct telling of the text, I am excited to announce a new project that takes this work much deeper.

Introducing: Written by Babu

At my new site: Written by Babu, I am revisiting these texts. Instead of a translation, I am now detailing the epics page-by-page and chapter-by-chapter, providing:

• Expanded Narratives: A more immersive retelling of the stories.
• Deep Analysis: Insights into the regional nuances of Bengali traditions.

Which site should you use?

• Stay here if you need a quick, complete summary of the chapters.
• Join me at Written by Babu if you want to explore the "why" behind the stories with three new detailed posts every week (Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday).

Thank you for being part of this journey for the last eleven years. I look forward to seeing you in our new, more detailed home.

Resuming Mahabharata by Kashidas on Substack - 09th March 2026

 To everyone who has been following my retellings of the Mahabharata by Kashidas, I want to share a quick update.

After taking a  break (health, family and a lot more ) , I am ready to return to these texts. I will be resuming my posts on Substack starting March 9th.

 I look forward to sharing the next chapters with you all, piece by piece. Thank you for your patience and for staying connected during this hiatus.

Join the community here: writtenbybabu.substack.com

Till then you can follow the posts on Panchatantra on my substack.

My Kashidas Mahabharata Retellings Now on Substack

 For those who enjoy my retellings of the Mahabharata by Kashidas, I have news! I've started a Substack page. I'll be sharing these stories there, piece by piece, as a new way to follow along.

Come join me on Substack: https://writtenbybabu.substack.com/

Break

I will be taking a month's break and will resume in August

Daksha

Thus the male entity Apava, called swayambhuu manu, got shata-rUpa  as his wife. Living beings were born.

There is another damsel named kAmya who is the daughter of kardama prajApati. This girl on taking priyavrata as her husband gave rise to four sons called sAmrAT, kukshi, virAT, and prabhu.


Then prajApati atri adopted uttAnapada as his son, and uttAnapAda begot four sons from a damsel called sUnRita, or also called as sunIta, daughter of Dharma.

UttAnapAda  begot four sons through this sUnita, who are dhruva, kIrti-manta, shiva, and ayaspati.
O Janmajeya,  dhruva undertook penances and was awarded the position of the North Star in the heaven.

dhruva begot two sons, named shliShTi and bhavya. And shliShTi had five sons ripu, ripun-jaya, puNya, vR^ikla, vR^ika-teja from his wife named sucChAyA.


And from ripu his wife named bRihati had a son called chAkshuSha.
A son, called manu  was born to chAkshuSha.

From Manu, were born ten sons - Uru, puru, shata-dyumna, tapasvi, satyavAn, kavi, agni-ShTuta, ati-rAtra, and sudyumna and abhimanyu.
From Uru were born anga, sumana, khyAti, kratu, angIirasa, and gaya.

From anga was the son,Vena. Due to his sacrilegous acts, Vena was cursed to die. The sages churned his body, and from that emerged Prithu and Bahuka.Bahuka was the evil deeds of Vena and was driven away. Prithu emerged with all good qualities.

Prithu held a , bow, had armour and a sword and guarded the earth.
Prithu organized a sacrifice. He made the earth a cow, and milked it. Thus the earth became known as Prithvi.



Prithu had two sons, namely antar-dhI and pAlita, and antardhI had a son named havidhAna. havidhana had six sons -  prAchIna-barhi, shukla, gaya, kRiShNa, vraja, and ajina.
There were ten sons of prAchIna-barhi who were called by a single collective name - prAchetasa-s, who are experts in missile-archery.The sons undertook a rigorous penance for ten thousand years submersed in oceanic water. With these brothers away, earth was unprotected. Trees spread out and earth became a thick forest and people started perishing.Air ceased to circulate. On noticing this, prAchetasa-s furiously vented air as well as fire from their faces which began killing the trees.

Noticing the near-extinction of trees in a non-stop manner, the king of vegetation, namely Soma, or Chandra - the presiding deity of the moon, approached the ten prAchetasa brothers and asked the brothers to control their anger. He said he was aware of a girl, who was the daughter of vegetation called Marisha abd offered her as their wife.
The brothers agreed and took Marisha as their collective wife. This was before Draupadi married five Pandavas. A son Daksha was born to Marisha.

Daughters were born of Daksha of whom ten married dharma, thirteen Kashyapa and the remaining twenty seven to the moon. One the wives of dharma was vasu who gave birth to the vasus. This was Bhishma in his earlier birth.