NAME COLLECTION
Mahabharata characters
Characters of the Mahābhārata, each identified in K. M. Ganguli’s English translation, with the book and section where the name appears.
This collection follows names to their sources. It describes where a name comes from, not who uses it.
Characters whose names are recorded in Indian use
Arjuna
One of the five Pandavas, son of Kunti, who invoked Sakra (Indra); he begat the child 'afterwards called Arjuna'.
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section CXXIII
Name page →Satyavati
The maiden whose hand King Santanu seeks; mother of Vyasa (Section CV).
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section C
Bhima
Pandava, son of Kunti begotten by the god of wind (Vayu); 'afterwards known as Bhima of mighty arms'.
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section CXXIII
Name page →Sanjaya
Narrator to Dhritarashtra; Vyasa gave him a boon of celestial vision so that he could describe the battle (Bhishma Parva).
Ganguli, book 6, Bhishma Parva section II
Name page →Subhadra
The maiden Arjuna carries off from the Raivataka hill (Subhadra-harana Parva); mother of Abhimanyu (Section CCXXIII).
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section CCXXII
Vyasa
Son of Parasara born to Satyavati, called Dwaipayana (island-born) and Vyasa (divider/arranger) for dividing the Vedas.
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section CV
Sahadeva
Twin son of Madri, begotten by the Ashvins, brother of Nakula.
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section CXXIV
Nakula
Twin son of Madri, begotten by the Ashvins (twin gods), brother of Sahadeva.
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section CXXIV
Name page →Abhimanyu
Son of Arjuna (and Subhadra), named Abhimanyu because he was fearless.
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section CCXXIII
Name page →Ganga
The river-goddess who assumes a woman's form and comes to King Pratipa; mother of Devavrata (Section C).
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section XCVII
Name page →Savitri
Daughter of the lord of the Madras, heroine of the Savitri-Satyavan episode told by Markandeya (Vana Parva; the heading is printed as CCLXLII in Ganguli).
Ganguli, book 3, Vana Parva section CCLXLII
Name page →Karna
Son of Kunti born of the Sun god (Tapana), with natural armour and ear-rings.
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section CXI
Name page →Sakuntala
Dweller in a hermitage whom King Dushmanta asks to be his wife by the Gandharva form of marriage; her story runs through Sections LXIX-LXXIV.
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section LXXIII
Name page →Bharata
Son of Dushmanta and Sakuntala: 'this thy son shall be known by the name of Bharata (the cherished)'.
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section LXXIV
Name page →Devayani
Daughter of Sukra, wed to Yayati.
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section LXXVI
Name page →Pandu
Kuru king, husband of Kunti and Madri (Bhishma arranges his second marriage); father of the five Pandavas (Section CXV).
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section CXIII
Yudhishthira
Eldest of the Pandavas: 'this first child of Pandu shall be known by the name of Yudhishthira'.
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section CXXIII
Kripa
Section CXXX narrates the birth of Kripa, in the line of the sage Gautama's son Saradwat.
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section CXXX
Krishna
Daughter of King Drupada, born with her twin Dhrishtadyumna from Drupada's great sacrifice; named Krishna for her dark complexion (the name Draupadi is her patronymic).
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section CLXIX
Vidura
Son of Krishna-Dwaipayana (Vyasa), brother of Dhritarashtra and Pandu, the god of justice born on earth.
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section CVI
Janamejaya
Son of Parikshit, attending his long sacrifice on the plains of Kurukshetra (Section III).
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section III
Damayanti
Daughter of Bhima, king of the Vidarbhas, heroine of the Nala-Damayanti story (Vana Parva, from Section LIII).
Ganguli, book 3, Vana Parva section LIII
Pritha
Pritha (Kunti): daughter of the Yadava chief Sura, given in adoption to Kuntibhoja; mother of Karna (this section) and of three Pandavas (Section CXXIII).
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section CXI
Name page →Dushmanta
King (Ganguli: Dushmanta) who weds Sakuntala; their son is Bharata (Section LXXIV).
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section LXXIII
Name page →Other characters in the same text
These characters are listed for completeness; the list does not say that their names are in use.
Gandhari
Daughter of Suvala who received a boon of a hundred sons; brought by her brother Sakuni to marry Dhritarashtra.
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section CX
Bhishma
Devavrata, son of Santanu and Ganga, called Bhishma ('the terrible') after his vow.
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section C
Drona
Son of the sage Bharadwaja, preceptor of the Pandavas and Kauravas.
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section CXXXI
Aswatthaman
Son of Drona, 'the foremost of all skilled in arms'.
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section CXXXI
Duryodhana
Born from the pieces of the ball of flesh deposited in pots; his elders see omens 'at the birth of thy eldest son' (Section CXV).
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section CXV
Dhritarashtra
Blind Kuru king, begat a hundred sons upon Gandhari.
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section CXV
Uttara
Daughter of King Virata, accepted by Arjuna as daughter-in-law for Abhimanyu (Virata Parva).
Ganguli, book 4, Virata Parva section LXXII
Ghatotkacha
Pandava-devoted son of Bhima and Hidimva, so named by his parents because his head was bald like a ghata (pot).
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section CLVII
Sakuni
Son of Suvala, brother of Gandhari, who brought her to wed Dhritarashtra.
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section CX
Madri
Beautiful maiden of the Madra house whom Bhishma seeks as second wife for Pandu; mother of Nakula and Sahadeva (Section CXXIV).
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section CXIII
Sikhandi
Child of Drupada: the section mentions 'the births of Dhrishtadyumna and Sikhandi'.
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section CLXVII
Dhrishtadyumna
Son of King Drupada, born from the great sacrifice with natural mail and weapon.
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section CLXIX
Santanu
Kuru monarch, father of Devavrata (Bhishma) by Ganga.
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section C
Parikshit
King of the Kuru race, 'like his great-grandfather Pandu' a mighty bowman and fond of hunting (Section XL).
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section XL
Ulupi
Daughter of the king of the Nagas who draws Arjuna into the water to her father's mansion.
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section CCXVI
Chitrangada
Daughter of Chitravahana, king of Manipura, whom Arjuna desires.
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section CCXVII
Vabhruvahana
King of Manipura, called by Arjuna 'my dear son Vabhruvahana' (Ganguli spells it Vabhruvahana).
Ganguli, book 14, Aswamedhika Parva section LXXXVI
Yayati
Son of Nahusha; Section LXXVI tells of his union with Devayani, Section LXXVIII of the quarrel of Devayani and Sarmishtha.
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section LXXVIII
Sarmishtha
Daughter of Vrishaparvan, rival of Devayani, later wed to Yayati.
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section LXXVIII
Ekalavya
Nishada prince, son of Hiranyadhanus, refused as a pupil by Drona.
Ganguli, book 1, Adi Parva section CXXXIV
Nala
Son of Virasena, king among the Nishadhas; the Nala-Damayanti story is told to Yudhishthira (Vana Parva, Sections LII ff.).
Ganguli, book 3, Vana Parva section LII
Sources
- K. M. Ganguli, The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa translated into English prose (1883-96), Project Gutenberg #15474-15477 ↗ (opens in a new tab)
- Monier-Williams, A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899), Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries (local copy sources/cologne/mw.txt) ↗ (opens in a new tab)