Back বিরাটপর্ব Bengali/Bangla Virata Parva French વિરાટપર્વ Gujarati विराटपर्व Hindi Wirataparwa ID Viraṭā parvan Italian Wirathaparwa JV ವಿರಾಟ ಪರ್ವ Kannada വിരാടപർവ്വം Malayalam विराट पर्व Marathi
Virata Parva, also known as the “Book of Virata”, is the fourth of eighteen books of the Indian epic Mahabharata.[1] Virata Parva traditionally has 4 parts and 72 chapters.[2][3] The critical edition of Virata Parva has 4 parts and 67 chapters.[4][5]
It discusses the 13th year of exile which the Pandavas must spend incognito to avoid another 12 years of exile in the forest. They do so in the court of Virata.[2] They assume a variety of identities. Yudhishthira assumes the identity of game entertainer to the king and calls himself Kanka, Bhima of a cook Ballava,[6] Arjuna teaches dance and music as eunuch Brihannala and dresses as a woman, Nakula tends horses as Granthika, Sahadeva herds cows as Tantipala, and Draupadi in the name of Malini went as Sairandhri to queen Shudeshna.[1]
This is a controversial book in the Mahabharata. In the 2nd-century CE Spitzer Manuscript found in Kizil Caves, China, which includes a table of contents of the Mahabharata, there is no mention of the Virata Parva and Anushasana Parva.[7][8]
- ^ a b van Buitenen, J.A.B. (1978) The Mahabharata: Book 4: The Book of the Virata; Book 5: The Book of the Effort. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press
- ^ a b Ganguli, K.M. (1883-1896) "Virata Parva" in The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (12 Volumes). Calcutta
- ^ Dutt, M.N. (1896) The Mahabharata (Volume 4): Virata Parva. Calcutta: Elysium Press
- ^ van Buitenen, J.A.B. (1973) The Mahabharata: Book 1: The Book of the Beginning. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, p 476
- ^ Debroy, B. (2010) The Mahabharata, Volume 1. Gurgaon: Penguin Books India, pp xxiii - xxvi
- ^ Gopal, Madan (1990). K.S. Gautam (ed.). India through the ages. Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. p. 75.
- ^ Bronkhorst, Johannes (2016). How the Brahmins won: from Alexander to the Guptas. Handbook of oriental studies. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-31519-8.
- ^ Bretelle-Establet, Florence; Schmitt, Stéphane (2018). Pieces and parts in scientific texts. Why the Sciences of the Ancient World Matter. Cham: Springer international publishing Imprint : Springer. ISBN 978-3-319-78467-0.