Vaishampayana

Quick Facts

About Vaishampayana

Foremost disciple of Vyasa, who recited the entire Mahabharata at Janamejaya's snake sacrifice - the recitation that the bard Ugrashravas later carried to the sages of Naimisha forest.

In Their Words

As I heard it from Vyasa, so shall I speak it, complete and unbroken.

Vaishampayana

Traits

• learned
• faithful
• eloquent

Story Appearances

• The Epic ComposedThe voice of the first telling❧ 23 min

Stories Featuring Vaishampayana

86 further tales on this site name Vaishampayana, in canonical reading order.

• Astika Saves the SnakesThe End of the Sarpa SatraAdi Parva ‧ 20 min
• The Twins in the HeathIndra's dancer, a sage's dropped bow, and the children a king carried homeAdi Parva ‧ 17 min
• The Heir ApparentA crown promised, a second fee demanded, and the conquests that frightened a blind kingAdi Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Watch Under the BanianOne brother awake while the rest of the Kurus sleep on bare groundAdi Parva ‧ 16 min
• The King Who Made Fire SickTwelve years of butter and the appetite it ruinedAdi Parva ‧ 18 min
• Kunti's SwayamvaraThe princess no king asked for chooses Pandu in a hall of monarchsAdi Parva ‧ 13 min
• The Weighing of the BharataThe gods put the epic in a balance against the four Vedas, and Sauti recites the eighteen booksAdi Parva ‧ 24 min
• The Lineages of Gods and DemonsVaishampayana recites the descent of every creature from Brahma and the daughters of DakshaAdi Parva ‧ 22 min
• The Four Ways to Spend a LifeYayati, falling out of heaven, answers Ashtaka on the asramas and the road to BrahmaAdi Parva ‧ 19 min
• The Brother Who Should Have Been KingA lawful crown the rain refused to blessAdi Parva
• The Blind Sage on the RiverHow five eastern kingdoms got their namesAdi Parva
• The Dog at the SacrificeThe curse that began a dynasty's last chapterAdi Parva
• Naimisha, the Forest Where the Epic Is ToldThe audience hall of the MahabharataAdi Parva
• The Fire That Loved a PrincessWhy no army could take MahishmatiSabha Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Kingdom Given BackDhritarashtra releases the Pandavas and returns everything they lostSabha Parva ‧ 12 min
• The Ones Who Would Not Turn BackThe city walks out with its kings, and a sage answers the weepingVana Parva ‧ 21 min
• The Promise Made in the Kamyaka WoodsThe allies arrive, and Draupadi asks Krishna what her friendship is worthVana Parva ‧ 17 min
• When Forgiveness Is Not a VirtueAn angry queen quotes an asura grandfather at a patient kingVana Parva ‧ 17 min
• The Blind King Counts the OddsA father adds up his enemies and hears whose fault it wasVana Parva ‧ 17 min
• The Council at PrabhasaThe Yadavas find the exiles on the shore and argue about ending the exile by forceVana Parva ‧ 19 min
• The Golden PloughThe sacrifice a king held because the one he wanted was forbidden himVana Parva ‧ 18 min
• The Mole and the CharioteerHow Damayanti Was Found in Chedi and Nala in AyodhyaVana Parva ‧ 18 min
• The Feast Shibi CookedA brahmana demands the king's son as his meal, and Shibi obeys without changing colourVana Parva ‧ 15 min
• The Pyre and the Uprooted TreeA hundred and five kinsmen and one bound womanVirata Parva ‧ 17 min
• Where a Good King Must Be LivingThe Kuru court tries to find five men by their weatherVirata Parva ‧ 18 min
• Five Men on the ThronesThe morning the servants stopped pretendingVirata Parva ‧ 21 min
• The Braid She Refused to BindDraupadi answers Bhima's peace with her own hairUdyoga Parva ‧ 20 min
• Garuda's Map of the WorldThe four directions described from a bird's backUdyoga Parva ‧ 18 min
• The Choosing of the GeneralissimoFive brothers name five different men, and Krishna names the sixthUdyoga Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Signs Before the WarWhat Vyasa saw in the sky, the cattle and the birth-roomsBhishma Parva ‧ 18 min
• Sanjaya Describes the EarthThe blind king asks what the earth is worth, and his charioteer answers with the whole of itBhishma Parva ‧ 24 min
• Karna Takes the FieldThe vow that kept him out of ten days of war, and the grief that brought him into itDrona Parva ‧ 17 min
• The King Falls Out of His SeatDhritarashtra hears that Drona is dead, faints in his hall, and wakes to ask who was supposed to be guarding himDrona Parva ‧ 20 min
• The Word Brought to HastinapuraSanjaya rides through the night with the news of KarnaKarna Parva ‧ 21 min
• The Night After DronaThe sleepless camp, four men in a tent, and the thread tied round Karna's wristsKarna Parva ‧ 14 min
• The River With Seven NamesWherever she was called, she cameShalya Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Head That Would Not Let GoWhy the ford on the Sarasvati is called KapalamochanaShalya Parva ‧ 19 min
• The Pupil Who Could Not LearnYears in a teacher's house, and nothing to show for themShalya Parva ‧ 19 min
• The Kingdom Poured on the FireA sage is mocked with dead cattle and burns a realm with themShalya Parva ‧ 17 min
• The Head That Followed IndraA treaty kept to the letter and broken in every other wayShalya Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Anointing of the War GodEvery god brings a gift to a six-day-old commanderShalya Parva ‧ 21 min
• The Errand Before the GriefKrishna drives to Hastinapura to reach a mother before her curse doesShalya Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Lords of the Waters and the TreasuresBalarama walks the Sarasvati past the fords where Varuna, Kubera, Indra and Surya won what they holdShalya Parva ‧ 18 min
• The Gem on Ashwatthama's HeadDraupadi sits down to starve until the stone is brought to herSauptika Parva ‧ 15 min
• The Duel of the Brahmashira WeaponsAshwatthama and Arjuna loose the world-ending astra at Vyasa's hermitageSauptika Parva ‧ 18 min
• Gandhari Shows Krishna the FieldWith the sight Vyasa gave her, the blindfolded queen walks Krishna through the dead of KurukshetraStri Parva ‧ 21 min
• What Gandhari SawThe blind queen, given sight for one afternoon, walks Kurukshetra naming the dead of both armiesStri Parva ‧ 21 min
• The Secret of the GodsVyasa tells the blind king why the war was ordained before his eldest son was bornStri Parva ‧ 14 min
• The Victory Nobody WantedFive brothers, a wife and a sage argue a king back onto his throneShanti Parva ‧ 21 min
• The Queen's Answer to the Beggar KingJanaka shaves his head, and his wife takes his renunciation apartShanti Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Princes the Earth HidWhat was left of the Kshatriyas after the axeShanti Parva ‧ 17 min
• What the Brothers Wanted MostAn evening argument about virtue, wealth and desireShanti Parva ‧ 19 min
• The Yajus Taken From the SunA goddess entering a man's mouth, and the fee split in twoShanti Parva ‧ 17 min
• Three Doors and Fifty WomenThe son of Vyasa is made to walk, and then made to waitShanti Parva ‧ 19 min
• The Guest Nobody Could SeeBrihaspati throws down the ladle at a sacrifice where no animal was killedShanti Parva ‧ 19 min
• Three Balls of MudThe Boar invents the rite for the dead, and has no one above him to offer it toShanti Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Horse-Headed Voice in the DeepHow the Vedas were sung back out of the hands of thievesShanti Parva ‧ 17 min
• The Rishi Born From a WordVyasa tells his disciples who he was before he was VyasaShanti Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Sins That Need ExpiationVyasa reads Yudhishthira the whole catalogue of acts that make a man liable, and then the exceptionsShanti Parva ‧ 15 min
• The Root of All AccomplishmentBhishma teaches that the world, the Vedas and the rank of the gods were all bought with penanceShanti Parva ‧ 12 min
• The King Who Was Left AloneVyasa tells Yudhishthira of Hayagriva, who fought robbers after his army was gone and won heaven at his postShanti Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Curses of the RishisKrishna names the marks that Brahmanas left on gods, seas and mountainsShanti Parva ‧ 19 min
• The Names That Cleanse SinAsked what destroys sin, Bhishma answers with a litany of gods, rivers, mountains, sages and kingsAnushasana Parva ‧ 15 min
• Upamanyu's PenanceThe boy who refused every god but Shiva, and the god who came disguised as Indra to hear him do itAnushasana Parva ‧ 24 min
• How Vishnu Got the DiscusUpamanyu tells Krishna where Sudarsana came from, and Krishna climbs Himavat to ask Mahadeva for a sonAnushasana Parva ‧ 23 min
• The Devotees of MahadevaKapila, Valmiki, Gritsamada and others tell Yudhishthira what a lifetime's devotion to Mahadeva bought them.Anushasana Parva ‧ 18 min
• The Mysteries of Religion, Part OneThe deities, the Pitris and the Rishis each give up a duty whose reason is secretAnushasana Parva ‧ 24 min
• The Cow Born of NectarDaksha's gift, Mahadeva's third eye, and why cattle wear many coloursAnushasana Parva ‧ 14 min
• The Departure of BhishmaThe sun turns north, and the grandsire lets goAnushasana Parva ‧ 17 min
• Where the Kingdom EndsA sentence of exile that its author could not locateAshvamedhika Parva ‧ 18 min
• The Earrings of MadayantiA pupil grown old, and a bargain with a man-eating kingAshvamedhika Parva ‧ 19 min
• The Horse Goes SouthEkalavya's son, and the day Dwaraka grabbed the bridleAshvamedhika Parva ‧ 17 min
• The Rain Agastya Did Not NeedTwelve years of drought against one sage's seedsAshvamedhika Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Adhwaryu and the YatiA wandering ascetic stops at a sacrifice and asks the priest who gave the goat his consentAshvamedhika Parva ‧ 14 min
• The Kings Who Gave LawfullyIndra refuses the Rishis, a king answers too quickly, and the names of those who reached heaven by honest giftsAshvamedhika Parva ‧ 18 min
• The Wordy DartsFifteen Years of Bhima's UnforgivenessAshramavasika Parva ‧ 19 min
• The King Asks Leave of His PeopleAn Assembly Absolves the Man Who Ruined ItAshramavasika Parva ‧ 17 min
• The Gift SacrificeTen Days of Giving for the Enemy DeadAshramavasika Parva ‧ 17 min
• The Night the Dead ReturnedVyasa Calls the Fallen Out of the GangaAshramavasika Parva ‧ 20 min
• Vyasa Brings Back ParikshitA Son Bathes His Dead Father at the Snake SacrificeAshramavasika Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Omens of DwarakaA City Watches Its Own Death ApproachMausala Parva ‧ 17 min
• Balarama Returns to the SeaThe Serpent Leaves by the Mouth It Came FromMausala Parva ‧ 16 min
• Arjuna Empties DwarakaOne bowman escorts a dead city inland, and the sea walks behind himMausala Parva ‧ 18 min
• Uddhava Takes His LeaveThe one Yadava who left Prabhasa before the grass turned to ironMausala Parva ‧ 12 min
• The Return of the PortionsWho everybody turned out to have beenSvargarohana Parva ‧ 17 min
• The Rewards of the Eighteen ParvasVaishampayana prices each stage of hearing the Bharata against a sacrifice, from the Agnishtoma to twenty-one thousand years with IndraSvargarohana Parva ‧ 17 min

Places in Vaishampayana's Story

Drawn from the stories Vaishampayana appears in.

• Takshashilaतक्षशिला
• Badarikashramaबदरिकाश्रम
• Naimisharanyaनैमिषारण्य
• Hastinapurहस्तिनापुर
• Kurukshetraकुरुक्षेत्र
• Banks of the Gangaगङ्गा तट
• Angaअंग
• Vangaवङ्ग
• Kalingaकलिंग
• Pundraपुण्ड्र
• Suhmaसुह्म
• Forest Hermitageवन आश्रम

Related Characters

Others counted among the Sages & Others.

• ✦Sage Kanva
• ◎Eklavya
• ★Shukracharya
• ♛Vrishaparva
• ♛Yadu
• ✧Princess Amba