Book 15 of 18 · The Mahabharata

Ashramavasika Parva

आश्रमवासिक पर्व

Āśramavāsika Parva

The Book of the Hermitage

What is the Ashramavasika Parva?

The Ashramavasika Parva (आश्रमवासिक पर्व) is the fifteenth of the eighteen books of the Mahabharata. Its name means “Book of the Hermitage”, and this site tells 12 stories drawn from it.

Ashramavasika Parva Summary

Fifteen years after the war, the blind Dhritarashtra can no longer bear living on the charity of the sons who killed his own. With Gandhari, Kunti and Vidura he retires to a forest hermitage to practise austerities, and Vidura dies there by merging his life into Yudhishthira. Vyasa grants the grieving families a single night in which the dead warriors of Kurukshetra rise from the Ganga to be seen and embraced once more. Two years later a forest fire takes Dhritarashtra, Gandhari and Kunti, and Yudhishthira performs their last rites.

What This Book Is About

  • renunciation
  • old age
  • reconciliation
  • vision
  • departure

Sub-Books (Upaparvas) of the Ashramavasika Parva

The Mahabharata divides itself into one hundred upaparvas; 3 of them belong to this book.

  1. Ashramavasa ParvaDwelling in the hermitageSub-book 93 of 100
  2. Putradarshana ParvaSeeing of the sonsSub-book 94 of 100
  3. Naradagamana ParvaNarada's arrivalSub-book 95 of 100

Stories from the Ashramavasika Parva

12 stories on this site are told inside this book, in canonical reading order.

  1. The Forest RetreatBook 15 - How the Blind King Walked Into the Woods to Die 26 min
  2. The Wordy DartsFifteen Years of Bhima's Unforgiveness 19 min
  3. The King Asks Leave of His PeopleAn Assembly Absolves the Man Who Ruined It 17 min
  4. The Gift SacrificeTen Days of Giving for the Enemy Dead 17 min
  5. Satayupa and the Forest KingsNarada Names the Rulers Who Chose the Woods 16 min
  6. The Court Comes to the ForestAn Army Marches Out to Visit Two Old Ascetics 18 min
  7. The Night the Dead ReturnedVyasa Calls the Fallen Out of the Ganga 20 min
  8. Vyasa Brings Back ParikshitA Son Bathes His Dead Father at the Snake Sacrifice 16 min
  9. The Fire That Was Not UnholyYudhishthira Accuses Agni of Ingratitude 16 min
  10. Kunti's Last FireRenunciation after the victory
  11. The Last WitnessSanjaya after the divine eye
  12. Vidura, Dharma in a Servant's HouseThe clean conscience of Hastinapura

Where This Book Sits

The Ashramavasika Parva is book 15 of the eighteen parvas. It follows the Ashvamedhika Parva, the book of the horse sacrifice. The Mausala Parva, the book of the clubs, comes next.

See all eighteen parvas of the MahabharataFollow the epic as a timeline