Book 10 of 18 · The Mahabharata

Sauptika Parva

सौप्तिक पर्व

Sauptika Parva

The Book of the Sleeping Warriors

What is the Sauptika Parva?

The Sauptika Parva (सौप्तिक पर्व) is the tenth of the eighteen books of the Mahabharata. Its name means “Book of the Sleeping Warriors”, and this site tells 11 stories drawn from it.

Sauptika Parva Summary

The shortest and darkest book of the epic. Ashvatthama, Kripa and Kritavarma find the dying Duryodhana at the lake, and Ashvatthama vows revenge for his father Drona. Possessed by Shiva, he enters the sleeping Pandava camp at night and butchers Dhrishtadyumna, Shikhandi and the five young sons of Draupadi in their beds while the other two guard the gate. Pursued the next morning, he releases a weapon aimed at the unborn heir in Uttara's womb, and Krishna curses him to wander the earth for three thousand years with his wounds unhealed.

What This Book Is About

  • revenge
  • night raid
  • sacrilege
  • curse
  • annihilation

Sub-Books (Upaparvas) of the Sauptika Parva

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

  1. Sauptika ParvaConcerning the SleepersSub-book 78 of 100
  2. Aishika ParvaOf the Reed-ShaftSub-book 79 of 100
  3. Vishoka ParvaFree of SorrowSub-book 80 of 100

Stories from the Sauptika Parva

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

  1. The Night of BloodAshwatthama's Apocalyptic Revenge 19 min
  2. The Five Sons of DraupadiThe Upapandavas
  3. Kripa, the Man Who Survived EverythingThe Teacher Who Outlived the Age
  4. The Owl in the Banyan TreeWhat three beaten men argued about in the dark 21 min
  5. The Being at the GateAshvatthama offers himself to Mahadeva 17 min
  6. The Last ReportThree men bring good news to a dying king 17 min
  7. The Weapon He Could Not LiftAshvatthama's bargain on the Dwaraka shore 16 min
  8. Why Rudra Broke the SacrificeKrishna explains who really emptied the camp 16 min
  9. The Gem on Ashwatthama's HeadDraupadi sits down to starve until the stone is brought to her 15 min
  10. The Duel of the Brahmashira WeaponsAshwatthama and Arjuna loose the world-ending astra at Vyasa's hermitage 18 min
  11. Kritavarma's RoadSmall compromises on the way to atrocity

Where This Book Sits

The Sauptika Parva is book 10 of the eighteen parvas. It follows the Shalya Parva, the book of shalya. The Stri Parva, the book of the women, comes next.

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