Janamejaya Requests Vyasa to Narrate the Kuru-Pandava History
With the great sage Vyasa properly honored before him, King Janamejaya asks the question that will summon the entire epic into being: what caused the catastrophic war between his ancestors, the Kurus and the Pandavas? Vyasa instructs his disciple to tell it.
Having worshipped his great-grandfather, bowed before him, and joyfully seated himself below him, King Janamejaya asked Vyasa about his health. The great lord looked at him and asked about his welfare in return. Vyasa then worshipped all the sacrificial assistants, who had already worshipped him.
Then, with folded hands, Janamejaya and all the sacrificial assistants addressed the best of the Brahmanas.
Janamejaya said, “O Brahmana! You witnessed with your own eyes the great deeds of the Kurus and the Pandavas. I wish to hear them narrated by you. What was the reason for the great quarrel between these men of great and virtuous deeds? Why did the great battle, which caused the destruction of beings, take place among my grandfathers, their minds clouded by destiny? O best of the Brahmanas! Tell me the details as they exactly happened.”
On hearing these words, Krishna Dvaipayana turned to his disciple Vaishampayana, seated by his side. He did not answer the king directly. Instead, he gave an instruction: “Relate in full, exactly as you had heard it from me, the account of the ancient quarrel between the Kurus and the Pandavas.”
Thereupon, that bull among Brahmanas, instructed by his preceptor, began to recite. He recited in its entirety that old history to the king, the sacrificial assistants, and all the assembled kings — the history of the quarrel between the Kurus and the Pandavas, and the destruction of the kingdom.