Once, Vyasa’s disciple Romaharshan was telling other sages about the supremacy of Lord Narayana. He saw Balarama, Krishna’s elder brother, coming, but he did not stop his story.

Balarama felt insulted and beheaded the sage with his axe. The other sages said that now there was no one to explain things to them, as Balarama had killed the only knowledgeable person.

Balram regretted his hasty step, but could not correct his actions. Therefore he transferred the knowledge of the deceased to his son Ugrashravas, also known as Suta Purana.

The latter taught sage Shaunaka and other sages. The knowledge has come to us from Saunaka and other sages, Thenthirupparai Aravindlochan explained in a discourse. Abhimanyu, who died in the Kurukshetra war, was the son of Arjun and Subhadra.

Abhimanyu married Uttara and Parikshit was born to her. Parikshit married Madravati and from her was born Janamejaya.

Janamejaya married Vapushtama. Thus, Janamejaya was a descendant of the Pandavas. Janamejaya performed the yagya.

Vyas met him while he was performing a yagya. Janamejaya asked Vyasa to tell the story of the Pandavas. Vyasa instructed his disciple Vaishampayana to narrate the story to Janamejaya.

Vaishampayana narrated the Mahabharata to Janamejaya. There are 18 Parvas in the Mahabharata, each of which has sub-divisions called Upaparvas. Each sub-parva has several chapters.

There are 2,000 chapters in the Mahabharata. The first Parva is Aadi Parva, which tells how the Mahabharata was born, who Janamejaya was and how Vaishampayana told the story of his ancestors.

This festival narrates the birth of the Pandavas, their growing up years, the enmity between the Kauravas and the Pandavas, and the division of the kingdom into two parts – one each for the Kauravas and the Pandavas.