Podcast · Devotional & Spiritual

Mahabharata Audio Stories

by Mahabharata Explorer · English · Devotional & Spiritual

Narrated stories from the Mahabharata, the great Sanskrit epic of ancient India. Each episode is a self-contained story from the epic, read aloud, with the full illustrated text available at https://agrily.co/stories.

New episodes: Several times a day
Latest: 27 Sep 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

27 Sep 2026

The Dice Game

A game of dice between the Pandavas and Kauravas, manipulated by the cunning Shakuni, leads to the loss of kingdom, freedom, and honor. This pivotal moment sets the stage for the great war of Kurukshetra.

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Earlier episodes 29 most recent

27 Sep 2026
Bhishma's Vow
Prince Devavrata renounces his claim to the throne and takes a vow of celibacy so that his father Shantanu can marry the fisherman's daughter Satyavati. This sacrifice earns him the name Bhishma--the one of the terrible vow.
27 Sep 2026
Draupadi's Swayamvara
At Princess Draupadi's swayamvara, King Drupada sets an impossible challenge: string a mighty bow and shoot a golden target set high above, through the opening of a device. When all kings fail, a mysterious Brahmin steps forward.
27 Sep 2026
Karna's Birth & Curse
Born to Kunti by the sun god Surya, Karna is abandoned at birth and raised by a charioteer. Despite his divine origins, he faces rejection, curses, and a destiny that will pit him against his own brothers.
27 Sep 2026
Utanka and the Earrings
The devoted disciple Utanka goes on a quest to retrieve the earrings of Queen Poushya for his preceptor's wife. His encounter with the naga Takshaka sets in motion the events that lead to King Janamejaya's great snake sacrifice.
27 Sep 2026
Samudra Manthan
To obtain the nectar of immortality, the gods and demons join forces to churn the cosmic ocean. This monumental effort brings forth divine treasures, terrifying poisons, and ultimately, the ambrosia that grants eternal life. The curse that sets the tale in motion comes from later tradition rather than the epic.
27 Sep 2026
Garuda and the Amrita
To free his mother Vinata from the cruel slavery of her sister Kadru, the mighty bird Garuda embarks on an impossible quest: to steal the nectar of immortality from the heavily guarded heavens.
27 Sep 2026
Astika Saves the Snakes
King Janamejaya initiates a terrifying sacrifice to annihilate the entire snake race in revenge for his father's murder. As the snakes face total destruction, a young, brilliant sage named Astika arrives to fulfill an ancient prophecy and stop the massacre.
27 Sep 2026
The River and the Island
The bizarre and miraculous origins of the Kuru dynasty's matriarch, Satyavati, born from a fish, and her illegitimate son Vyasa, the great sage who would go on to author the Mahabharata itself.
27 Sep 2026
The King and the Hermit Girl
The classic tale of love, denial, and reunion between King Dushyanta and Shakuntala, leading to the birth of Emperor Bharata, after whom the great epic and the nation of India are named.
27 Sep 2026
The Ancestors of the Epics
The complex political and romantic saga of King Yayati, Devayani (the proud daughter of the Asura guru), and Sharmishtha (the Asura princess). Their turbulent relationships led to the birth of the Yadava and Kuru dynasties.
27 Sep 2026
The Terrible Vow
The defining moment of the Kuru dynasty. Prince Devavrata makes an unimaginable sacrifice of his birthright and personal happiness so his father can marry the fisher-princess Satyavati, forever changing the course of history.
27 Sep 2026
The Abduction at Kashi
Following the early deaths of Shantanu's sons, Bhishma abducts three princesses from Kashi to secure heirs for the Kuru dynasty. His actions lead to a great battle, a tragic marriage, and the beginning of a lifelong vendetta.
27 Sep 2026
The Niyoga of Vyasa
Facing the extinction of the Kuru dynasty, Queen Satyavati makes a desperate decision to summon her ascetic son, Sage Vyasa. His intervention results in the births of Dhritarashtra, Pandu, and Vidura, setting the stage for the great war.
27 Sep 2026
The Curse of the Deer
King Pandu, the greatest warrior of his age, conquers the world and retires to the forests of the Himalayas with his two queens. But a single arrow, loosed at a mating deer in a sun-dappled clearing, shatters his destiny forever. The dying animal reveals itself as a sage, and its curse transforms the mighty king into a broken ascetic who can never again touch his own wives.
27 Sep 2026
The Birth of the Princes
On the sacred heights of Mount Shatashringa, the cursed King Pandu begs his wife Kunti to use her divine mantra to summon the gods. One by one, Dharma, Vayu, and Indra descend to father sons of extraordinary power. Meanwhile, in the palace of Hastinapura, Gandhari gives birth to her children in the most grotesque manner imaginable--a mass of iron flesh, divided by Vyasa into 101 pots of ghee, from which emerge the 100 Kauravas and the seeds of the great war.
27 Sep 2026
The Questions of the Yaksha
During their harsh exile, the Pandavas chase a magical deer, leading to a deadly encounter at a crystalline lake guarded by a divine Yaksha. When four brothers die of thirst and pride, Yudhishthira must face a profound test of wisdom to save them.
27 Sep 2026
The Meeting of Brothers
While wandering in the mystical Gandhamadana mountains to fetch a celestial flower for Draupadi, Bhima's path is blocked by an old, sickly monkey. What begins as a display of arrogance ends in a humbling revelation of divine brotherhood.
27 Sep 2026
The Divine Arsenal
To prepare for the inevitable war, Arjuna embarks on a perilous journey to the Himalayas to perform severe penance. After a fierce battle with Lord Shiva himself, Arjuna ascends to the celestial city of Indraloka to receive the ultimate weapons of the gods.
27 Sep 2026
The Fall of the Guru
On the fifteenth day of the great war, the invincible Dronacharya unleashes the devastating Brahmastra. Knowing the guru can only be defeated if he lays down his arms in grief, Krishna forces Yudhishthira, the embodiment of truth, to utter a deceptive half-lie.
27 Sep 2026
The Secret of the Sun
Just before the great war begins, Queen Kunti approaches Karna, the great champion of the enemy forces, to reveal a devastating secret: he is her firstborn son. In an emotional confrontation, Karna must choose between the mother who abandoned him and the friend who crowned him.
27 Sep 2026
The Night of Blood
After Duryodhana falls, the war is officially over. But Ashwatthama, driven mad by the deceitful murder of his father Drona, launches a horrific midnight raid on the sleeping Pandava camp, turning a righteous victory into an absolute tragedy.
27 Sep 2026
The Tournament of Champions
After years of training under Guru Drona, the Pandavas and Kauravas display their skills in a grand tournament at Hastinapura. The event, meant to showcase Arjuna's supremacy, is interrupted by a mysterious challenger who changes the course of history.
27 Sep 2026
The Slaying of Kichaka
During their final year of exile in disguise, the Pandavas live in the kingdom of Virata. When the Queen's brother, the powerful General Kichaka, attempts to harass Draupadi, Bhima must take a deadly risk to protect her without revealing their true identities.
27 Sep 2026
The Messenger of Peace
As war becomes inevitable, Krishna travels to Hastinapura as a peace envoy for the Pandavas. When Duryodhana rejects his proposal and attempts to capture him, Krishna reveals his awe-inspiring cosmic form, showing that the fate of the world is already decided.
27 Sep 2026
The Boy God of Vrindavan
Told briefly in the epic and at length in the Puranas: hidden from the tyrant Kamsa, the divine child Krishna grows up among the cowherds of Vrindavan, slaying demons sent to destroy him, taming the serpent Kaliya, lifting Mount Govardhana on his finger, and finally returning to Mathura to fulfill the prophecy of his birth.
27 Sep 2026
The Theft of Rukmini
Princess Rukmini of Vidarbha is to be married against her will to the malevolent Shishupala. In a tale the epic mentions only briefly and later tradition tells in full, she sends a secret letter to Krishna, who arrives at the wedding's eve and carries her away by chariot - a theft that would become love, and that fixed Shishupala's ancient enmity in stone.
27 Sep 2026
Shantanu and the River Goddess
King Shantanu of Hastinapura meets the goddess Ganga on the riverbank, marries her under a single strange condition, and watches in silent agony as she drowns each of their children in turn - until, on the eighth, he breaks his vow and learns the curse that bound them all.
27 Sep 2026
The Curse That Killed a King
King Pandu, hunting in the forest, looses an arrow at a deer and discovers he has killed not a beast but a sage in the act of love. The sage's dying curse forces Pandu to renounce his throne, retreat into the mountains with his two queens, and ultimately father his five sons not by his own seed but by the gods themselves.
27 Sep 2026
A Royal Childhood at Hastinapura
The five Pandava brothers and the hundred sons of Dhritarashtra grow up together in the palace under the wary eye of Vidura - until the arrival of the master Drona transforms a princely education into a forge of rivalries, vows, and the small, lethal injustices that will one day burn the world.

About Mahabharata Audio Stories

Mahabharata Audio Stories is a English devotional & spiritual podcast from Mahabharata Explorer. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Mahabharata Explorer
Language: English
Category: Devotional & Spiritual
New episodes: Several times a day
Latest episode: 27 Sep 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id6794656132

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