The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Virata Parva

Translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli

Virata Parva, also known as the “Book of Virata”, is the fourth of eighteen books of the Indian Epic Mahabharata. Virata Parva has 4 sub-books and 72 chapters.

It discusses the 13th year of exile which the Pandavas must spend incognito to avoid another 12 years of exile in the forest. They do so in the court of Virata.They assume a variety of concealed identities. Yudhishthira assumes the identity of game entertainer to the king and calls himself Kanka, Bhima of a cook Ballava,Arjuna teaches dance and music as enuch Brihannala and dresses as a woman, Nakula tends horses as Granthika, Sahadeva herds cows as Tantipala, and Draupadi maids as Sairandhri to queen Shudeshna