The Book of Peace or the Shanti-parva elucidates the crowning of Yudhisthira as the King of Hastinapura. The book flows from sub parvas eighty-six to eighty eight. In this Parva the instructions given by Bhishma to the newly anointed king is also described. Bhishma speaks on society, economics and politics. This is the longest book of the Mahabharata where Shanti or peace was attempted to restore.

The Shanti Parva is a huge interruption in the Mahabharata and it is termed as the `wisdom literature` in the great epic Mahabharata. Among the 18 parvas of Mahabharat, Santi Parva constitutes the representations of the aftermath of the wars. In the Book of Peace, it is depicted that the man who has won power in the Great War is torn between his own sense of guilt and remorse and the obligation to rule which ultimately he is persuaded to embrace.

In the Mahabharata, Shanti Parva is considered to be one of the two most timely and unforgettable chapters. This book penetrates a glimpse into the trauma of war. The book also narrates a long and winding recapitulation of Brahmanic lore. It has been suggested that Santi Parva was added to the Mahabharata at a later time than the main body of the epic.

This book, Shanti Parva brings together one hundred messages of peace, from four inter-related sources, such as Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad-Gita and Mahabharata. Most of the Great Epic Mahabharata deals with world peace. In later centuries, the book of peace had played a pivotal role to the contribution to world peace. The Shanti Parva continues with chapters two, three, and four are devoted to the Vedas, the Upanishads, and the Bhagavad-Gita respectively. Chapter five presents the elaboration and extension of Bhagavad Gita`s ideas also. The next three chapters contain messages from Mahabharata for consideration by governments, religious leaders. Santi Parva is thus a consolidated summary of the peace-messages, and it ends with concluding remarks about the likely follow-up of the messages.