Some of the chapters in Agni Purana have been dedicated to the stories of Mahabharata. The God of Fire has given a genealogy of the sovereigns of the race of the Moon. He has given an account of the birth of the Kurus and Pandavas. Lord Agni has given a detailed account of every incident of Mahabharata. Agni has said in the Purana that making the Pandavas was an instrument of Lord Vishnu to relieve the earth of her burden.
As Lord Agni proceeds with the story he had said that Pandu was the son of Yayati. The story which he had narrated says that Vyasa begot Dhritarashtra on Ambea and Pandu on Amvalika who had become king. Dhritarashtra had begot on Gandhari hundred sons headed by Duryodhana. Agni had said that by an accident enmity had taken place between the Pandavas and the Kurus.
Agni says that Duryodhana had made a wicked stratagem against the Pandavas. He had put the Pandavas into a house of wax and had prepared to put fire on it. The Pandavas however with their mother managed to come out of the burning house. After that they all lived under the guise of ascetics in Ekachakra in the house of a Brahmana after having slain the Rakshasa Vaka. Then Lord Agni goes on saying the story of Draupadi`s Swayamvara whereby Arjuna had won over Draupadi and had received a car and a celestial weapon from the Fire-God.
Then Agni says that the Pandavas had captured a new kingdom and Yudhisthira had performed a Rajasuya sacrifice.
A very important part of the story of Mahabharata is the game of dice where Yudhisthira had staked everything and finally had to go to exile. During their stay in exile a lot of incidents had taken place. Finally the Pandavas had received the counsel of Lord Krishna who had initiated a war against the Kurus on behalf of the Pandavas.
The most important part of the great epic that is the war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas has been vividly described by Lord Agni. The historic war between the two parties had taken pace in the famous field of Kurukshetra. Lord Krishna had inspired Arjuna to fight a hard battle against his consanguineous enemies. The battle had ensued with various results for both the parties. Duryodhana was killed. The five sons of Draupadi were assassinated by Ashvathaman. Finally as the battle ends the survivors left the field. Yudhisthira had obtained advice from Bhisma as to how to be a good king and also finds out the way to salvation. Ultimately Yudhisthira, the eldest Pandava had conferred his crown on the young Parikshit.
But even at this juncture also Lord Agni does not stop. He goes on to say that the story still continues. Dhritarashtra had taken the life of a hermit. Vidura had died. Towards the end of Mahabharata had taken place the annihilation of all the Kauravas and the Jadavas. Even the death of Lord Krishna and Valadeva had taken place towards the end of the story. And as soon as Arjuna had broken the news of Krishna`s death Yudhisthira immediately he was transported to heaven in the car of Indra.
Finally Lord Agni had ended his story saying that one who hears the story of Mahabharta with sincerity is able to reach the heavenly abode.
