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This article explores the story of Pariksit in the Mahabharata and suggests an interpretation whereby Pariksit’s eldest son opted out of Pariksit’s patriline, preferring that of his mother. This interpretation is supported by reference to various similar stories within the Mahabharata and elsewhere. The article then suggests that several different Mahabharata characters may be seen as parallel representations of Pariksit’s eldest son. Finally, the article offers an explanation of the Mahabharata’s oblique narrative strategy and reflects on the implications of these interpretations for the study of the text as a whole.

This paper is a philological and textological complement to a new translation, produced in Cardiff, of the Sanskrit Harivaṃśa, the final part of the Mahābhārata. The paper is a project report, providing a detailed behind-the-scenes account of the translation project. It discusses the specific 118-chapter published text that was chosen for translation, and the reasons for that choice; it discusses the emendations that were made to that text, and the reasons for making them; it discusses the method, process, and conventions of the translation, with particular reference to the intended audience, the accompanying apparatus, the format of the translation, its literary and linguistic register, and the treatment of specific words; and it discusses a selection of problematic passages in relation to previous translations. The paper's discussion of the Sanskrit Harivaṃśa is wide-ranging, rigorous, unprecedentedly in-depth, and makes significant original contributions in the fields of Sanskrit philology, translation studies, and world literature. The appendix to the paper is a searchable electronic version of the Sanskrit Harivaṃśa text that was translated.