In the quiet of the Naimisha forest, the sages sat like unmoving trees — focused, silent, hungry not for food, but for truth.
Ugrasrava Sauti, son of Lomaharshana, continued his tale before them.
"You asked where the Mahabharata begins," he said. "Then listen. It begins before kings. Before war. Before Kurukshetra. It begins with creation itself — and the line of kings born from the moon."
He told them of Brahma, the creator, who brought forth all beings.
Of Atri, the great sage, born from Brahma's mind.
Of Chandra, the moon god, born from Atri's line — whose radiance lit not just the sky, but the royal bloodline of Earth.
From Chandra came Budha, his son with the daughter of a celestial sage.
From Budha came Pururavas, who fell in love with the apsara Urvashi — and whose heart broke as she returned to the heavens.
Their son was Ayus.
From Ayus came Nahusha, a mighty king who once ruled even the heavens before pride brought his fall.
From Nahusha came Yayati — the man who defied age itself.
Yayati had five sons, born of two queens — Devayani and Sharmishtha, daughters of rival worlds.
From Yayati's youngest son, Puru, came a line of kings who bore the weight of dharma with blood and sacrifice.
Puru's descendants ruled wisely. And among them, generations later, was born a king whose name would echo into eternity:
Bharata.
He was not born of ambition, but of courage.
Not of conquest, but of trial.
He earned the throne not by inheritance, but by merit — and even cast aside his own sons to choose a worthy heir instead.
It was for him that the great Bharata dynasty was named.
And it was from his line that the tragedy of the Mahabharata would one day unfold.
A story of cursed blessings, sacred promises, and fractured legacies… all rooted in this divine lineage.
As Sauti spoke, the sages listened not with their ears, but with their souls.
For they understood: before one can judge a war, one must know the blood that led to it.
And so the tale of the moon-born kings flowed like a river — from gods to men, from wisdom to weakness — shaping a world destined for fire.