Family Tree Character Cards Relationship Finder Relationship Table Why Arjuna Collapsed
The Cast of The Gita

Wait... Who's Related
to Whom?

Everyone at Kurukshetra was either a cousin, a student, or a teacher of everyone else. Arjuna knew all of them. That was the whole problem.

Generation by Generation

The Family Tree you actually need

Starting from King Shantanu. Every major character in the Bhagavad Gita appears below. Hover any node for their story.

GEN 1 GEN 2 GEN 2 WIVES GEN 3 GEN 4 GEN 5 niyoga — sage-fathered, sanctioned by dharma siblings ∴ Krishna & Pandavas = first cousins King Shantanu Ancestor · King of Hastinapura Ganga 1st Wife · River Goddess Satyavati 2nd Wife · Mother of Vyasa, Vichitra... Bhishma Grand-Uncle · Never married Chitrangada Died without heirs · See note Vyasa Sage · Author · Father by Niyoga Vichitravirya Son of Satyavati · Died without heirs Shurasena Father of Vasudeva & Kunti (Pritha) Ambika Mother of Dhritarashtra Ambalika Mother of Pandu Dhritarashtra Blind King · Father of Kauravas Pandu Father of Pandavas · Cursed Vidura Half-Brother · Wisest Counsellor Kunti (Pritha) Sister of Vasudeva · Pandu's wife Vasudeva Krishna's Father · Kunti's Brother Duryodhana Eldest Kaurava Dushasana 2nd Kaurava +98 more brothers + Duhshala (sister) Karna ☀️ Eldest by birth · Not counted Yudhishtira 1st Pandava · By Dharma Bhima 2nd Pandava · By Vayu Arjuna 3rd Pandava · By Indra ★ Protagonist of the Gita Nakula 4th Pandava · Madri's son Sahadeva 5th Pandava · Madri's son · Twin Krishna Cousin of Pandavas · The Gita ★ The Teacher Subhadra Krishna's sister · Arjuna's wife Abhimanyu Son of Arjuna & Subhadra Pandava line Kaurava line Divine / Yadava Sage lineage Dashed = niyoga / sibling / marriage Hover any node for details
Key Characters

The Characters Click to flip

Every major character named in the Bhagavad Gita — with their correct genealogy, role, and a note on why they matter.

Everyone
🟢 Pandava Side
🔴 Kaurava Side
✨ Divine & Yadava
📐 Teachers
⚖️ Other Key Figures
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Relationship Finder

Pick any two characters to see their exact relationship according to the Mahabharata.

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Accurate genealogy

The Relationship Table

Every relationship type: blood, marriage, teacher-student, and political alliance — as recorded in the Critical Edition.

Character ACharacter BRelationship TypeExplanation
ArjunaKrishnaBloodFirst cousins. Vasudeva (Krishna's father) and Kunti (Arjuna's mother) are siblings, both children of Shurasena.
ArjunaDuryodhanaBloodFirst cousins. Pandu (Arjuna's father) and Dhritarashtra (Duryodhana's father) are half-brothers through Vyasa.
ArjunaKarnaBloodHalf-brothers. Both sons of Kunti — Karna by Surya (before her marriage), Arjuna by Indra (after). Arjuna did not know this during the war.
ArjunaBhishmaBloodGreat-uncle and great-nephew. Bhishma is the half-brother of Vichitravirya, who is the grandfather of Arjuna through Vyasa and Pandu.
ArjunaSubhadraMarriageHusband and wife. Subhadra is Krishna's sister. Arjuna married her, making him Krishna's brother-in-law in addition to already being his cousin.
ArjunaDraupadiMarriageOne of five husbands. Draupadi (Krishnaa, daughter of Drupada) married all five Pandavas. Arjuna won her in the swayamvara.
ArjunaDronacharyaGuru–ShishyaTeacher and best student. Drona was the royal weapons-teacher (acharya) of both the Pandavas and Kauravas. Arjuna was his most gifted student.
ArjunaKripaGuru–ShishyaEarlier teacher. Kripacharya taught the princes before Drona. He is also Ashwatthama's maternal uncle.
DhritarashtraPanduBloodHalf-brothers. Both sons of Vichitravirya's wives by Vyasa through niyoga. Dhritarashtra (by Ambika), Pandu (by Ambalika).
DhritarashtraViduraBloodHalf-brothers. Vidura was fathered by Vyasa through a palace maid. He is half-brother to both Dhritarashtra and Pandu.
DuryodhanaKarnaAllianceBest friends and political allies. Duryodhana made Karna king of Anga when no one else would. Karna's loyalty to Duryodhana was the defining choice of his life.
BhishmaPandavasBloodGrand-uncle. Bhishma (son of Shantanu and Ganga) is the half-brother of Vichitravirya, making him great-uncle to Dhritarashtra, Pandu, and their children.
DronaAshwatthamaBloodFather and son. Ashwatthama is Dronacharya's only child. He fought on the Kaurava side and is one of the seven Chiranjivi (immortals) in Hindu tradition.
KuntiKarnaBloodMother and firstborn son. Karna was born before Kunti's marriage, by the Sun god Surya. She revealed this to Karna before the war. He was unmoved.
VasudevaKuntiBloodSiblings. Both children of Shurasena. Kunti was adopted by her uncle Kuntibhoja and renamed. This sibling relationship is why Krishna and the Pandavas are first cousins.
ArjunaAbhimanyuBloodFather and son. Abhimanyu is Arjuna's son by Subhadra (Krishna's sister). He died at approximately 16 years of age in the Chakravyuha on Day 13 of the war.
KrishnaBalaramaBloodBrothers. Both sons of Vasudeva. Balarama's mother is Rohini; Krishna's is Devaki. Both are first cousins of the Pandavas.
BalaramaBhima & DuryodhanaGuru–ShishyaBalarama taught mace-fighting (gada yuddha) to both Bhima (Pandava) and Duryodhana (Kaurava). He was teacher to both sides and refused to participate in the war.
GandhariDhritarashtraMarriageWife and husband. Gandhari blindfolded herself permanently upon learning her husband was blind — a lifelong act of solidarity and sacrifice.
GandhariDuryodhanaBloodMother and son. Gandhari is the mother of all 100 Kauravas. Her brother Shakuni (not shown here) manipulated Duryodhana's worst impulses.
MadriNakula & SahadevaBloodMother and sons. Madri (Pandu's second wife) invoked the Ashwini Kumars using Kunti's mantra and produced the twin Pandavas Nakula and Sahadeva.
KuntiMadriCo-wivesCo-wives of Pandu. Kunti shared her divine mantra with Madri. After Madri's death on Pandu's pyre, Kunti raised all five Pandava sons as her own.
Chapter 1 of the Bhagavad Gita

Why Arjuna put down his bow

He was not afraid of dying. Arjuna was the greatest archer alive — death in battle held no fear for him. What broke him was looking across the battlefield and seeing who was standing on the other side.

"My limbs fail and my mouth is parched, my body quivers and my hair stands on end." — Arjuna, Chapter 1, Verse 29
👴
His Elders and Family
Bhishma (his great-uncle), Dhritarashtra (uncle), Drona (teacher) — people Arjuna was raised to honour and obey. Killing them, even in a just war, meant violating the deepest laws of dharma he knew.
📐
His Teachers
Dronacharya and Kripacharya. In the Brahminic tradition of Arjuna's time, one's guru was more sacred than one's parents. Raising a weapon against them was unthinkable. Yet they stood against him on the other side.
👥
His Cousins — All of Them
Duryodhana and the Kauravas were his first cousins — sons of his father Pandu's half-brother Dhritarashtra. They grew up together. He had known them his entire life.
☀️
A Brother He Didn't Know About
Karna was standing on the Kaurava side — and Arjuna did not yet know that Karna was his eldest half-brother, Kunti's firstborn. He knew Karna as a rival and an enemy. The full truth came too late.
🌍
The Consequences
Arjuna foresaw that killing the family elders would destroy the family order (kula dharma), produce illegitimate children, and cause generations of chaos. He was thinking about all of it at once, on a battlefield, with arrows about to fly.
📖
What Followed
Krishna's response to this crisis is the 700 verses of the Bhagavad Gita. He did not tell Arjuna to stop feeling it. He told him to understand it differently — and then to act anyway.
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