1. Barbara Stoler Miller, trans., The Bhagavad-Gita: Krishna’s Counsel in Time of War (New York: Bantam Books, 1986).
2. See the chapter “Hindu Spiritual Worldview” for a definition of dharma.
3. “Mahabharat: Full Animated Movie,” in English, https://youtu.be/Xx4H_yuZbmU.
4. Lord Krishna is not only a neighboring prince but a conscious embodiment of God, an avatar of Vishnu: God come to earth in human form to assist in the rebalancing of a world that has become unruly. Vishnu returns to earth in the form of an avatar whenever such a need arises. Another well-known and loved avatar of Vishnu is Lord Rama of the epic poem the Ramayana.
5. Vasus are eight elemental gods: Dharā, god of the Earth; Anala (also called Agni), god of fire; Anila, god of wind; Āpa, god of water; Pratyūṣa, god of the sun; Prabhāsa, god of the sky; Soma, god of the Moon; Dhruva, god of the north star.
6. Veda Vyasa is considered to be both the author of the Mahabharata and a character in it. He is Satyavati’s son from her union with the sage Parashara before she married Shantanu. Veda Vyasa is also the sage who organized the Vedas in four volumes and one of the seven immortals of Hinduism (Chiranjivins).
7. Diwaker Ikshit Srivastava, Decoding the Metaphor Mahabharata (Mumbai: Inkstate Books, 2017), 20.
8. See the chapter “Hindu Spiritual Worldview” for a definition of dharma.