Vichitravirya died without any children, but Veda Vyasa, the son of Satyavati born through the occult is requested to impregnate Ambika and Ambalika the same way he was conceived.

Bhishma goes to Gandhar for Dhritarashtra's marriage proposal with King Subal's daughter, Gandhari because of her boon of bearing a hundred sons.

After knowing her would-be-husband Dhritarashtra is blind, Gandhari decided to blindfold herself to share her husband's pain and marries him.

Attributing her husband's death to herself, Madri decided to end her life with Pandu, by the practise of sati.

The Kauravas grow up to be evil, led by their eldest brother Duryodhana, who is highly influenced by his maternal uncle Shakuni, contrary to the Pandavas who are righteous.

Kunti realizes that Karna is her son whom she had obtained from Surya, the Sun God, long before marriage.

Meanwhile, seeking vengeance on Drona, King Drupad gets a son Dhristhadyumna, and a daughter, Draupadi born from fire.

Arjuna takes her to his mother who is doing Pooja and without realizing what he is talking about commands him to share whatever he has won with his brothers.

A jealous Duryodhana summons Pandavas for a dice game, where Yudhishthira loses his kingdom, brothers, and their common wife Draupadi.

Draupadi is dragged and humiliated and disrobed in the court in front of everyone by Dushasana on the order of his elder brother Duryodhan, however, Krishna saves her honor in the end.

Bheeshma, Drona, and other elders who were present in the court all cursed the Kauravas for their inhuman acts.

The Pandavas' peace treaty with the Kauravas fails to materialize, thus confirming that a war is set to happen.

Shortly before the Kurukshetra War commences, Arjuna obtains the knowledge of the Bhagavad Gita from Krishna, which helps him fight for righteousness without any remorse for killing his people in the process.

Ashwatthama, on seeing Duryodhana's death, is angered and raids the Pandava camp at night, killing many soldiers in the process including Dhrishtadyumna and Shikhandini.

He also tries to kill a widowed Uttaraa and her unborn baby rather unsuccessfully, but both of them are revived and the child is named 'Parikshit' by Krishna.

Krishna also curses Ashwatthama to remain in severe pain and immortality for the rest of his life because of his heinous act.

Gandhari curses Krishna for letting the war happen as she loses all of her sons and grandsons, so he suffers the same fate.

In November 2005, a report from Variety stated Bobby Bedi's plan to make three feature films and 100 hours of television programming on Indian epic Mahabharat under Kaleidoscope Entertainment with the television version planned to be delivered by the end of 2007.

[12][13] It was a part of Bedi's 360 degree approach to the epic through TV, film, gaming and theme parks.

[17][18] This led on to a pressure in the production as they wanted to rush their premiere before Kapoor due to which Dwivedi quit midway after association with them for two years after which three directors were working on it.

50 episodes were shot at the sets created in Morna between Noida and Delhi for a year after paying ₹6 Crores.

But, Bedi reportedly started selling it in DVDs which created problems between them and the channel, and the production was stalled.

[24] Renowned author Devdutt Pattanaik was roped as the chief consultant and guiding person for the series.

The set covering 10 acres of land in Umargam, Valsad, Gujarat was designed by the art director Omung Kumar.

A lot of bright coloured silks, handlooms, gold and jewellery structured embroidery patterns have been used.It took a study of over 450 books related to period textiles, costume and jewelry and four years of hard-work to arrive at the current look and feel of the show.

[41][32] Shooting also took place in various exotic locations such as Jaisalmer, Amber Palace in Jaipur, Kashmir, Ahmedabad, Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

[52] DNA India praised the costumes, scenery, Krishna's flute theme which was given by Raj Mohan Sinha,[53] and most of the CGI special effects, but said the serial's pace was too fast.

[54] Hindustan Times criticised, "Everything is so exaggerated that you feel you are watching a series of unreal events rather than following a deeply emotional story.

The game of dice leading to Draupadi's 'cheer haran' took Mahabharat at its peak viewership (10 TVMs) and helped the broadcasting channel Star Plus clock one of the highest GTVMs.

The crew members also won the awards for Best Costumes for a TV Programme, Best Make – Up Artist, and Best Stylist.