Adi‑Parva, the Mahābhārata’s Book of the Beginning, opens the world of the epic: cosmology, genealogies and the framed telling in which sage Vyāsa composes and narrators recount the tale. It traces the rise of the Kuru line—Shantanu, Ganga, Bhīṣma, Satyavatī—and the mysterious births of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Pāṇḍu and Vidura, interweaving myths, parables and ethical debates. Key themes—dharma (duty), kingship, fate versus choice, and the ties that bind family and polity—are set in motion here. As prologue and moral laboratory, Adi‑Parva still resonates: it shapes how we think about leadership, responsibility, inheritance and the human dilemmas that precipitate conflict, making its ancient wisdom strikingly relevant today.