Stri Parva

The Stri Parva (Sanskrit: स्त्री पर्व) ("Book of the Women") is the eleventh of the eighteen parvas (books) of the Indian epic Mahabharata. It traditionally has 4 parts and 27 chapters, as does the critical edition.

Sometimes spelled Stree Parva, it describes the grief of women because of the war, through the words of the Kaurava mother, Gandhari. The parva recites the grief of men too, such as of Dhritrashtra and the Pandava brothers. The chapters include a treatise by Vidura and Vyasa on passage rites with words of comfort for those who have lost loved ones, as well as the saṃsāra fable of the man and a well.