What Happened After the Mahabharata War?

Like most people, I thought the Kurukshetra war is the last thing that happens in the Mahabharata. After all, the whole story is a long build up to it, right? After it is done and dusted, what is left to do but roll the credits?

Then I was doing some research and realized that after the Sauptika Parva (the last of the war books), there are eight more books in the Mahabharata. Which led me to ask: indeed, what happened after the Mahabharata war?

Here’s a quick summary:

The widows and...