Chapter 5 – Action Starts Now :The Pandavas and Kauravas

Bheeshma raised Dhritarashtra, Pandu and Vidura as his own sons and trained them. Dhritarashtra grew up as a very strong boy. Pandu excelled in archery and Vidura was extremely wise and learned. When the Princes came of age, it was decided that Pandu should be made the King, since Dhritarashtra was blind. Dhritsrashtra was very unhappy with this decision. Vidura was made the Chief Minister for his wisdom. When it was time for the princes to get married, Bheeshma decided to seek the hand of Gandhari- the daughter of Subala , Kunti – the daughter of Kuntibhoja and Madri -the sister of Shalya for Dhritarashtra and Pandu. Bheeshma set out to Subala’s kingdom. When Subala heard of Bheeshma’s arrival, he went and welcomed him with respect. When Bheeshma told that he had come to seek Gandhari’s hand for his nephew Dhritarashtra, Subala agreed. When Gandhari heard that she was going to be married to a blind prince, she also tied her eyes with a cloth and married Dhritarashtra.

Bheeshma then went to Kuntibhoja’s kingdom and also to the Kingdom of Shalya and got Pandu married to both Kunti and Madri.

One day, while Pandu went hunting, he mistook a sage and his wife to be a deer and shot an arrow.  So the sage cursed him that he will die when he tries to bear children with his wife. Pandu became very depressed and then left the kingdom to Dhritarashtra.

He then went to the forest with his wives. Seeing Pandu unhappy, Kunti told Pandu about a Mantra that she had learnt from Sage Durvasa that will help her with bearing children.

We divert here for the story behind the Mantra. One day, Rishi Durvasa came to Kuntibhoja’s place. Kunti was then a small girl and she served the sage with great devotion. The Rishi was very pleased with Kunti and taught her a Mantra and said , “If you recite this Mantra with a particular God in mind, you will get a child with the God’s grace who will also carry the values and valor of the God.“ Kunti was very curious to see if the mantra worked. So she recited the mantra invoking Lord Surya, the Sun God. Immediately Surya appeared and gave her a child who shone like the Sun God. The child was born with an armor and earrings. Kunti was shocked and since she was very young and unmarried, she put the child into a basket and left it in the river. This child was then named Karna and grew to be one of the greatest archers. We will read more about Karna a little later.

Coming back to –  Kunti’s revelation to Pandu about the Mantra, she mentioned only about the mantra , but kept the birth of Karna as a secret. Pandu requested Kunti to use the Mantra now. Kunti invoked Lord Yama, The God of Dharma and Death to have her first child – Yudhishtra . She then had her second son Bheema with the  grace of Vayu, the Wind God. Then was born Arjuna by the grace of Lord Indra, the King of all Devas. Kunti also taught Madri the mantra. Madri had twin sons – Nakula and Sahadeva born by the grace of Ashvini Kumaras. As were the values of the Gods,  Yudhishtra became the follower of Dharma and Truth, Bheema was born to be very strong and powerful, Arjuna as the valiant (the Hero of Mahabharata according to me and my favourite mythological character ) and Nakula and Sahadeva grew to be handsome boys, famed for their wisdom and bravery. They led their life in the jungle.

In the meantime, Gandhari, who had a boon from Lord Shiva that she will have 100 children, had been bearing the children of Dhritarashtra and carrying them in her womb for two long years. She grew very impatient and hit her stomach with an iron rod and a big lump of flesh came out. She started crying not knowing what can be done. Vyasa came to her help. He instructed her to arrange for 100 pots of ghee. He made 100 small thumb-sized balls out of the lump of flesh and put them in the pots. Soon the small balls of flesh turned into children. There was an extra piece of flesh left and Vyasa turned it to a girl child. The eldest of the children cried loudly with the sound like a donkey’s bray and the sages advised Dhritarashtra to destroy the child since he will bring a lot of ill-omen to the Earth. But Dhritarashtra refused to listen because of his love for his son. And thus Gandhari had 100 sons and a daughter.

The sons of Pandu were called Pandavas and sons of Dhritarashtra were called Kauravas. Yudhishtra was the eldest of all. Then was Duryodhana, the eldest Kaurava. Bheema, Pandu’s second son was next , followed by Arjuna and the other children of Dhritarashtra and Pandu. Of the 100 Kauravas, Duryodana , the eldest and Dushasana were quite known.  The sister of Kauravas was named Dushala.

In the next chapters, we will read more about the Kauravas, Pandavas, their enemity for each other which led to the Great Mahabharata war. It will be more Action Packed going forward.  

Previous Chapter 4 – The Growth of the Kuru Dynasty

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