Pandavas

The central figure is Yudhishthira ; the two to his left are Bhima and Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva, the twins, are to his right. Their wife, at far right, is Draupadi. Deogarh, Dasavatar temple.

In the Hindu epic Mahābhārata, the Pandava (or Pandawa) brothers (Sanskrit: पाण्‍डव pāṇḍavaḥ) are the five acknowledged sons of Pandu (Sanskrit: पांडु), by his two wives Kunti and Madri. Their names are Yudhishtira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva. All five brothers were married to one woman, Draupadi. Together, they fought and prevailed in a war against the party of their cousins the Kauravas, the climax of which was the Battle of Kurukshetra. Their alienated half-brother Karna fought against them and was eventually slain by Arjuna.

Story

Pandav brothers with Krishna, in Razm-Nama, a Mahabharata translation initiated by Akbar the Great in the 16th century.

The story began with the introduction of the parents of this brotherhood. The antagonist was Duryodhan/Duryudhan/Druyudhan (Duryodhan), or Suyodhan/Suyudhan who happened to be the eldest brother of all 99 siblings known as the Kurawas. He was the son of the blind King Dretarast/Destarastr (Dhritarashtr) and Queen Gandhari (of modern day Kandahar).

As cousins, the Pandav and the Kaurav often played together. However, Bhim (one of the Pandavs) loved to tease and trick the Kurav. This led to dissatisfaction and resentfulness of the Kurav. One day Duryodhan started to think about his insecurity and discomfort against the five brothers and plotted to overthrow them from being the Lord of Kuru Dynasty.

The plot began when Dhritarashtra appointed his nephew Yudistira as the crown prince instead of his own son. This caused Duryadana madness and he planned to kill all those five brothers together with their mother Kunti. He offered them to go to a place called Ekacakra - a place set by Duryodhan for them with a huge building (secretly made of sealing wax) in it. His idea was to burn them alive during their slumber at night. Fortunately, the plan was discovered by Vidura who was the uncle of the Five Pandavs. In fact, Yudistira had been warned about this plot by a hermit who came to him telling about a disaster that would inflict him in the future. Later the Pandavs fled the place and ran into the woods.

During their flight the five brothers heard about a competition in the Kingdom of Panchaal that offered a marriage with a princess named Draupadi the prize. Arjun who was a good archer entered the competition and won the princess. He then took her to his mother. But his mother asked him to divide it equally among the brothers not knowing that it was actually princess Draupadi. In order to keep their mother's word, the brothers agreed to share the princess. However there is a misconception that Draupadi was called Panchali because she had five husbands. In fact, she was called Panchaali because she was the daughter of King Drupad of Panchaal (Panchaal-naresh) and hence Panchaali.

When Dhritarashtra heard that the five brothers were alive, he invited them to his kingdom and granted them with the gift of half the lands of his kingdom. They successfully built up a great city call Indraprastha. With revenge and hatred in his mind, Duryodhan Invited the Pandavs to his court for a game of dice and managed to win with the help of his maternal uncle Shakuni. Yudhishtir lost all his wealth and kingdom in the game and then he put himself on stake and lost. he was then enticed by Duryodhan and Shakuni to put the other Pandav brothers on stake. Yudhishtir fell for it and put his brothers on stake and lost them too. Duryodhan now played another trick and told Yudhishtir that he still has his wife Draupadi to be put on stake and if he wins he will return back everything to the Pandavs. Yudhishtir stakes Draupadi and losses again. At this point Duryodhan asks his younger brother Dushasann to bring Draupadi into the court, pulling her by her hair as she was now, like the Pandava brothers, his servant. This greatly disturbs the great warriors sitting in the court. But all of them, namely, Bhisma (the grandsire of the clan), Dronacharya (the guru of Kauravas and Pandavas) and others like Kripacharya and Vidura keep quiet. Duryodhana then asks his brother Dushasana to disrobe Draupadi. This shocks everybody but still nobody moves. As Dushasana starts to pull Draupadi's sari in order to disrobe her, she prays to lord Krishna and as a miracle her sari keep growing in length. Thus lord Krishna saves Draupadi. Finally king Dhrithrasthra intervenes and apologizes to Draupadi for the inhuman behavior by his sons and ask her to ask for anything that she may desire. Draupadi asks that her husbands be relieved of the bondage. Later the Pandavas are sent into 12 years of exile into the forest with the 13th year being in hiding (agyatvaas), and if they are found and recognized by anybody in the 13th year they would have to repeat the exile again along with another 13th year. The Pandavs complete their exile and the 13th year agyatvaas successfully. They then come and rightfully demand their kingdom from Duryodhan. Duryodhan refuse to part with 'land even as much as a needle point'. This then leads to the inevitable war, the crux of the great Indian epic called the Mahabharata. The war lasts for 18 days with both the parties soon resorting to unlawful means. At the end all the 100 Kaurav brothers and their aides are killed. The Pandavs lose out a lot of their allies as well but the 5 pandav brothers survive. After having won the war, they soon depart for heaven, a long journey they undertake into the himalayas.

Parents of the Pandavas

The first three of the Pandavas were the sons of Kunti, and the younger two were sons of Madri. Since Pandu had been cursed to die if ever he had intercourse with his wives, the actual fatherhood of the children is traditionally attributed to various gods, in virtue of a boon that Kunti had received from Durvaasa and had transferred to Madri. Thus, Yudhishthira was the son of Dharma ,the god of righteousness; Bhima the son of Vayu, the wind-god; Arjuna the son of Indra, the sky-god; and Nakula and Sahadeva the sons of the Ashwini Gods. Karna was also born of Kunti Devi, and was the son of Surya , the Sun God.

Iravati Karve has suggested in her book, Yuganta, that the actual father of Yudhishtira, or of all of the brothers, may have been Vidura (probably since he was considered to be an avatar of Yama), and that this was edited and hidden in the story to strengthen the claim for the kingdom by the brothers.

However, Iravati Karve's theory has been criticised by many Mahbaharata authorities like Buddhadeb Bose and Nrsimhaprasad Bhaduri on grounds that the author of Mahbharata had no need to "hide" about Yudhisthira's birth when he apparently writes explicitly and undauntedly about all "illicit" relationships.

Wife Draupadi's description

The Pandava brothers were collectively married to Draupadi. On one occasion, Draupadi was kidnapped and abducted from a hermitage in the forest by the wicked king Jayadratha. When her husbands learned of the crime, they came in hot pursuit. Seeing them approach, Jayadratha asked Draupadi to describe them. Angrily, Draupadi told the king his time was up, and that the knowledge would do him no good. She then proceeded to give the description. (Mahābhārat, Book III: Varna Parva, Section 268.)

• According to Draupadi, Yudhishthira possessed a "complexion like that of pure gold, possessed of a prominent nose and large eyes, and endued with a slender make." master of the spear He was just, had a correct sense of morality, and was merciful to surrendering foes. Draupadi counselled Jayadratha to run to Yudhishthira and to beg for forgiveness.
• Draupadi described Bhima as tall and long-armed. In a display of ferocity, he was "biting his lips, and contracting his forehead so as to bring the two eye-brows together." The master of the mace, His superhuman feats had earned him great renown. "They that offend him are never suffered to live. He never forgets a foe. On some pretext or other he wreaks his vengeance."
• Arjuna she praised as the greatest of archers, intelligent, second to none "with senses under complete control." Neither lust nor fear nor anger could make him forsake virtue. Though capable of withstanding any foeman, he would never commit an act of cruelty.
• Nakula, said Draupadi, was "the most handsome person in the whole world." An accomplished master swordsman, he was also "versed in every question of morality and profit" and "endued with high wisdom." He was unflinchingly devoted to his brothers, who in turn regarded him as more valuable than their own lives.The name Nakula generally means full of love and the male characteristics implied by the name are: Intelligence, Focus, Hard-Work, Handsomeness, Health, Attractiveness, Success, Popularity, Respect, and unconditional Love.
• Finally, Sahadeva was the youngest of the brothers, and like the others formidable in war and observant of morality. Master of the swords "Heroic, intelligent, wise and ever wrathful, there is not another man equal unto him in intelligence or in eloquence amid assemblies of the wise."

References

• Chakravarti V. Narasimhan; The Mahabharata. Columbia University Press, 1965.

External links

• The Mahābhārata of Vyasa, translated from Sanskrit into English by Kisari Mohan Ganguli and published online at sacred-texts.com.

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