Pandavas- Hindu GroupCollective"Sons of Pandu"

Divine Origins

Pandu, king of Hastinapura, could not father children. A sage's curse decreed that physical union with any woman would kill him. But his first wife Kunti possessed a mantra from the sage Durvasa that could summon any god and compel him to father a child.

At Pandu's request, Kunti invoked Dharma and bore Yudhishthira. She invoked Vayu and bore Bhima. She invoked Indra and bore Arjuna. She shared the mantra with Madri, Pandu's second wife, who called upon the twin Ashvins and bore Nakula and Sahadeva in a single birth. Five brothers, each the son of a god.

Pandu died when he succumbed to desire and embraced Madri, triggering the curse. Madri immolated herself on his pyre, entrusting her twins to Kunti. The widowed queen brought all five boys from the forest to Hastinapura, where their uncle Dhritarashtra ruled as regent. Their cousins, Dhritarashtra's hundred sons, the Kauravas, were waiting.

Childhood and the Seeds of Rivalry

The Pandavas grew up alongside the Kauravas under the tutelage of Bhishma, Drona, and Kripa. Duryodhana, the eldest Kaurava, hated them from the start.

He poisoned Bhima and threw him into a river. Bhima survived, blessed by the Nagas in the underworld, and returned stronger. Duryodhana arranged for the Pandavas to stay in a house of lacquer at Varanavata, then set it ablaze at night. Warned by Vidura, they escaped through a tunnel and were believed dead.

At a tournament in Hastinapura, Arjuna's archery stunned every observer. Karna, Kunti's secret firstborn raised as a charioteer's son, challenged him. Duryodhana befriended Karna on the spot.

Draupadi and Indraprastha

The Pandavas wandered in disguise as brahmins. At the svayamvara of Draupadi, princess of Panchala, Arjuna strung a massive bow and struck the eye of a revolving fish on a pole by looking only at its reflection in a pool of water below. When the brothers returned to their mother with their prize, Kunti instructed them to share equally, as she always did. Bound by her word, all five married Draupadi.

A negotiated division of the Kuru kingdom gave the Pandavas the wilderness of Khandavaprastha. The demon architect Maya Danava transformed it into the magnificent city of Indraprastha. From this capital, Yudhishthira performed the Rajasuya sacrifice and received tribute from kings across the land. Duryodhana saw the glory of Indraprastha and could not bear it.

The Dice Game

At Shakuni's instigation, the Kauravas invited Yudhishthira to a game of dice. Declining a formal challenge was kshatriya dishonor. Yudhishthira accepted.

The game was rigged. Shakuni played with loaded dice. Yudhishthira lost his treasury, his kingdom, his brothers, himself, and finally Draupadi. When Draupadi was dragged into the assembly and Duhshasana tried to strip her clothes, Krishna intervened: an endless stream of cloth replaced each layer torn away. The humiliation was total. Bhima swore to drink Duhshasana's blood and break Duryodhana's thighs.

Dhritarashtra, shamed by the elders, returned the Pandavas' freedom. A second game was immediately proposed: the losers would spend twelve years in forest exile followed by one year in disguise, and if discovered during the thirteenth year, the cycle would repeat. Yudhishthira lost again.

Thirteen Years of Exile

The forest years transformed the Pandavas. Arjuna journeyed to the Himalayas and obtained celestial weapons from Shiva and Indra. Bhima met Hanuman in the forest and was humbled by the ancient monkey's strength. Yudhishthira's exchange with the Yaksha at an enchanted lake tested his wisdom down to the bone.

The thirteenth year required disguise. They took service in the court of King Virata: Yudhishthira as a dice-playing brahmin, Bhima as a cook, Arjuna as a eunuch dance-teacher called Brihannala (fulfilling a curse from Urvashi). For an entire year they endured indignities and suppressed their warrior natures. When Duryodhana's forces attacked Virata's kingdom near the year's end, Arjuna dropped the disguise and routed the Kaurava army alone. The exile was over.

The Kurukshetra War

Krishna went to the Kaurava court as ambassador, offering peace if Duryodhana would return five villages, one for each Pandava. Duryodhana refused to yield a needlepoint of territory.

The war lasted eighteen days. Bhishma commanded the Kaurava forces for ten before Arjuna brought him down through the stratagem of placing Shikhandi before him. Drona succeeded Bhishma and fell when Yudhishthira told a half-truth about Drona's son's death, the one lie in his life, which caused his chariot to touch the ground for the first time. Karna fell to Arjuna. Duryodhana fell to Bhima, his thighs shattered in a blow that broke the rules of fair combat.

The cost was total. Every warrior of note on both sides lay dead. The Pandavas' own sons were murdered in their sleep by Ashwatthama in a night raid after the war's end. The kingdom they won was a kingdom of corpses.

The Reign of Yudhishthira

Yudhishthira was crowned king and performed the Ashvamedha sacrifice to atone for the bloodshed. His rule was just and prosperous, but the king who had gambled away his kingdom now governed it haunted by the millions who died to restore it.

Dhritarashtra and Gandhari retired to the forest, where they perished in a fire. Krishna departed the mortal world when his Yadava clan destroyed itself at Prabhasa. Yudhishthira, sensing the age had turned, renounced the throne in favor of Arjuna's grandson Parikshit.

The Final Journey

The five brothers and Draupadi set out northward toward Mount Meru, walking toward heaven in their mortal bodies. One by one they fell. Draupadi first, for her partiality toward Arjuna. Then Sahadeva, then Nakula, then Arjuna, then Bhima, each undone by a private flaw.

Only Yudhishthira reached the gates alive, accompanied by a stray dog that had followed them the entire way. Indra offered him heaven but told him to leave the dog behind. Yudhishthira refused. He would not abandon a loyal companion for paradise. The dog revealed itself as Dharma, his father, testing him one last time.

Heaven held one more trial. Yudhishthira found Duryodhana enthroned in glory while his brothers and Draupadi suffered in hell. He chose to stay in hell with those he loved. The vision dissolved. It had been the last illusion. The Pandavas were together, and the long story was finished.