Krishna pledged himself unarmed as Arjuna's charioteer and counseled the Pandavas through every crisis — from the failed peace embassy to Hastinapura through the eighteen days of war at Kurukshetra, where he revealed the Bhagavad Gita on the battlefield.
The Pandavas and Kauravas, cousins born of the Kuru dynasty, were locked in a bitter rivalry over the throne of Hastinapura that escalated from childhood jealousy through a rigged dice game to the catastrophic eighteen-day war at Kurukshetra.
The Pandavas received the Khandava tract from Dhritarashtra's partition of the Kuru kingdom and built Indraprastha into a magnificent capital, ruling it until Yudhishthira wagered and lost it at Duryodhana's dice game.
The five Pandava brothers — Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva — each fathered by a different god through Kunti's and Madri's divine boons, stood together from exile through war as the heroes of the Mahabharata.
Draupadi was won by Arjuna at her svayamvara and became the shared wife of all five Pandava brothers after Kunti unknowingly commanded them to share what Arjuna had brought home, a polyandrous union that bound her fate irrevocably to theirs through exile, war, and the final march to heaven.
The Pandavas fought and won the eighteen-day war at Kurukshetra against their Kaurava cousins. Though victorious, their army was decimated and their victory came at the cost of nearly an entire generation of warriors.
The Pandavas set out on their final journey toward Mount Meru, climbing toward heaven in mortal bodies. One by one, Draupadi and four of the brothers fell dead along the ascent, until only Yudhishthira reached the summit with a faithful dog at his side.
Shakuni challenged Yudhishthira to a game of dice with loaded bones, and in a single devastating session stripped the Pandavas of their wealth, their kingdom of Indraprastha, their freedom, and finally Draupadi herself, setting the stage for the great war.
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