Pandava


The Pandavas are the central characters of the longest Hindu epic Mahabharata who fought the Mahabharata War against their cousins Kauravas for the throne of Hastinapur in Kurukshetra. They were five brothers, namely Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva, acknowledged as the sons of Pandu, the king of Hastinapur and his two wives Kunti and Madri. All five brothers were married to the same woman, Draupadi. However, Yudhishthira had another wife, namely Devika, Bhima had other 2 wives, namely Valandhara and Hidimba and Arjuna had other 3 wives, namely Ulupi, Chitrangada, Subhadra.

Etymology

The word Pandava is derived from their father's name, Pandu and means "descendants of Pandu". Other epithets given to the Pandavas are:

[Yudhishthira]

He was the eldest Pandava brother. His name means "one who is steadfast or stable even during war". His biological parents were Kunti and Pandu. He was spiritual son of Yama. Yama is god of virtue, justice and morality. He was a skilled warrior and was a master in spear fighting and Chariot race. He was good with bow and arrow too. He, as Kanka, helped King Virata to fight his enemy King Susharma. He was a Rathi. Yudhishthira was one of the most virtuous men, skilled in the duties of a king and steadfast in the path of Dharma. He was a good king who, along with his brothers, founded the prosperous city- Indraprastha. By Krishna's designs and his brothers' conquests, Yudhishthira became the emperor of the world. He performed two Ashwamedha sacrifices and one Rajasuya sacrifice successfully. Yudhishthira learnt to control the dice from the Sage Brihadaswa and became good at playing chess. His other names are Ajatshatru and Dharmaraja. Only Yudhishtira entered heaven with mortal body without dying.

[Bhima]

He was 2nd Pandava brother. His name Bhima means "of terrible might". His biological parents were Kunti and Pandu. He was spiritual son of Vayu-the god of air and wind, who was known for his might. Bhima has the physical strength and prowess equal to a 10000 elephants and was very athletic. He was aggressive and prone to anger. Bhima was devoted to his family and was their natural protector. He was a master in wielding the mace. Bhima was invincible mace fighter and invincible wrestler. He was also a powerful, skilled and an extraordinary archer, having fought Drona, Ashwatthama and Karna on several occasions. He also defeated Karna on many occasions. Bhima was also very skilled in diverse areas of warfare, including wrestling, charioteering, riding elephants and sword fighting. Along with Arjuna, he went on expeditions to conquer the kingdoms to the east and south. During the Rajasuya Yagna, Bhima subjugated the kingdoms of the eastern direction completely. He slew Krishna's most dangerous enemy-Jarasandha in a wrestling bout. After escaping from Varnavart, Bhima killed demons Hidimba and Bakasura. During exile, Bhima killed powerful demons Kirmira, Jatasura. Bhima also slayed Krodhavāsas. In Virata parva, Bhima slew Kichaka-the Matsya commander for attempting to molest Draupadi. During the war, Bhima was most famous for slaying one hundred Kauravas and Duryodhana himself. He was also skilled in chopping wood, cooking, culinary arts and sciences. Bhima had divine bow Vayuvya and divine conch Paundra given by Vayu deva. In addition to Draupadi, he had married to another woman Hidimbi-a rakshashi during their exile from Hastinapur. He had a son Ghatotkacha from Hidimbi.

[Arjuna]

He was 3rd Pandava. The word "Arjuna" means white, silver and shining. Arjuna was white in complexion. His biological parents were Kunti and Pandu. He was the spiritual son of Indra and the god of the sky and war. Arjuna was also the incarnation of sage Nara. He was very virtuous and avoided unjust acts. He was known for his single-minded concentration, determination, dedication, passion, commitment and his devotion towards Krishna. He was the only person to whom Lord Krishna displayed his complete universal form. Arjuna was favourite of Bhishma, popular among the people, famous among the gods and attractive to women. He was the favourite disciple of his guru Drona, who taught weaponry. Arjuna was ambidextrous and perhaps the greatest of all archers, having mastered archery to the highest possible level. He was rivalled by Bhishma, Drona, Ashwatthama and Karna and defeated all of them in Virata war. Arjuna was the greatest warrior and the best archer in Mahabharat. Arjuna was the only invincible warrior. In those days, archery was considered to be the foremost of all fighting disciplines, and Arjuna's mastery over it contributed to his popularity. Arjuna also possessed the divine bow Gandiva, gifted by Agni deva and thus became popular as Gandivadhari. Arjuna was a complete grand master in archery, a supreme chariot warrior- only Atimaharathi along with Krishna and had also obtained near-perfect mastery over almost all divine, celestial and esoteric weapons, along with the secrets of invoking and recalling them. He spent five months acquiring and mastering divine weapons from Indra and the other gods in heaven. He also acquired the mastery over the rarest and the most powerful weapon, the Pashupatastra, from Lord Shiva himself. He also had command over devastating weapons like Vajra, Rudra, Brahmastra, Brahmashira and Vaishnavastra. Arjuna also obtained Yama's divine mace from Yama himself. Arjuna was well versed and expert in designing and destroying all war strategies called vyuhas including powerful Chakravyuha. Arjuna also had talent in singing, dancing, etc. which he learnt in heaven during his visit.

[Nakula]

He was 4th of Pandava brothers. His name means "without kula ". His biological parents were Madri and Pandu. He was spiritual son of Ashwin twin Nasatya. He was attractive, humble, diplomatic and helpful. During the Rajasuya Yagna, Nakula conquered the western direction. During the Kurukshetra War, he slew many warriors including many sons of Karna and son of Shakuni, Vrikasura. Nakula and his younger twin brother Sahadeva were excellent sword fighters and Axe fighters respectively. Nakula was also a master of equestrian arts and sciences, skilled in wielding unusual weapons, in chariotry and in riding horses. He was known for his understanding and special ways with horses.

[Sahadeva]

He was the youngest of all the Pandavas. His name means "along gods" or "with gods". His biological parents were Madri and Pandu. He was spiritual son of the Ashwin twin Dasra. Sahadeva was the wisest of all the Pandava brothers, and the most mysterious and introverted. Like Nakula, Sahadeva was an expert of sword fighting but he was master of axe fighting. He was also skilled in fighting and taming wild bulls. Additionally, he was a skilled cowherd, capable of maintaining cattle, treating their diseases, assessing their health, milking them and in producing milk products. Sahadeva acquired mastery over the science of Dharma, religious scriptures and other branches of knowledge. Sahadeva had a strong premonition which often warned him of upcoming dangers. During the Rajasuya War, Sahadeva conquered the southern direction, up to the kingdom of Lanka. During the Kurukshetra War, Sahadeva slew the wicked Shakuni and his son Uluka.

Story

The story begins with the introduction of the brothers' parents. The primary antagonist of the saga was Duryodhana, cousin to the Pandavas. He was the eldest of 100 brothers known as the Kauravas, who were born to Dhritarashtra, the king of Hastinapura, and his queen Gandhari, princess of Gandhara.
The Pandavas were born to Pandu and his wives, Kunti and Madri by the boon given to Kunti by Durvasa, that she could have a son by any god whom she respects without having any marital affair. After Madri's marriage, Pandu voluntary renounced royal life as penance for having accidentally killed the sage Rishi Kindama and his wife. At his death, Rishi Kindama cursed Pandu that he would surely die if he attempted to have sexual relationships with his wives. Because of this curse, Kunti had to use her boon to get sons. She bore him three sons: Yudhishthira by the god of Dharma, Bhima by the god of Wind, and Arjuna by Lord Indra. At the request of Pandu, she shared this boon with Madri to get her sons, the twins Nakula and Sahadeva from the divine Ashvini twins.
After the death of Pandu and Madri, Kunti brought the Pandavas back to Hastinapur. As children, the Pandavas and Kauravas often played together. However, Bhima was always at odds with the Kauravas, particularly with Duryodhana, who refused to accept the Pandavas as his kin. This usually led to much tension between the cousins. Insecure and jealous, Duryodhana harboured intense hatred for the five brothers throughout his childhood and youth and following the advice of his maternal uncle Shakuni, often plotted to get rid of them to clear his path to the lordship of the Kuru Dynasty.
This plotting took a grave turn when Dhritarashtra had to relent to the will of the masses and rightfully appointed his nephew Yudhishthira as crown prince. This went against the personal ambitions of both father and son and drove Duryodhana into such a rage that he enthusiastically agreed to an evil ploy by Shakuni to murder Yudhishthira. Shakuni commissioned the construction of a palace in Varnavart, secretly built by incorporating flammable materials like oil, ghee etc. into the structure, most notably the lacquer known as lac. This palace was known as Lakshagraha. Duryodhana then successfully lobbied Dhritarashtra to send Yudhishthira to represent the royal household in Varnavarta during the celebrations of Shiva Mahotsava. The plan was to set the palace on fire during the night while Yudhishthira would likely be asleep. Yudhishthira left for Varnavrata, accompanied by his four brothers and their mother Kunti. The plan was discovered by their paternal uncle Vidura, who was very loyal to them and an extraordinarily wise man. In addition, Yudhishthira had been forewarned about this plot by a hermit who came to him and spoke of an imminent disaster. Vidura arranged for a tunnel to be secretly built for the Pandavs to safely escape the palace as it was set afire.
After their flight from the palace, the five brothers lived in the forests for some time disguised as Brahmins. They heard from a group of travelling sages about a contest being held in the Kingdom of Panchala that offered the princess Draupadi's hand in marriage to the winner. The Swayamvara turned out to rely on the skills of archery, and Arjuna, who was a peerless archer, entered the competition and won. When the brothers took Draupadi to introduce her to their mother, they announced to Kunti that they had arrived with excellent alms. Kunti was busy with some work, and replied without turning to look at Draupadi ordering the brothers to share the alms equally amongst the five of them. Even when uttered erroneously, their mother's word was supreme for the Pandavas, and they agreed to share the princess, who was subsequently married to all five brothers.
When Dhritarashtra heard that the five brothers were alive, he invited them back to the kingdom. However, in their absence, Duryodhana had succeeded in being made the crown prince. Upon the return of the Pandavas, the issue of returning Yudhishthira's crown to him was raised. Dhritarashtra led the subsequent discussions into ambiguity and agreed to a partition of the kingdom "to do justice to both crown princes". He retained the developed Hastinapur for himself and Duryodhana and gave the barren, arid and hostile lands of Khandavaprastha to the Pandavas. The Pandavas successfully developed their land and built a great and lavish city, which was considered comparable to the heavens, and thus came to be known as Indraprastha.
Reeling under the loss of half the lands of his future kingdom, Duryodhana's jealousy and rage were further fuelled by the Pandavas' success and prosperity. Eventually Shakuni sired yet another ploy and got Duryodhana to invite the Pandavas over to his court for a game of dice. Shakuni was a master at gambling and owned a pair of dice which magically did his bidding. Owing to this, bet after bet, Yudhishthira lost all of his wealth, and eventually his kingdom, in the game. He was then enticed by Duryodhana and Shakuni to place his brothers as bets. Yudhishthira fell for it and put his brothers on stake, losing them too. He then placed himself as a bet and lost again. Duryodhana now played another trick and told Yudhishthira that he still had his wife Draupadi to place as a bet and if Yudhishthira won, he would return everything to the Pandavas. Yudhishthira fell for the ruse and bet Draupadi, losing her too. At this point Duryodhana ordered that Draupadi, who was now a slave to him, be brought to the court. None of the Pandavas fought for their wife's honour. Duryodhana's younger brother Dushasana dragged Draupadi to the royal court, pulling her by her hair, insulting her dignity and asserting that she, like the Pandava brothers, was now their servant. This caused immense anguish to all the great warriors seated in the court, but each of them, namely, Bhishma, Dronacharya and Kripacharya except Vidura remained silent. Duryodhana then ordered Dushasana to disrobe Draupadi before everyone, as a slave girl has no rights. The elders and warriors in audience were shocked but did not intervene. As Dushasana began to disrobe her, she prayed to God Krishna to protect her honour, and Lord Krishna protected her by providing her garments an unending length. Finally, as the blind king Dhritharasthra realised that this humiliation could prompt Draupadi to curse his sons, he intervened, apologising to Draupadi for the behaviour of his sons, and turned the winnings of dice game back over to the Pandava brothers, releasing them from the bondage of slavery.
Incensed at the loss of all that he had won, Duryodhana threatened suicide and coerced his father into inviting the Pandavas for one last round of gambling, the terms of which were that the loser would be condemned to 12 years of exile into forests and a 13th year to be spent incognito, and if the cover be blown during the 13th year, another cycle of 13 years would ensue. Obeying their uncle's orders, the Pandavas played the round and again lost to Shakuni's cheating. However, this time, their patience had been nearly pushed to its edge. During the 12 years of exile in the forest, they prepared for war. Arjuna performed penance and won the entire gamut of celestial weapons as boons from the Gods. They spent the 13th year masquerading as peasants in the service of the royal family of Virata, the king of Matsya. Upon completion of the terms of the last bet, the Pandavas returned and demanded that their kingdom be rightfully returned to them. Duryodhana refused to yield Indraprastha. For the sake of peace and to avert a disastrous war, Krishna proposed that if Hastinapur agrees to give the Pandavas only five villages named Indraprastha, Swarnprastha, Panprastha, Vyaghrprastha and Tilprastha if these five villages given they would be satisfied and would make no more demands. Duryodhana vehemently refused, commenting that he would not part even with land as much as the point of a needle. Thus the stage was set for the great war, for which the epic of Mahabharata is known most of all.
The war was intense and lasted 18 days, over the course of which both parties worked around, bent and even broke rules of warfare. At the end, all 100 Kaurava brothers and their entire army was slain, with only four surviving on their side. The Pandavas too lost several allies but the five brothers survived. After having won the war, Yudhishthira was crowned the king.

Death of Pandavas

The Pandavas ruled Hastinapur for 36 years and established a righteous kingdom. Shortly after Lord Krishna left the Earth, they all decided that the time had come for them to renounce the world, as the age of Kali had started.
So the five Pandavas and Draupadi left to the path of liberation. For this purpose they all climbed Mount Kailash, which leads to the Swarga Loka. On their way, all except Yudhisthira slipped and died one by one. Yudhisthira was accompanied by a dog who was none other than God Yama himself.
The first to die was Draupadi; she was imperfect because she loved Arjuna more than her other husbands. Then it was Sahadeva, imperfect because he was over confident about his knowledge in science. He was followed by Nakula, imperfect because he was over enthusiastic about his good looks. Then fell Arjuna, imperfect because he was proud on his skills- he challenged Hanuman and Shiva. Next was Bhima, imperfect because he killed his enemies brutally- thus enjoyed their sufferings. Only the eldest Pandava, Yudhisthira, reached the door of Swarga Loka, carried on Lord Indra's chariot. On reaching Heaven, he did not find either his virtuous brothers or his wife Draupadi. Instead he finds Duryodhana sitting on a divine throne.
He wanted an explanation from Lord Yama, the lord of death. Lord Yama explained that the Kauravas had been allowed into heaven because they died as warriors on the battlefield. This earned them so much merit and credit that it wiped out all their debts. Yudhisthira demanded to know where his brothers and his wife were. He was then taken to hell. Lord Yama explained that they were experiencing the reactions of their actions but it was temporary. Once the debt had been repaid, they would join them in Swarga. Yudhisthira loyally met his brothers, but the sight and sound of gore and blood horrified him. Though initially he was tempted to flee, he mastered himself and remained after hearing the voices of his beloved brothers and Draupadi calling out to him, asking him to stay with them in their misery. Yudhisthira decided to remain, ordering the divine charioteer to return. He preferred to live in hell with good people than in a heaven of his enemies. Eventually this turned out to be another illusion to test him. Yama explained Yudhishtira that it was all illusion created by Yama himself. It was punishment to Yudhishtira to feel sad and soak tears on seeing his beloved ones being punished. It was because Drona felt sad on hearing fake news that his son was dead. Yudhishtira told message incompletely due to which Drona felt sad and cried in grief. Because of this, Yudhishtira had to feel sad in similar manner. Hence Yama created this illusion. In reality, Pandavas and Draupadi reached heaven just after their deaths. Yama explained everything and Yudhishtira reached heaven with his mortal body.

Krishna's help to Pandavas

Krishna, being a well wisher of the Pandavas, helped them in various ways during the time of their ordeals. When the Kurukshetra war was going to be held, both Arjuna on behalf of the Pandavas, and Duryodhan on behalf of the Kauravas, went to Krishna to seek help.
Duryodhan reached first and Arjuna was just behind him. They entered Krishna's room and found him sleeping. Duryodhan sat on a raised chair near Krishna's head and Arjuna sat near Krishna's feet closing his hands.
When Krishna woke up, he saw Arjuna first and asked him about the purpose of his visit. Then he found Duryodhan sitting next to him, and asked him the same question. Krishna was then told that war was going to be held and Arjuna and Duryodhan had come to him seeking his military help. To this Krishna replied that he had seen Arjuna first and so he would give him priority, and asked what he needed. He gave Arjuna two options - either his one lakh fit and healthy army or Krishna himself who shall not fight in the war. To this Arjuna immediately opted for Krishna for his help and thus Duryodhan was given Krishna's one lakh army. Duryodhan was very satisfied to have received the huge army.

Parents of Pandavas

The first three of the Pandavas were the sons of Kunti, a Yadava and Pandu's first wife. The younger two were the sons of Madri, Pandu's second wife. Since Pandu had been cursed to die if ever he had intercourse with a woman, the actual fatherhood of the children is traditionally attributed to various gods, in virtue of a boon that Kunti had received from the sage Durvasa and had transferred to Madri. Thus-

Description by Draupadi of Pandavas

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.
narrates the Jain version of their story. In the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand, there has been a long tradition of villagers performing the Pandav Lila, a ritual re-enactment of episodes from the Mahabharata through singing, dancing and recitation. In the performance, the actors spontaneously break into a dance when, it is believed, they become "possessed" by the spirits of their characters.