Last time on this retelling of the Mahabharata we left off with Shantanu and his sons. Bhishma, the firstborn, stayed as advisor due to his vow, and Chitrangada became the Kuru king. Chitrangada died in a 3-year long battle with his namesake, the king of the Gandharvas (celestial demigods). His brother Vichitravirya inherited the throne and after 7 years of happy marriage to his wives Ambika and Ambalika, promptly died of tuberculosis, or “consumption”. Here is where things get weird.
Vyasa, the author of the Mahabharata and Vichitravirya’s eldest half-brother, comes to the Kuru palace in Hastinapura. This refers to the practice of niyoga, where widows could have “relations” with another man if they were childless. When Vyasa (who was a broad, unkempt comes to Ambika, she closed her eyes out of fear, leading to her child Dhritarashtra being born blind. Ambalika pales out of fear and therefore her child Pandu is born as an albino. Alarmed, Satyavati requests Vyasa to visit Ambalika again, but Ambalika sends her maid instead. The maid shows no fear and her child was the intelligent Vidura.
Pandu was selected as the king due to his elder brother’s blindness. Dhritarashtra married Gandhari of the Gandhara kingdom in today’s Kandahar, while Pandu married Madri of the Madra Kingdom and Kunti from the Bhoja clan of the Yadava kingdom. Gandhari had a blessing that told her she would have a hundred sons, in which Vyasa came to assist (for delivery and not conception, though) yet again. These were the Kauravas, of whom the eldest was Duryodhana. Kunti and Madri had 5 sons in total, who were the Pandavas. These children were Yudhishtira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva. All five were fathered by the gods Yama, Vayu, Indra, and the twin Ashvins.
When Pandu was out hunting in the forest, he shot two deer that turned out to be a sage and his wife in disguise. In his dying moments, the sage subsequently cursed Pandu to die in “relations” with his wife, just like the sage did. After this, Pandu passed the throne to Dhritarashtra and with his family made for the forest. At this time the Pandavas were all very young. A few years later, Pandu, having forgotten the curse, had “relations” with Madri and instantly died. Madri climbed on her husband’s pyre (as was the custom in those times) and Kunti and the Pandavas returned to Hastinapura.
Anay Ganesh 