Birth of Pandavas and Kauravas
by Manasi Gulati & Rishabh Midha (Section 1)
In the latest Balavihar class, we learned about the Law
of Karma (action) which can be
summarized as follows.
1) Everyone
performs actions all the time.2) Every action has a result/consequence (karma-phala).
3) The doer gains punya (benefit) or papa (sin) due to his/her actions.
The Law of Karma teaches us to take control of our actions and always do the right thing with the right goal in mind.
We
continued with the story King Shantanu’s children. Vichitraveerya died before
he could have kids. So Satyavati called her son Veda Vyasa to bless Ambika and
Ambalika to have children. Ambika disgraced the sage by closing her eyes, so in
punishment, her child was born blind. Ambalika also disrespected the king, and
in return, her son was born an albino. Satyavati, being very concerned about
the kingdom now, begged the sage to give Ambika one more chance. However Ambika,
fearful of the sage, sent her maid who served the sage with great
devotion. As a result, the maid then has
a son named Vidura. The story of these
three births clearly illustrates the Law of Karma.
Bhishma was in a big dilemma. Should
he make the elder but blind Dhritarashtra as the king or the younger Pandu who
was a very
skilled warrior?
Bhishma eventually crowned Pandu as the king. Later on when Dhritarashtra was ready to be
wed, Bhishma found a bride named Gandhari, the eldest princessof the Kingdom of
Gandhara. Gandhari took a vow that she would not have the pleasures her husband
could not, and so she blindfolded herself forever. Pandu first married princess Kunti in a
Swayamvara, and later married Madri, the princess of Madra kingdom.
We
also learned about the story of Kunti before her marriage to Pandu. King Sura, Krishna’s
grandfather, gave his daughter Pritha to his cousin Kuntibhoja who had no
children of his own. As a result Pritha
came to be known as Kunti. When she was 16 years old, sage Durvasa came to the
palace and asked Kuntibhoja for assistance in doing a very special pooja for
one full year. Kuntibhoja immediately appointed Kunti who served the
short-tempered sage with patience and devotion. Pleased with her service, sage Durvasa taught
her a special mantra that would get her a child from any God that she invokes. Out
of curiosity Kunti decided to
test the mantra and invoked Lord Surya who appeared before her to grant her a
baby. Shocked by this unexpected turn of events, Kunti begged Surya to go back
as she did not want to have a child before marriage and bring shame to her
father and his kingdom. Lord Surya,
bound by the mantra, granted Kunti a beautiful baby boy with golden
armor and ear-rings. With great sorrow,
Kunti simply put him in a basket and
let it float down the river. Fortunately the basket was found by a charioteer
and his wife who named him Karna.
One day, Pandu went hunting
and killed a deer which turned out to the wife of a sage who also took the form
of deer to mate with his wife. The sage cursed Pandu that if he ever mated with
one of his wives, he would die. Depressed, Pandu went to the forest with his
wives and started to live like an ascetic. After several years, when Pandu was
desperately longing for a son, Kunti told him about the mantra she received
from Sage Durvasa. With Pandu’s permission, Kunti invoked Lord Yama (Dharma,) to have a baby boy named Yudhishthira.
The news reached Hastinapura causing
jealousy in Gandhari who was also pregnant. As per Pandu’s advice, Kunti invoked Lord Vayu
(Wind,) to have a second son Bhima. Out of impatience Gandhari aborted her fetus
which shattered into 101 pieces. Under Sage Vyasa’s instructions, the pieces were
put in separate jars and cared for. Eventually they became the Kauravas: 100
sons and 1 daughter. A year later Kunti called upon Lord Indra and had Arjuna
as her third child. At Pandu’s request, Kunti taught the mantra to Madri who
invoked Ashwini Devas (the celestial physicians) and gave birth to twins: Nakula
and Sahadeva. That was how the Pandavas and Kauravas came to be born.
In one beautiful spring season, Pandu and Madri succumbed to the physical desires resulting in Pandu’s death. Repenting for her actions, Madri also ended her life by jumping into the funeral pyre. Kunti returned to Hastinapura to bring up Pandavas under the care of Kuru elders such as Bhishma, Dhritarashtra and Vidura.
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