Author: samrudhi

Ekalavya was the son of a Nishadha chief. He requested Dronacharya to train him, but Dronacharya refused, as Ekalavya belonged to a tribe and could not be trained alongside the Kuru princes.

Determined to learn archery, Ekalavya made a clay idol of Dronacharya to supervise him during his training.

One day, while Dronacharya was bathing in a river, he was attacked by a crocodile. Arjuna shot five arrows at the crocodile, saving Dronacharya’s life. Dronacharya promised Arjuna that he would make him the greatest archer.

Later, while Ekalavya was training, a dog belonging to the Kuru princes kept barking and disturbing him. Ekalavya skillfully shot arrows into the dog’s mouth without causing it any injury. The Kuru princes were amazed and Ekalavya introduced himself as a disciple of Dronacharya.

Arjuna felt jealous and in order to keep his promise, Dronacharya, accepted Ekalavya as his disciple but demanded Ekalavya’s right thumb as Guru Dakshina. Ekalavya, without hesitation, severed his thumb and offered it to Dronacharya. This sacrifice forced Ekalavya to give up archery.

All the Kuru princes had excelled in various weapons used in warfare, and Arjuna had mastered the art of archery.
One day, Dronacharya summoned the Kuru princes and challenged them to shoot the eye of a wooden bird placed on a tree.
Yudhisthira went first. Dronacharya asked him, “What do you see?” Yudhisthira replied that he could see the tree, the branch, the bird, and the surroundings. Hearing this, Dronacharya stopped him and asked the next disciple to step forward.
Each prince who came forward gave similar answers and each was sent away by Dronacharya, as he was not satisfied by the answer the princes gave.
Finally, it was Arjuna’s turn. When he was asked the same question, Arjuna confidently replied that, he could see the bird’s eye only, nothing else.
Pleased with Arjuna’s answer, Dronacharya asked him to proceed.
Arjuna carefully aimed and shot the arrow, striking the bird’s eye, thus winning the contest.

Dronacharya left Drupada’s kingdom and vowed to take revenge against him. Kripacharya, the brother of Kripi and the guru of Dhritarashtra, suggested to Dronacharya that he should seek employment in Hastinapur. Dronacharya agreed, and, along with his family and Kripacharya, left for Hastinapur.

After reaching Hastinapur, Drona encountered the Kuru princes and helped them retrieve their ball from a well by tying together stalks of grass. When Bhishma found out about this, he was impressed and appointed Dronacharya as the guru of the Kuru princes (the Kauravas and the Pandavas).

Dronacharya agreed to train the Kuru princes on the condition that, after their training, they would defeat the King of Panchala, Drupada, as Guru Dakshina (a custom where the student offers something to the teacher in exchange for knowledge).
The Kuru princes, along with Ashwatthama, were trained in Dronacharya’s ashram in Hastinapur. All the princes excelled in the use of various weapons of warfare.

Dronacharya, the son of Rishi Bharadwaja, was trained in the ashram of Sage Bharadwaja along with Drupada, the prince of Panchala. Both youngsters became best friends, and Drupada promised Drona that he would give him half of his kingdom.

Years later, Drupada became the king and forgot his promise, while Dronacharya excelled in warfare and married Kripi, the sister of Kripacharya, who had trained Pandu and Dhritarashtra.

Ashwatthama, the son of Dronacharya, had a divine gem on his forehead. Once, he saw his friends drinking milk and wished to drink some too. His friends, playfully, gave him water mixed with flour. Dronacharya felt ashamed, as he could not even afford milk for his son.

Hoping Drupada would help him, Dronacharya went to meet him and asked for his share of the kingdom, as once promised. But Drupada had forgotten about his promise and insulted Dronacharya, saying that someone like him should ask for alms, not a share of the kingdom, and that a king could not befriend someone like him. Angered by the humiliation, Dronacharya wanted Revenge against Drupada.

Shakuni, Gandhari’s brother, hated Bhisma and wanted to avenge against him by destroying the Kuru Dynasty. He hated Bhisma because of 2 reasons, as mentioned in different narratives.

Firstly, Shakuni loved his sister dearly. Gandhari, had always been afraid of darkness, but when she married Dhritarashtra, she blindfolded herself to share his disability.

Secondly, Shakuni saw his brothers and his father die in front of him. Thus, he hated Bhisma for ruining his sister’s life and for killing his father.

After Saubala’s death, Shakuni was released upon his father’s dying request.  Shakuni also had a set of magical dice, which obeyed his orders. These dices were made from his father’s bones, upon his father’s request.

Shakuni was the King of Gandhara but stayed in his sister’s marital home, Hastinapur. When questioned, he would say it was because he loved his sister.

Once, Pandavas and Kauravas, were quarrelling as usual. Bhima, in anger, blurted out that Duryodhana’s mother was a widow. Confused the Kauravas asked Bhisma for an explanation.

When enquired, Bhisma found out that Gandhari had previously been wedded to a goat, which was later sacrificed, making her a widow. The marriage was done in order to avert a prediction, that her first husband shall die within 3 months, while her second husband, shall live a long life.

Dhritarashtra felt insulted after knowing this, and Bhisma fumed with anger, as Saubala had never mentioned this, angered, he imprisoned Saubala along with Shakuni and his other sons.

During their imprisonment, they were given only a handful of rice. The food provided was given to Shakuni, as they believed that, he would avenge against their insult and Shakuni, among all the other sons, was the most notorious and cunning of them all.

After Kunti returned to Hastinapur, she handed over the Pandavas to Bhisma who trained them well, along with Vidura, their maternal uncle.

Duryodhana, the eldest of the Kauravas, never accepted Pandavas, as he believed that, Yudhisthira, being the elder one, would be crowned as the King.

Duryodhana despised Bhima, as he was stronger than him. In an attempt to kill him, Duryodhana, poisoned Bhima’s food, and threw him into River Ganga. Bhima was rescued by Aryaka, the Naga chieftain, who was also the maternal uncle of Bhima (Shurasena, Kunti’s father, was married to a Naga Women, Marisha) and was taken to the King of the Nagas, Vasuki.

Vasuki, impressed by Bhima’s lineage, offered him a divine mixture, Bhima obediently drank 8 pots of this mixture.

As a result, Bhima acquired the strength of thousands of Elephants. He soon returned to Hastinapur, and revealed these incidents to Yudhisthira, who asked him to remain quiet and not reveal it to Kunti.

After Bhima was born, Kunti using the mantra, prayed to Lord Indra, giving birth to a son, named Arjuna.

Madri felt dejected and envied Kunti, as she had her own children. She expressed herself in front of Pandu, who requested Kunti to share the mantra with Madri. Kunti kind-heartedly taught Madri the mantra.

Madri using the mantra, invoked the Ashwini Kumaras, giving birth to twins, Nakul and Shadeva.

Years later, on a fine spring day, Pandu forgot about the curse received by Sage Kindama, and embraced his wife, Madri. No sooner he touched her, he died.

Kunti, being the first wife, had to follow her husband’s path, and asks Madri to look after the children. But Madri refused as she might not be able to love the children equally like Kunti. Saying this, she leaves her sons, Nakula and Sahadeva in the care of Kunti, and jumps into the funeral pyre of Pandu, performing the act of Sati. Before Dying, Madri asked yudhisthira to take care of her siblings, like their father.

Helpless, Kunti returned to Hastinapur along with her 5 children.

After the news of Bhima’s birth reached Hastinapur, Gandhari, who had been pregnant for 2 years, became frustrated and stabbed herself in the womb, giving birth to a hard mass of flesh.

The hard mass of flesh was taken to Sage Vyasa. The sage divided the flesh into 100 parts and placed it in jars, and smeared it with ghee. Upon Gandhari’s request to have a daughter, another jar was prepared.

Soon, 100 sons and 1 daughter were born, Duryodhana being the eldest of them all. The day Duryodhana was born, the sky turned dark, and there was an ominous atmosphere, the royal astrologers predicted that Duryodhana would be the cause of destruction of Kuru Dynasty.

Everyone suggested the Dhritarashtra, to abandon Duryodhana. But he was blinded by love, and refused to do so.

During Gandhari’s pregnancy, Dhritarashtra, angered by the delay, had a son named Yuyutsu, mothered by Gandhari’s maiden.

Pandu and his wives began leading their lives in a forest. He met a few sages, and asked them a way to attain heaven. But the sages replied that, without children, one can never go to heaven.

Distressed, Pandu shared his plight with Kunti. She revealed to Pandu, that she had a boon of begetting a child from any God she desires. Pandu was ecstatic and suggested that he could get virtuous children through her boon.

Kunti used this mantra, and invoked Lord Yama-Dharma, who blessed them with a son, who was wise and always followed dharma, named Yudhisthira.

Meanwhile, in Hastinapur, Gandhari was also pregnant, but her pregnancy was unusual.

She remained pregnant for 2 years, while Kunti, prayed to Vayu Deva and gave birth to a boy, who was strong as the wind, named Bhima.