Mahabharata

9. Pandu

Pandu had married Madri from the mahajanapad of Madra because the king was impressed with Pandu's fighting skills. With a mature body and an adolescent mind, Madri's character was portrayed as a wild teenager in the Mahabharata. Once, Pandu took both the Queens in the forest for showing him the region. There, Madri saw two deers chasing after each other.

"Maharaj (king), can you please get me those beautiful deers?" Madri requested him.

Kunti didn't feel like it's a great idea and said slowly, "No Madri, it's better if we don't do that. Those deers have lives too, don't they?"

Pandu looked at her in disbelief and smiled. It was normal for kings to go out hunting and then decorate their rooms with these animals but he never agreed with that idea. That's why he made sure never to hunt but his wife wanted something and he couldn't refuse it, "Fine, I will bring those deers but for only this time, Priye (valuable one, to Madri)."

Kunti felt neglected. She knew that she won't have any life after Pandu would marry again but she felt it happening right in front of her. He accepted to kill two innocent lives for his second wife, ignoring her. She stopped her tears from falling somehow and composed herself.

Pandu went on and shot the arrow at the deer couple. As soon as the arrow hit both of them, they turned into a man and a woman and started grunting in pain.

The man grunts and says, "I am a Brahmin and I and my wife were having the fun of mating. I curse you that whenever you will try to mate, you will die."

Yes, I know. That's another level of roleplaying but that's what was happening then. Basically, the Brahmin had a mantra through which he could change his shape and form but still, that's some weird roleplaying they have there. I guess I have an inkling as to what really happened then and I will tell about that at the end of the chapter.

Hearing the curse, Pandu's heart breaks. He is a king. He is supposed to provide a heir to Hastinapur and moreover, he should be sinless as a human. Pandu, in general, was a very jolly and happy man but he was very sensitive too. He was a great warrior but when it came to emotions, he couldn't battle with them efficiently.

So, he goes back to the palace with his two queens and tell everyone about the incident and announces, "I am going into exile because I don't think that I am worthy enough to be a king."

Everyone becomes sad, except Satyavati because she was worried about Dhirtarashtra and she announces, "Fine, then your elder brother will look after Hastinapur in your absence."

Bhishma suggested that Vidur should become the king instead but Satyavati ignored him.

Dhirtarashtra when hears this, he feels happy that his brother can neither produce children nor can he become the king. So, Pandu soon leaves for the forest with Kunti and Madri and Dhirtarashtra handles Hastinapur.

They live in the forest peacefully and in Hastinapur, everyone becomes happy because the new Queen, Gandhari is pregnant. Dhirtarashtra and Shakuni feel satisfied with their lives.

The trio live happily in the forest in their hut and all when suddenly one night, Kunti sees a dream where she sees the boy she had allowed to flow in the Ganga river. She immediately wakes her husband up and says, "Maharaj (king), I need to confess something to you."

Pandu looks at her confusedly and asks her, "What is it about? Did you have a bad dream?"

Kunti nods and continues, "When I was young, I served sage Durvasa and he had given me a mantra through which I can get a son through any God that I want without getting pregnant and-" Kunti suddenly feels him hug her tightly and exclaiming in happiness, "Wow, you should have said that earlier. Now, we can have kids and give heirs to Hastinapur without having to mate."

Kunti was speechless. She wanted to confess about the boy but Pandu didn't let her. She just smiles and decides that she will use that mantra.

Firstly, she asks for a child from Yamraj (God of death) Yudhisthir and then from Pavandev (God of wind) Bheem, Indradev (God of the sky and the king of the gods) Arjun and then Madri wants to have children too. So, Kunti shares the mantra with Madri and Madri gets twins from Ashwin Kumar (twins of Lord Brahma) Nakul and Sahdev.

When the people in the palace get the news of birth of Yudhisthir, Dhirtarashtra curses Gandhari because Gandhari was eighteen months pregnant till then and yet had not given birth to a single child, let alone hundred and then Dhirtarashtra goes on to have sex with a maid.

Gandhari feels heartbroken and starts beating her heavily swollen belly. Suddenly, she goes into labour. Satyavati, Ambalika and Ambika help with her delivery but when Gandhari wakes up, Ambalika curses her saying that she has given birth to just a piece of meat.

Gandhari when sees what she has given birth to, she faints again because it would have been fine if she had given birth to a dead child but she had given birth to just a mass of meat. Satyavati tells Ambalika to cool down and calls for Maharshi Vyas, her son. Vyas comes by and cuts the piece of meat into hundred and one pieces and puts it into hundred and one pots with some liquid and covers it and says, "Didn't Gandhari want a daughter too? Lord Shiva has also given her a daughter."

Gandhari becomes happy again but Dhirtarashtra is still sad because Pandu's son would become the next king but he is still happy.

Till the time Pandu gets Bheem, Dhirtarashtra's first son, Duryodhan was born and it's safe to say that he and his hundred siblings were basically test tube babies. Of course I don't know their names, only Duryodhan, Dushasan, Vikarna and Dushala was the girl. Yuyutsu was the son that Dhirtarashtra got from the maid. So, Gandhari had hundred and one children and Dhirtarashtra had hundred and two.

Pandu's sons had some qualities. Yudhisthir was someone who always followed the path of dharma, just like Vidur. He had also read all the scriptures and he never lied. Bheem was very strong and he was someone who could never stop eating. Arjun was a very sharp child and his focus was great. Nakul was the most beautiful, most delicate and the most agile of them all and Sahdev was the most intelligent of them all because he knew the past, present and the future.

After the five children grow up, Pandu and Madri were outside enjoying nature when Pandu gets aroused. He goes near Madri to have sex with her but due to the curse, he just falls dead and Madri decides to become a Sati because she was guilty and also because she knew that Kunti could love Nakul and Sahdev and she couldn't love Yudhisthir, Bheem and Arjun. So, she informed Kunti at the last moment and jumped into Pandu's burning pyre, leaving Kunti to answer the questions of the children as to what had happened to Pandu and Madri...

Okay, so what I think happened was that the doctors then announced that Pandu was infertile and maybe that's why he goes into exile but there he discovers about the mantra and gets those five sons but then again, that's my thinking.