Birth of the Five Pāṇḍavas

This account tells how the five Pāṇḍavas were born while Pāṇḍu lived in the forest at the mountain Śataśṛṅga. The ṛshi Kiṃdama had given Pāṇḍu a śāpa (a curse) that he would die if he ever came near a woman with desire. So Pāṇḍu could have no children in the usual way.

Kuntī had a mantra that the ṛshi Durvāsa had given her. With it she could call any deva, who would then give her a son with his qualities. Through this mantra, which was an authorised form of niyoga, three sons were born to Kuntī and two to Mādrī, who borrowed the mantra once. Each son was born as a part (aṃśa) of his divine father: Dharma, Vāyu, Indra and the Aśvins.

Pāṇḍu’s sorrow and the talk of niyoga

At Śataśṛṅga, Pāṇḍu and his wives spent their years in tapas (austerity) and simple living. One day a group of ṛshis who were going up to the court of Brahmā passed by and asked Pāṇḍu to come with them. Pāṇḍu longed to go, but he knew he could not. A man who has no children has not paid his pitṛ-ṛṇa (debt to his ancestors), and such a man has no place in the assembly of ṛshis before Brahmā.

Thinking on this, Pāṇḍu spoke to Kuntī in private. He spoke of the four ṛṇas (debts): those owed to the devas, to the ṛshis, to the pitṛs and to other human beings. He had not paid the pitṛ-ṛṇa because he had no children, and by Kiṃdama’s śāpa he never could in the usual way. He then spoke at length about niyoga. He gave examples from the past in which women bore children through authorised men when their husbands could not give children, all within dharma. He asked Kuntī whether she had any means.

Kuntī then told Pāṇḍu, for the first time, of the mantra she had received from Durvāsa. She also told him how she had already tried it once, in the birth of Karṇa, which she had kept secret. She said that with this mantra she could call any deva for him. Pāṇḍu was filled with hope and asked her to go ahead.

Yudhishṭhira born of Dharma

Pāṇḍu asked Kuntī to call Dharmarāja first. Dharmarāja is Yama, the lord of righteousness. He wanted their first son to stand for dharma above all.

Yudhishṭhira was born at a good time: the Jyeshṭhā nakshatra (lunar star), the eighth muhūrta (the Abhijit), and the fifth tithi (lunar day), Pañcamī. A voice from the sky said that this child would be the greatest among men in dharma, in truth and in rule. He was a man of dharma in the fullest sense: truthful, kind, just and steady, with the very qualities of Dharmarāja.

At the moment of his birth good signs filled the sky. There was music from the gandharvas and flowers from the apsarās, and the ṛshis watched and blessed him from above.

Bhīmasena born of Vāyu

For the second son, Pāṇḍu asked Kuntī to call Vāyu, the deva of wind, so that the son would have great bodily strength. Vāyu was called.

Bhīmasena was born. He had a huge frame, a great appetite and a strength of body that showed from his first days. Soon after his birth, the infant Bhīma rolled off a rocky ledge and fell. The rock broke into a hundred pieces under the child’s body. Bhīma was not hurt. The account shows from the start that his body was not like ordinary human flesh, for it was filled with the strength of Vāyu.

Bhīma was born on the same day that Duryodhana was born in Hastināpura.

Arjuna born of Indra

For the third son Pāṇḍu was especially eager. He asked for a son from Indra, who is Śakra, the king of the devas. This son would be the greatest warrior in the world and would bring victory to dharma.

A great gathering of beings attended Arjuna’s birth, and the text describes it at length. The twelve Ādityas, the eleven Rudras, the eight Vasus, the two Aśvins, and the gandharvas, among them Tumburu, Hāhā, Hūhū and many others, came. The apsarās came too, including Menakā, Ghṛtācī and Urvaśī. All gathered in the sky above Śataśṛṅga to see and bless the birth.

A bodiless voice from the sky (ākāśavāṇī) told his qualities: “He is Arjuna, always pure. He is Vijaya, always victorious. He will go beyond Kārtavīrya Arjuna and Śibi in fame. He will do what no warrior before him has done.” The birth of Arjuna was known as the coming of Indra’s own part in human form, the great warrior whom the devas had sent to help remove adharma.

Nakula and Sahadeva born of the Aśvins

After three sons, Pāṇḍu told Kuntī that Mādrī also wished for children. He asked whether Mādrī could be given one use of the mantra. Kuntī agreed and taught Mādrī the mantra, on the understanding that it would be used once.

Mādrī called both Aśvins together with one recital. The two divine physicians came and gave her twin sons, Nakula and Sahadeva. Both were born at the same time, handsome beyond words. They had the divine grace and the healing knowledge of the Aśvins.

When Kuntī saw that Mādrī had got two sons from one use of the mantra, she was surprised and a little hurt. She would not give Mādrī a second use. She reasoned that if Mādrī used the mantra twice she could end up with six children to Kuntī’s three. The mantra was held back.

The names of the five

The five Pāṇḍavas were:

• Yudhishṭhira, son of Dharma, the eldest, who stood for righteousness.
• Bhīmasena, son of Vāyu, the second, who stood for strength.
• Arjuna, son of Indra, the middle one, the greatest archer of the age.
• Nakula, son of the Aśvins through Mādrī, the fourth, of great beauty and skill with the sword.
• Sahadeva, son of the Aśvins through Mādrī, the fifth, of great learning and wisdom in nīti (right conduct).

All five were known from birth as unusual beings. The ṛshis of Śataśṛṅga blessed them. Pāṇḍu gave them their names and performed their saṃskāras (rites of passage) in the forest.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Sambhava Parva, chapters 119–124