Pāṇḍavas

Pāṇḍava, “the sons of Pāṇḍu”

The Pāṇḍavas, the five sons of King Pāṇḍu, were Yudhishṭhira, Bhīma, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva. The Agni Purāṇa, in the account of the Bhārata that Agni Deva tells Vasishṭha Maharshi, says that all five were born from the aṃśas (portions) of the devas, and that Bhagavān Vishṇu, making the Pāṇḍavas his instrument, removed the burden of the earth. Agni Deva calls this account the mark of Śrī Kṛshṇa‘s greatness. They shared one wife, Draupadī, won at her svayaṃvara; they lost their kingdom at dice and lived in exile; with Śrī Kṛshṇa beside them they won the war at Kurukshetra, ruled, and at the last set out on the great journey to svarga.

Their birth

Pāṇḍu was born of Ambālikā through Vyāsa. By Pāṇḍu’s wife Kuntī, also called Pṛthā, were born Yudhishṭhira from Yama-Dharmarāja, Bhīma from Vāyu and Arjuna from Devendra. By Mādrī, from the Aśvinī devatās, were born Nakula and Sahadeva. At the Śataśṛṅga āśrama Pāṇḍu received a ṛshi’s śāpa (curse), and he died through union with Mādrī; Mādrī followed him.

Draupadī was the wife of the five. In her were born Prativindhya to Yudhishṭhira, Śrutasoma to Bhīmasena, Śrutakīrti to Arjuna, Śatakarmā to Sahadeva and Śatānīka to Nakula. Bhīmasena had another son, Ghaṭotkaca, by Hiḍimbā, and Arjuna’s son Abhimanyu was born of Subhadrā.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 13, 275, 278

From the house of lac to Virāṭa’s court

By fate, enmity arose between the Kurus and the Pāṇḍavas. Duryodhana burned the Pāṇḍavas in a house of lac, but the five escaped with their mother. They lived in the town of Ekacakra dressed as munis, in a brāhmaṇa’s house, and there they killed a rākshasa. They went to the Pāñcāla land for Draupadī‘s svayaṃvara and won her. Recognised by Duryodhana and the others, they obtained half the kingdom. Arjuna received the Gāṇḍīva bow from Agni Deva and the astras from Droṇa, and all of them became skilled in weapons. They conquered the four quarters, and Yudhishṭhira performed the Rājasūya yajña.

Duryodhana could not bear it. With Duḥśāsana, Karṇa and Śakuni he deceived Yudhishṭhira at dice and took his kingdom. The Pāṇḍavas went to the forest with Draupadī and Dhaumya for twelve years, and there Yudhishṭhira fed eighty-eight thousand brāhmaṇas every day. Then they lived unrecognised at the court of Virāṭa: Yudhishṭhira as the brāhmaṇa Kaṅka, Bhīma as a cook, Arjuna as Bṛhannalā, and Nakula and Sahadeva under other names. Bhīmasena killed Kīcaka, who sought to carry off Draupadī. When the Kauravas came to seize the cattle, Arjuna defeated them, and the Pāṇḍavas were recognised.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 13

The war and after

Yudhishṭhira made ready seven akshauhiṇīs. Śrī Kṛshṇa went as messenger and asked for half the kingdom or five villages; Duryodhana would not give even the land a needle-point covers. In the war at Kurukshetra the Pāṇḍavas were led in turn by Śikhaṇḍī, Dhṛshṭadyumna and Arjuna. When it was over, only three lived on the Kaurava side, Kṛtavarmā, Kṛpācārya and Aśvatthāmā, and only seven on the Pāṇḍava side: the five Pāṇḍavas, Sātyaki and Śrī Kṛshṇa. Yudhishṭhira heard all the dharmas from Bhīshma, became king and performed the aśvamedha.

When the Yādavas had perished, Yudhishṭhira set Parīkshit on the throne and set out on the mahāprasthāna (the great final journey) with Draupadī and his brothers, chanting the hundred and eight names of Mahāvishṇu. Draupadī, Sahadeva, Nakula, Arjuna and Bhīma fell in that order. Yudhishṭhira mounted the chariot Indra brought and reached svarga with his brothers.

Agni Deva says that in all this Mahāvishṇu, making the Pāṇḍavas the instrument, set out to protect dharma and destroy adharma, and removed the burden of the earth made of the dānavas and others.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 13–15

Elsewhere in the Agni Purāṇa

In the glory of Gayā, the Purāṇa says that the Pāṇḍavas too went to Gayā and worshipped Śrī Mahāvishṇu there (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 114). In its teaching on nīti, it gives Bhīmasena of the Pāṇḍava line as the example of mānusha-māyā: in the Dvāpara that has gone by, wearing a woman’s dress, he killed his enemy Kīcaka (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 241).

Sources

• Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 13–15, 114, 241, 275, 278