Pāṇḍu

Pāṇḍu was a king of the Kuru line at Hastināpura. He was the second son born to the ṛṣi Vyāsa and Ambālikā, the widow of Vicitravīrya, through niyoga (the custom by which a widow bears a son for her husband’s line). He is the father of the five Pāṇḍavas.

A śāpa (a curse) laid on him by the ṛṣi Kiṃdama ended his reign and, in the end, his life. The Mahābhārata tells his story in the Ādi Parva, and it comes back in the Āśramavāsika Parva and the Svargārohaṇa Parva.

Birth and name

Pāṇḍu was born from Vyāsa (Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana) and Ambālikā, the second widow of Vicitravīrya. Satyavatī arranged the niyoga to continue the Puru line.

When Vyāsa came to her, Ambālikā was terrified by his fierce look: his dark skin, his blazing tapas (austerity) energy and his matted hair. She turned pale with fear, and the blood drained from her face. The son born to her was pale over his whole body. This paleness became his name. Pāṇḍu means “the pale one”.

Reign at Hastināpura

Vicitravīrya had died, and Citrāṅgada had died before him, so the Kuru throne had no direct heir. Dhṛtarāṣṭra was the eldest of the three sons born through niyoga. He was blind from birth, and by the rules of kingship that kept him from ruling directly. So Pāṇḍu was made king of Hastināpura. Bhīṣma guided him and Vidura was his counsellor.

Pāṇḍu was an active and strong king. He led campaigns that spread Kuru power over the neighbouring kingdoms.

He married Kuntī (also called Pṛthā), the daughter of Kuntibhoja. Later he married Mādrī, the princess of Madra, who was brought to him as a gift from king Śalya.

The śāpa of Kiṃdama

Pāṇḍu went into the forest to hunt. One day he saw two deer moving together deep in the forest. He shot them with his arrows while they were united. The two deer were the ṛṣi Kiṃdama and his wife. They had taken the form of deer to be together in private.

As the dying ṛṣi returned to his human form, he laid a śāpa on Pāṇḍu. At the moment Pāṇḍu came near his wife with desire in his heart, he would die at that very instant. Kiṃdama also said why Pāṇḍu deserved this. To kill animals while they mate is against the most basic law of life, and to kill a pair while they are united is a double wrong.

Life in the forest

After the śāpa Pāṇḍu could not return to a normal royal life, and he gave up the kingdom. Dhṛtarāṣṭra took over the rule of Hastināpura.

Pāṇḍu went to the forests with his two wives. They lived first on the slopes of the Himālaya at Śatasṛṅga, and then moved through other wild regions. He lived as a forest ascetic. He hunted for food, kept the sacred fires and studied the śāstras (scriptures) with the ṛṣis who lived in those forests.

Pāṇḍu was troubled because a king should leave a line of descendants. He owed four ṛṇas (debts):

• to the ancestors, by fathering sons;
• to the devas, by performing yajñas (fire rituals);
• to the ṛṣis, by study;
• to other people, by hospitality and protection.

He could not pay the first and most pressing of these.

The birth of the Pāṇḍavas

In his sorrow, Pāṇḍu spoke with Kuntī at length about dharma (right conduct). They spoke of the women of old who bore sons by lawful means, and of the custom of niyoga when a husband cannot father children. Then Kuntī told him of the mantra that the ṛṣi Durvāsa had given her in her youth. With it she could call any deva and bear a son by him.

With Pāṇḍu’s full consent and blessing, Kuntī called the devas one after another:

• She called Dharma (Yama) and bore Yudhiṣṭhira. He was the eldest Pāṇḍava, born under the Jyeṣṭhā nakṣatra (lunar star), and he had truthfulness and justice.
• She called Vāyu and bore Bhīmasena. He was born on the same day as Duryodhana. He was very strong, with the strength of ten thousand elephants.
• She called Indra, king of the devas, and bore Arjuna. He was the greatest archer of his age. At his birth the Gandharvas sang and the apsarās danced.

Pāṇḍu then asked Kuntī to share the mantra with Mādrī, so that she too could have sons. Mādrī called the two Aśvinīs together in one call. She bore the twins Nakula and Sahadeva at the same time. They were known for their beauty and their skill.

Death and what followed

Pāṇḍu lived in the forest with his wives and his five young sons for many years. One spring day the forest was in full bloom and the air was heavy with the scent of flowers. Mādrī sat near him, looking very beautiful. Pāṇḍu was overcome by the season and by her presence. He came near her with desire and forgot the śāpa of Kiṃdama. At that moment the śāpa was fulfilled, and he died.

Mādrī was full of grief. She felt that she had been the cause of his death, and she chose to climb onto his funeral pyre. She asked Kuntī to raise all five sons as her own. The ṛṣis of the forest brought the bodies of Pāṇḍu and Mādrī, and the five sons, to Hastināpura. There the princes were received into the Kuru house.

Pāṇḍu in svarga: the Āśramavāsika Parva (Chapter 20)

Nārada spoke to Śatayūpa and the ṛṣis at the āśrama (hermitage) of Dhṛtarāṣṭra in the forest. He told them of a conversation he had once heard in the mansion of Indra. He had seen “the excellent king Pāṇḍu” there, beside Devendra himself. Indra spoke of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, who was then doing severe tapas in the forest, in Pāṇḍu’s presence.

Nārada said that Pāṇḍu, near Balasūdana (Indra), thought of Dhṛtarāṣṭra every day and would surely join him in time. He said that Kuntī, Pāṇḍu’s own widow, would also go in time to the world of her husband, through her service to Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Gāndhārī. A wife’s passage to the loka (world) of her husband is sanātana dharma (the eternal law).

Pāṇḍu with Kuntī and Mādrī: the Svargārohaṇa Parva (Chapters 4 and 5)

Yudhiṣṭhira now had a divine body. He moved through svarga (heaven) in the company of the devas, and Indra showed him his father among the blessed. There Pāṇḍu, the great bowman, lived together with both his wives, Kuntī and Mādrī. He travelled always by vimāna (a flying chariot) to attend on Indra himself. The śāpa of Kiṃdama no longer bound him. He was restored to the full glory of a rājarṣi (a royal ṛṣi).

In the final account of the heroes’ destinies, told by Sauti, Pāṇḍu and his two wives reached the mansion of Mahendra (Indra) when their puṇya (merit) was used up. This is the destiny that Nārada had foreseen for him at the forest āśrama of Dhṛtarāṣṭra.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Sambhava Parva, Chapters 105–125
• Mahābhārata, Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapter 20
• Mahābhārata, Svargārohaṇa Parva, Chapters 4–5