Pandu - Kingdom, Curse and Life

Kingdom, Curse and Life

Pandu was an excellent archer. He became the successor to his kingdom and was corronated Emperor of Hastinapur. Pandu later conquered the territories of Dasarnas, Kashi, Anga, Vanga, Kalinga, Magadha, etc and thus re-established their superiority over all the kings and increasing his empire.

Pandu married Madri, daughter of the King of Madra, and Kunti, daughter of King Kuntibhoja of Vrishni. While hunting in a forest, (looking from a long distance, his vision partially obscured by plants and trees) Pandu mistook Rishi Kindama and his wife for deer and shot arrows at them, killing the conjugal couple. The dying sage placed a curse on Pandu. Since he had killed them in the midst of lovemaking, the curse was that were he to approach a woman with the intent of making love, he would die. Upset and seeking to repent his action, Pandu renounced his kingdom and lived as an ascetic with his wives.

Childless at the time, Maharaja Pandu left his kingdom in the command of his elder brother, the blind Dhritrashtra, who was then crowned as king of Hastinapura. When Pandu expressed to Kunti his despair at the prospect of dying childless, Kunti used the boons given to her by Sage Durvasa to bear three sons—Yudhishtira (by Lord Dharma), Bhima (by Lord Vayu), and Arjuna (by Lord Indra). Kunti also shared her boons with Madri, who bore Nakula and Sahadeva, twins from the physicians to the gods, the Ashwini Kumara twins. Thus the five Pandavas of Pandu were born.