("Pandu's
sons") Yudhishthira, Arjuna, Bhima, Nakula, and Sahadeva are the five
brothers who are the protagonists of the Mahabharata.
Despite the fact that they are named after King Pandu, none
of them are his sons, since Pandu was cursed to die the instant he held his
wife in a passionate embrace.
Rather, they are miraculously born by a mantra given to
Kunti, Pandu's older wife, by the sage Durvasas.
The mantra grants the lady who recites it the ability to
summon any deity and have a son of equal strength from that god.
This mantra is used by Kunti to carry Yudhishthira, Arjuna,
and Bhima to the deity Dharma, the storm god Indra, and the wind god Vayu.
Kunti also teaches the mantra to her co-wife Madri, who
meditates on the Ashvins (divine twins who are the gods' doctors) and gives
birth to the twins Nakula and Sahadeva with Pandu's permission.
The Mahabharata's central premise is the fight between the
Pandavas and their cousins, the Kauravas, for royal supremacy, which ends in a
war that kills the whole family.
