Pandu had one problem to worry about. The problem was how to produce children. He was unable to produce children with his wives. Kunti found a solution to the problem. Kunti remembered a special mantra she received from Durvasa Muni, when she served him when she was a young girl. The special mantra allows any demigod of her choice to give her a child. Pandu, overjoyed with new rays of hope, requested Kunti to summon the Yamaraja, the demigod of death and justice, for a son. A son was born to Kunti and was named Yudhisthira (“Firm in War”). Pandu requested Kunti to summon the demigod of wind, Vayu. Vayu gave a son to Kunti. When Kunti received the son, Kunti accidentally dropped him, as his cry sounded like that of a lion’s! The baby broke a big slab of stone in which he fell on. They decided to name him Bhima (“Terror of Foes.”) In this way, Indra, king of demigods, gave Kunti a son, who was named Arjuna. Kunti gave this mantra to Madri, as she summoned the two Asvina Kumara (twin demigods), and she received twin boys, who were named Nakula and Sahadeva. These five sons of Pandu were known as the Pandavas.
Upon receiving the great name of Yudhisthira’s birth, the entire city of Hastinapura overjoyed. Dhrtarastra and Gandhari were very upset that of their generation, Pandu’s child was the oldest, thus the next successor to the throne. Gandhari was more surprised, that she conceived a child before Kunti did, yet Kunti gave birth to Yudhisthira. In a fit of upset and anger, Gandhari smashed her womb and the embryo of the new-born split into one-hundred fragments. Each fragment become a child. Hence, Gandhari gave birth to one hundred children. The oldest child was named Duryodhana. The second oldest child was Duhsasana. Dhrtarastra and Gandhari also had a daughter, Dusala. Dhrtarastra and one his maid had an illegitimate child named Yuyutsu. Due to Sakuni’s revenge attitude, he misled the sons of Dhrtarastras (who are later known as the Kauravas).
While in the forest, the five sons of Pandu served the forest ascetics and sought knowledge from them. Yudhisthira being the eldest was very wise and had the knowledge of ethics and morals since childhood. Bhima was a very hungry person would try to get the most food, yet he was naturally strong. Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva were very bright children too. When they in their late childhood, Pandu was meditating one day. Madri had just completed her bath and she was going leaving the waters to change into her clothes. Pandu saw the form of Madri and he was enamored by her. Madri, who longed to be in the arms of Pandu, was afraid of getting near him, because of the curse. However, Pandu embraced her tightly. While doing this, Pandu immediately died. As Madri felt she was at fault for the death of her and Kunti’s husband, Madri decided to be burned alive with Pandu. Madri entrusted her two children, Nakula and Sahadeva to Kunti’s care and died on the pyre of her husband. Kunti with her five children, having no shelter, went back to Hastinapura. While Hastinapura, along with the Satyavati, Bhisma, Ambika, and Ambalika gave them a warm welcome back, Dhrtarastra and Gandhari worried of their return back. Furthermore, Duryodhana and his ninety-nine younger brothers were already envious of their cousins. They already showed signs of anger and hate from the day they met. One day, when all of the children were playing, Duryodhana and Duhsasana gave Bhima poisoned porridge and through his unconscious body in the river, where cobras neutralizes the effect of the poison and Bhima came back to life stronger than before.
Vidura and Bhisma realized that these children needed to be formally educated. They summoned family priest, Krpacarya, to teach Kauravas and Pandavas. When Dhrtarastra knew of their priest aiding his young enemies, he distracted Krpacarya for trivial matters, just to disrupt class. The children would play whenever there is no teacher. Once, the children threw a ball down a well accidentally. A brahmana, using a special technique of combining stalks of straw together, got the ball out. That brahmana was Dronacarya, the disciple of Parasurama and son of Bharadvaja Muni. When Bhisma learned of this event, Bhisma and Vidura hired him as the teacher of the Kuru princes. Dronacarya taught these Kuru princes military science. Dronacarya found Arjuna the most keen and diligent student. He impressed Dronacarya with his determination to learn so much that Dronacarya made it his own resolve to teach Arjuna everything he learned and make Arjuna the world’s greatest archer. He even denied this opportunity to his own son, Asvatthama, who felt jealous of Arjuna.
For many years until late youth, the Pandava and Kaurava princes studied military science and warfare through Dronacarya. He displayed their skill and strength through a public arena. When Arjuna showed off his skill, an unknown man came to the field and challenged Arjuna. That unknown personality was Karna, who had a very upsetting birth story. Karna is actually the son of Kunti. When Kunti, first, received her mantra to invoke a demigod, she decided to try it out to see if it works. She invoked the demigod of the sun, Vivasvan (or Suryadeva). She didn’t know of the consequence of her having a baby with Suryadeva. As she was not married to Pandu at the time, she couldn’t keep that baby boy, in fear of her reputation. The beautiful boy, whose chest skin was golden, and was born with golden in his body, was placed in a box and sent away through a river. Down the river, Dhrtarastra’s charioteer, Adiratha, and his wife, Radha, saw the boy and accepted him as their own. They named him Karna. Despite his true birth as a ksatriya, his “adopted” title was regarded as a low-class, as he was “born” as the “son of a charioteer.” As a result, he was denied admission in Dronacarya’s school. He had to pretend to be a brahmana to seek instruction of Parasurama. However, his instruction became fruitless, as Parasurama found out the truth and cursed Karna that he will forget his knowledge when his life depends on it. Carrying the stigma of his unknown birth and curse, Karna challenges Arjuna. In an arena, only a prince could fight a prince. Since Karna was not a prince or a “ksatriya”, he was disqualified. Duryodhana objected to this and immediately crowned Karna as the king of the land of Anga. This way, Karna would be qualified to fight. However, the sunset took place and this fight was not destined to take place yet.
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