viii TEACHINGS OF QUEEN KUNTI
demigod of the wind, who begot the mighty Bhima. Upon Bhima’s birth
the supernatural voice said, ‘“This child will be the foremost of all strong
men.”

Thereafter Pandu consulted with great sages in the forest and then
asked Kunti to observe vows of austerity for one full year. At the end of
this period Pandu said to Kunti, ‘‘O beautiful one, Indra, the King of
heaven, is pleased with you, so invoke him and conceive a son.”” Kunti
then invoked Indra, who came to her and begot Arjuna. As soon as the
prince was born, the same celestial voice boomed through the sky: ‘‘O
Kunti, this child will be as strong as Kartavirya and Sibi [two powerful
kings of Vedic times] and as invincible in battle as Indra himself. He will
spread your fame everywhere and acquire many divine weapons.”’ Subse-
quently, Pandu’s junior wife Madri bore two sons named Nakula and
Sahadeva. These five sons of Pandu (Yudhisthira, Bhima, Arjuna,
Nakula, and Sahadeva) then came to be known as the Pandavas.

Now, since Pandu had retired from the throne and gone to the forest,
Dhrtarastra had temporarily assumed the throne until Pandu’s eldest son
Yudhisthira came of age. However, long before that time Pandu died as a
result of the curse, and Madri gave up her life as well by ascending his
funeral pyre. That left the five Pandavas in the care of Queen Kunti.

After Pandu’s death, the sages living in the forest brought the five
young princes and Kunti to the Kaurava court at Hastinapura (near
present-day Delhi). In Hastinapura, the capital city of the kingdom, the
five boys were raised in royal style under the guidance of Dhrtarastra and
the noble Vidura, Pandu’s half brother.

But a smooth transfer of power was not to be. Although Dhrtarastra
had at first recognized the primogeniture of Yudhisthira, he later allowed
himself to be used by his eldest son, the power-hungry Duryodhana, who
wished to ascend the throne in place of Yudhisthira. Driven by un-
controllable jealousy, Duryodhana plotted against the Pandavas, and
with the hesitant approval of the weak Dhrtarastra, he inflicted many
sufferings upon them. He made several attempts on their lives in
Hastinapura, and then he brought them to a provincial palace and tried to
assassinate them by having it set on fire. All the while, the five youthful
Pandavas were accompanied by their courageous mother Kunti, who
suffered Duryodhana’s atrocities in the company of her beloved sons.

Miraculously, however, Kunti and the Pandavas repeatedly escaped
death, for they were under the loving protection of Lord Krsna, who had
incarnated to perform His earthly pastimes. Ultimately Duryodhana, a
clever politician, cheated the Pandavas out of their kingdom (and their
