Kautilya said
So Dhritarashtra came to hate his brother.
The Vyaasa said
That is perceptive of you. Though honored by his brother and fond of him, Dhritarashtra grew increasingly dissatisfied and cynical, and ultimately felt that his brother was partly responsible for his unhappiness.
Krishna Dvaipaayana had gone a tour of the different regions that the Kavi-Sangha had expanded to after he became Vyaasa. He returned to Hastinapur and met with Bhishma and the two princes.
Krishna Dvaipaayana, the Vyaasa said to Pandu and Dhritarashtra
Have you heard the story of the foolishness of your grandfather Santanu and the death of Bhishma’s mother?
Pandu and Dhritarashtra nodded and said
Yes.
Krishna Dvaipayana continued
Then you know that the problem of supporting our present population is not solved.
Pandu replied
But the dams that Uncle Bhishma has built are helping us control the river. There is more flood-free land to settle on. We can manage water usage better.
Bhishma said
Those dams will only work for a short time. Already the lakes are silting up and we are forced to discharge water from them with increasing frequency. We are going to have to find new places to build dams and build them in a few years.
Dhritarashtra said
What about the rules for water use that you proposed last year?
Bhishma said
That will not suffice. The rules will raise the price of all goods and breed disaffection. We need solutions that can perpetuate themselves and survive year after year, generation after generation.
The Vyaasa agreed
We must do something soon, though. There are still tribes in the northeast that would like to move into our lands. They see that Bhishma grows old and that this kingdom has untested rulers.
Dhritarashtra said
Ha! Let them try. I may be blind, but my warriors are well trained.
Pandu said
Even if he did not fight, Uncle is still the best general in Aryavarta. We will beat off any invaders.
Bhishma has the last word
My general-ship depends on the support of our people for my projects. Santanu’s edicts were imposed from above. Whatever we do, the people must accept voluntarily.
The Vyaasa says
I doubt we can get that support from the entire population. We may have to manufacture the support.
Pandu says soberly
I agree with Uncle. Ignoring the wishes of the people or manipulating them with plots is recipe for disaster.
Dhritarashtra laughs
The people have to be lead by the nose, they are blinder than I am.
Kautilya commented
Dhritarashtra sounds cynical.
The Vyaasa said
Yes. He was growing increasingly bitter. The discussion continued.
Krishna Dvaipaayana said
We still need to reduce the rate at which the population is growing. We cannot emigrate fast enough and Santanu’s edict will not work.
Bhishma said
Yes. People want heirs.
Dhritarashtra thought
The old man is blinded by his own experience. He was disinherited by Grandmother and the rumors are that he was in love with Amba who ran away from him in terror. He is angry with women.
So, Dhritarashtra said
We can modify Santanu’s edict. The more women there are the greater the number of children born. Let’s just limit the number of girls to one per family. Then, there will be excess men and if they cannot get wives, they will emigrate and can get wives from neighboring lands.
Bhishma said
That is a very perceptive comment. And we need to build up our armies for the expected attacks from the northeast. The single men will flock to the army. When the wars start, male children will be valued. When the single men emigrate, their families will see themselves expanding and growing. Families will accept this edict because women take wealth with them when they marry, but men bring wealth back to the family. And because only one son in each family will expect to marry local daughters, we will grow richer and more powerful.
Pandu said
I disagree. Female infanticide will be as difficult as Santanu’s edict to enforce. I think we should encourage adoption as a way of obtaining heirs and encourage people to abstain from sex when fertile.
The Vyaasa, Krishna Dvaipaayana, said
Abstinence frequently fails. But we could merge the two proposals. Suggest abstinence and adoption as the preferred ways by which families should grow and suggest that if abstinence failed and a second girl child was born to a husband and wife that they kill the baby before it was ten days old.
Pandu remonstrated
But killing babies is wrong. We are repeating Santanu’s mistake.
The Vyaasa, Krishna Dvaipaayana, said
It is kinder to kill the baby now than to allow it to grow into an impoverished overcrowded land. Yes, it is simpler not to do so. But adoption is not good enough.
Dhritarashtra said
We don’t have to pass an edict for this one. Let’s just tax girl babies that are older than ten days. You’ll see what the people can do.
Pandu said
You are wrong. The people will protest. I myself will only adopt children and not father them on my wives.
Dhritarashtra said
You have a weak heart. We’ve known of it from childhood. You are probably afraid to have sex. I will have a hundred sons but only one daughter. My progeny will spread over the earth as my sons spread.
Bhishma said
Boys! No fighting. Dhritarashtra, that remark was uncalled for, and you will beg the forgiveness of your brother the king.
Pandu said
I forgive him. He is my older brother. He knows my secret fears and wishes me well.
Dhritarashtra said
I am sorry, Pandu. Go ahead and adopt your children. You have my blessings. But I will do as I said.
Pandu said
And I will adopt five sons and will abstain so that I will not have any daughters.
The Vyaasa, Krishna Dvaipaayana, then said
Excellent! We shall follow both policies and our princes shall jointly be examples. Just as you, Bhishma are the proof that Santanu followed his own laws, Pandu and Dhritarashtra shall be the proof that the rulers of Hastinapur continue to apply their laws to themselves.
Dhritarashtra was angry
Gandhari! I vowed to have a hundred sons and I will. You can’t even give me one.
Gandhari replied
Our daughter is very pretty, isn’t she? I would not mind having another daughter. And then maybe a son, a younger brother for them to play with and take care of. What’s this about a hundred sons? Who has been filling your head with nonsense? Its only in the myths and legends that men have a hundred sons.
Dhritarashtra replied
Forget about myths and legends. I have to think about the future of my own progeny. In the new dispensation, sons will be valued, daughters will be the curse of the family, I told Pandu and Uncle that I would have a hundred sons, none adopted. If you won’t do it, I’ll find women who will.
Gandhari said
It seems like just yesterday that you were telling me that I was the only woman you ever wanted. I did not mind that you were blind. What’s come over you now?
Dhritarashtra shouted
That was yesterday. Now, I need to think of our future. Pandu will be adopting children, not siring them. His children’s right to ascend the throne will be in question. There will be civil war. When it comes, I want a hundred sons so that they will win and survive with unquestioned legitimacy.
Gandhari said
Your brother loves you and what you say is treasonous. Why do you have this hate for him?
Dhritarashtra shouted
Don’t question me. I do not need to explain my resentment of the treatment meted out to me by Uncle, Pandu, and even the bastard Vidura. If you will not give me sons, my concubines will give me sons. Any future daughters will be exposed -- I want no daughters.
Gandhari sighed
You are more than blind, husband. I cannot bear this pain. I will close my eyes to your actions.
The Vyaasa said
Saying this, Gandhari resolved to be blind to the consequences of Dhritarashtra’s actions. Her next child is a son, named Duryodhana. But Dhritarashtra, bent on achieving his goal has ninety-nine other sons with concubines. The hundred boys are raised as princes by their father.
Kautilya asked
And what about Pandu? What happened to him?
The Vyaasa said
In due course, Pandu had been married to Kunti, the adopted daughter of Kuntibhoja and sister to Vasudeva, the Yadava chieftain. They were having difficulties -- Pandu was prone to fainting in the act of sex or otherwise was not able to complete the act. Kunti wanted children and blamed Pandu. The day after Pandu promised to adopt five children, he talked to Kunti.
Pandu said
Kunti, my dear wife. You want to have children to raise, but I am apparently not able to do it. Would you like to adopt a few? There are many healthy children we could adopt.
Kunti replied
I want my own children. But, with your health, it is unlikely that you can have any. And there is no reason for us to try niyojana.
Pandu said
I want boys anyway. If you gave birth to girls, we would have to kill her after the first one. That is not acceptable to me. So niyojana is out. We shall adopt five young boys, so that you can have the pleasure of raising them.
Kunti said
It seems you give me no options. But I cannot handle more than three children. Find somebody else to raise two more children for you.
The Vyaasa said
So Kunti and Pandu adopt three sons. They named the eldest Yudhishthira, son of Dharma, to stay aware that they had chosen the path of Dharma. They named the second son Bhima, son of the wind, because dharma bereft of strength falls prey to evil. They named the third son Arjuna, son of Indra, commander-in-chief of the gods, for dharma bereft of direction runs aground in indecision.
Kunti raised the children, while Pandu, partially freed of his onerous commitment pursued other pleasures.
Pandu visits relatives in Madradesa and falls in love with the princess, named Madri. Without checking with Kunti, Pandu marries Madri and brings her back. Kunti is furious, but Pandu reminded her of her directive to him to find somebody else to raise two more children. Madri comes to Kunti in the outfit of a maid-servant and offers to serve her. Kunti is taken aback and understands that she cannot take any direct measures against Madri. Kunti welcomes Madri into the household.
Pandu finds that he is unable to spend much time with Madri. In addition, Kunti’s presence in the small palace makes him uncomfortable.
So they leave with their attendants to spend the summer in the hills to the north, where they had built more spacious palaces. Kunti and Madri live separately, and Pandu divides his time between them.
Kautilya said
Madri may have loved Pandu, but how did she accept his inability to have sexual relations?
The Vyaasa said
Therein lies a story.
Madri shrieked
Pandu! Oh, my god! wake up!
The Vyaasa said
Madri shook Pandu. His body was limp and cold and the cold had woken her up. She had fallen asleep in Pandu’s arms after they had made love. He had been unusually excited -- normally, her husband held something back when he made love, almost as though he feared something. She had asked him once about his reticence. Pandu had explained that ever since childhood he had been prone to fainting easily. Sudden pain, extreme emotion, even abrupt moves would cause the blood to drain from his face. Hence his name Pandu, "the Pale".
The doctors who attended the family had cautioned him to keep his emotions under control. Especially after his first sexual experience, when he had fainted during orgasm, and the concubine assigned to teach him had almost killed herself out of fear, Pandu feared sexual climax. He was scared but he still craved the experience whose intensity overwhelmed him.
After some time, Pandu found that masturbation did not cause the same intense reaction. As a result he felt safe as long as the foreplay did not terminate in consummation..
When Madri discovered this, she suggested that it might be possible for Pandu to control his emotional reaction. She wanted to have children with Pandu and so she began helping Pandu experiment with overcoming his fears.
The previous week, for the first time in his life, Pandu had successfully consummated the sexual act with Madri and stayed conscious. Afterwards he had been ebullient and Madri had had to restrain his enthusiasm. She did not want Kunti to hear of it -- she was sure that among her attendants there were some spying for Kunti.
But Madri, too, had been excited by the success of her careful experiments. The previous night, they had done it again and Pandu had been ecstatic afterwards. They had been a little less cautious this night, but Madri had not thought much about it, though Pandu had seemed a little more tired and comparatively subdued. Later Madri would berate herself for not being observant.
Then they had fallen asleep in each other’s arms, and Pandu’s cold body had woken her up.
Kautilya said
So Pandu died of sex?
The Vyaasa said
Yes, he was dead. There is no telling what he died of. Madri did not know, but she felt intensely guilty and responsible. Her attendants came and stared in horror. Madri cried and cried and was incapable of describing what had happened. Kunti was brought in and seeing Pandu and Madri naked, she decided that Pandu must have died while making love to Madri. She was angry and jealous.
The next day, Pandu was cremated. The same day, Madri discovered that she was pregnant. Kunti arranged to have Madri kept out of sight. If Madri’s children were boys, her own adopted son, Yudhishthira’s right to succeed to the throne and her position as Queen Mother were in jeopardy. As nine months passed, Madri became increasingly despondent in her isolation. She gave birth to twin sons, named Nakula and Sahadeva, but seeing them reminded her of Pandu. Kunti’s constant recriminations increased her sense of guilt and a few weeks after the children were born, she committed suicide.
With five children, all boys, Pandu’s wishes and promise had been fulfilled. Kunti raised the twins along with her three adopted children. After Madri’s death, she returned to Hastinapur as raising five children in a remote part of the kingdom was too difficult.. The court was informed that Pandu’s five adopted children were returning. Acknowledging that Pandu had broken his vow and had two children rather than adopting them, and her preference for her own adopted children rather than the twins whose conception had killed Pandu, kept her from revealing the truth.
Kunti said to Dhritarashtra and Bhishma in council
Oh, Grandsire! Oh, Elder brother! I have five children to raise and I need help raising them as princes, fit to rule and protect the kingdom.
Dhritarashtra said
Of course, my sister. My brother’s sons are like mine.
Kunti said
My husband was the king. But my sons are too young to succeed. And it is not good for such young princes to be given great honors before they have proven themselves.
Bhishma said
Pandu’s actions were honorable and in the best interests of our family and kingdom. We will raise your sons to be kings.
Dhritarashtra thought
So these adopted bastards are to be kings instead of my son Duryodhana. He is of the blood, but these children? But, I cannot go against Bhishma’s wishes.
Dhritarashtra said
My brother Pandu honored me as his co-king. I respect his desire to have children by adoption. I cannot do less in my lifetime than acknowledge his eldest adopted son. Yudhishthira is as dear to me and Gandhari as our own eldest son Duryodhana. Duryodhana will be his right hand as I was friend to Pandu.
May our sons and nephews grow and live together in peace and friendship.
The Vyaasa said
So, Dhritarashtra is then crowned as King with the understanding that Pandu’s children are the legitimate heirs. But Dhritarashtra is not happy. He is still bitter and resentful of the people who did not consider him worthy to be king earlier. He is unable to accept that Pandu’s adopted child will succeed him as king.
The Vyaasa said
The one hundred and five boys played with each other, studied together and fought with each other. Yudhishthira, acknowledged as the future King, aroused jealousy among his cousins. But they were all awed by his potential kingship and were careful not to anger him. But Bhima suffered. He received the full brunt of the Kauravas’ resentment. Arjuna, who was one of the youngest, was an active, bright, and charming kid who got along with everybody and could get away with murder. The twins, Nakula and Sahadeva, were much younger than the others. As a result they stuck with each other and only occasionally participated in the games of the older boys. Being the youngest, they were frequently left with the attendants to look after the horses and the cows. Not that they were needed to take care of them, as the attendants did all the work, but the older children did not want to bother with the twins. The attendants meanwhile doted on them, so Nakula and Sahadeva ordered them around, but also learned about cows and horses.
Duryodhana, the eldest Kaurava, was a natural leader of the troupe. While Yudhishthira was thoughtful and introspective, Duryodhana made things happen. The other boys were in awe of Yudhishthira but they followed Duryodhana.
Being the natural leader, Duryodhana felt that he was the right choice for heir apparent but he understood that this would never happen while Yudhishthira was around. Bhima falls prey to Duryodhana’s reflected jealousy.
Duryodhana’s brother, Dushasana, worshipped his brother and was aware of his brother’s anger. He followed his brother in mistreating Bhima.
Bhima was the butt of a hundred jokes. If there was an idle moment and the children were sitting together under a tree, Bhima might find himself being hit by a pellet. Or somebody might pull his hair or slap the nape of his neck. When Bhima turned around, all the boys would be looking innocent. Bhima would get angry and all the kids would laugh at him. Sometimes, Bhima would be goaded into fighting all of them and that was even more fun because they would all gang up on him and beat him up. When Bhima got tense and angry, his stomach would invariably growl. Duryodhana invented a nickname for him -- Vrikodara, "Wolf-Belly" -- and the kids would run around calling him Vrikodara. Bhima would run away and they would all chase him. They even had a name for this game -- it was "catching the wolf" and Bhima was always the target.
Bhima’s brothers and family do not understand the degree to which Bhima is suffering. Arjuna’s charm and beauty protect him and Nakula and Sahadeva were too young.
But not all of the jokes played on Bhima were innocent. Once, Dushasana gave Bhima a narcotic, tied him up, and threw him into the river. The cold water shocked Bhima awake and he managed to untie himself and swim to land. On another occasion, Duryodhana sent Bhima off on a wild-goose chase into a cave infested with poisonous snakes. Bhima was bitten but fortunately survived.
When Bhima related this events to his brothers, they realized that the rivalry had gone beyond childish play. Such events served to bring the Pandavas closer together.
Bhima responded to the torments by deciding to become a wrestler and mace-fighting. As he developed into an excellent wrestler, he used his strength to ward off his tormentors. Only Duryodhana who also chose to study wrestling and mace-fighting could beat Bhima. But Duryodhana himself had stopped harassing Bhima -- his brothers could always be incited to do it, and that was how Duryodhana lead his brothers.
Drona is hired to teach them the arts of war. Arjuna is his favorite student.
Ugrasena is the old elected chieftain-for-life of the Yadava clans. His son Kamsa has used his father’s power to establish a rule of terror among the Yadavas. Kamsa’s sister, Devaki, is married to another Yadava clan leader Vasudeva, and is pregnant with his child. Kamsa believes that Vasudeva will be elected to the chieftain-ship on Ugrasena’s death. So, he imprisons Devaki and Vasudeva, and plans to kidnap their child as a way to keep Vasudeva under his control.
With the help of the midwife assisting at the delivery, the child, called Krishna because of his dark skin is spirited away to be raised by Nanda, the chief of the cowherds in the Yadava lands. He is replaced with an aborted child. Kamsa is initially deceived, but suspects the deception later. His men fan out through the countryside killing new-born babes. When Ugrasena discovers what Kamsa’s men are doing, he orders a stop to it, but it is too late for the many dead children. Krishna is lucky -- he is hidden with the new-born calves, and escapes.
Krishna is raised by Nanda along with his older son, Balarama, as a cowherd. When Krishna is seventeen, he and Balarama visit Mathura, the capital city of the Yadavas. Kamsa has sponsored a wrestling tournament. For a lark, the two boys enter the tournament. Though untrained, they have developed some skill wrestling bulls and controlling cows. With some luck, they win the tournament, defeating Kamsa’s champion. Vasudeva then announces the truth about Krishna and acknowledges him as his son. Kamsa is discomfited and plots to kill Krishna..
Krishna and Balarama are ambushed -- they defend themselves with a plough and quarterstaff. They make enough noise that people are aroused and the ambushers are identified as Kamsa’s men. Under Yadava tradition, this gives Krishna the right to revenge. Krishna goes to Kamsa’s palace and challenges him to a wrestling duel. In the duel he breaks Kamsa’s back., The Yadavas hail him as a conquering hero -- Ugrasena is distraught but is unable to do anything about his loss.
[Note: Kunti, the mother of the Pandavas, is Vasudeva’s sister by birth -- she had been adopted by her father’s childless cousin, Kuntibhoja. Thus Krishna is first cousin to the Pandavas.]