The Mahabharata/Book 1: Adi Parva/Section 124

Section CXXIV. *( Sambhava Parva continued. )* Vaisampayana said, "After the birth of Kunti's sons and after the hundred sons also of Dhrita-rashtra were born, the daughter of the king of Madra privately addressed Pandu, saying, 'O thou slayer of all foes, I have no complaint even if thou art unpropitious to me! I have, O sinless one, also no complaint that though by birth I am superior to Kunti yet I am inferior to her in station! I do not grieve, O thou of the Kuru race, that Ghandhari hath obtained an hundred sons! This, however, is my great grief that while I and Kunti are equal, I should be childless while it should so chance that thou shouldst have offspring by Kunti! If the daughter of Kunti-bhoja should so provide that I should have offspring, she would then be really doing me a great favor and benefiting thee likewise. She is my rival. Therefore am I ashamed of soliciting any favor of her. If thou art, O king, be propitiously inclined to me, then ask thou her to grant my desire!' "Hearing her, Pandu replied, 'O Madri, I do revolve this matter often in my own mind. But I had hitherto hesitated to tell thee anything, not knowing how you would receive it. Now that I know what your wishes are, I shall certainly strive after that end, I think that asked by me she will not refuse.'" Vaisampayana continued, "After this, Pandu addressed Kunti in private, saying, 'O Kunti, grant me some more offspring for the expansion of my race, and benefit thou the world! O blessed one, provide thou that I myself, my ancestors, and thine also, may always have offered to us the funeral cake! O, do what is beneficial to me, and grant me and the world what, indeed, is the best of benefits! O, do what, indeed, may be difficult for thee, moved by the desire of achieving undying fame! Behold, Indra, even though he hath obtained the sovereignty of the celestials, doth yet, for fame alone, perform sacrifices! O handsome one, Brahmanas, well acquainted with the Vedas, and having achieved high ascetic merit, do yet, for fame alone, approach their spiritual masters with reverence! So also all royal sages and Brahmanas possessed of ascetic wealth have achieved, for fame only, the most difficult of ascetic feats! Therefore, O thou blameless one, rescue thou this Madri as by a raft (by granting her the means of obtaining offspring,) and achieve thou imperishable fame by making her a mother of children!' "Thus addressed by her lord, Kunti readily yielded, and said unto Madri, 'Think thou, without loss of time, of some celestial, and thou shalt certainly obtain from him a child like unto him.' Reflecting for a few moments, Madri then thought of the twin Aswinas. Those celestials coming unto her with speed begat upon her two sons that were twins named Nakula and Sahadeva, unrivalled on earth for personal beauty. And as soon as they were born, an incorporeal voice said, 'These twins in energy and beauty shall transcend even the twin Aswinas themselves.' Indeed, possessed of great energy and wealth of beauty they illumined the whole region. "O king, after all the children were born, the Rishis dwelling on the mountain of hundred peaks, uttering blessings on them and affectionately performing the first rites of birth, bestowed appellations on them. The eldest of Kunti's children was called Yudhish-thira, the second Bhima-sena, and the third Arjuna. And of Madri's sons, the first-born of the twins was called Nakula, and the next Sahadeva. And those best of the Kurus, born at intervals of one year after one another, looked like an embodied period of five years. And king Pandu beholding his children of celestial beauty and endued with super-abundant energy, great strength and prowess, and largeness of soul, rejoiced exceedingly. And the children became great favourites of the Rishis, as also of their wives, dwelling on the mountain of hundred peaks. "Sometime after Pandu again requested Kunti on behalf of Madri. Addressed, O king, by. her lord in private, Kunti replied, 'Having given her the formula of invocation only once, she hath, O king, managed to obtain two sons. Have I not been thus deceived by her? I fear, O king, that she will soon surpass me in the number of her children! This, indeed, is the way of all wicked women! Fool that I was I did not know that by invoking twin gods I could obtain at one birth twin children. I beseech thee, O king, do not command me any further! Let this be the boon granted to me!' "Thus, O king, were born unto Pandu five sons begotten by the celestials; endued with great strength and who all lived to achieve great fame and expand the Kuru race. Each bearing every auspicious mark on his person, handsome like Soma, proud as the lion, well-skilled in the use of the bow, and of leonine tread, breast, heart, eyes, neck, and prowess those foremost of men, resembling the celestials themselves in might, began to grow up. And beholding them and their virtues expanding with years, the great Rishis dwelling on that sacred mountain capt with snow were filled with wonder. And the five Pandavas and the hundred sons of Dhrita-rashtra—expanders of the Kuru race—grew up rapidly like an assemblage of lotuses in a lake." Thus ends the hundred and twenty-fourth Section in the Sambhava of the Adi Parva.