Rashmi Rathi

4. Birth of Pandavs and Kauravs

Pandu returns and tells everything to Bhisma and Satyavati. Kunti and Madri were also sad, had they not forced him, he wouldn't have been cursed.

He gave up the crown and decided to take sanyas. Bhisma tries his best to convince him but he was admanant.

Next day Dhritrashtra was crowned temporary king. Pandu, Kunti and Madri left for the forest with people bowing their heads in respect.

3 months pass peacefully for everyone. One day Pandu gets a letter from Bhisma stating that it's been 2 years since Gandhari was pregnant and has not given birth yet.

After reading the letter Pandu also had a desire to hold a his baby in his arms. He told Kunti and Madri to perform Niyog but they were not ready.

Pandu was very upset. One day three were watching the setting sun. No one spoke anything, Kunti looked at Pandu who seemed sad, she decided to tell him about the mantra.

Kunti :- Arya.

Pandu :- Hmmm.

Kunti :- I know you are sad because you can't have your child.

Pandu :- And I am sorry this all is happening because of me.

Kunti :- But you can still have children arya.

Pandu's face lit up.

Pandu :- What are you saying, I can have kids.

Kunti :- Yes arya but please listen to me carefully then say anything.

Madri :- Ok jiji, you can tell us.

Kunti :- So this happened when I was 17 years of age. I served rishi Durvasa, impressed with my devotion he blessed me with a mantra with which I can invoke any god of my choice and he will bless me with a child who will have characteristics like him.

Pandu :- Why you didn't told me about this before Kunti, it's so good news, we can have kids.

Kunti :- ( hesistating ) The tale is not over yet arya.

Pandu :- Ok, please continue.

Kunti :- One day when I was praying in the morning, in my curiosity I invoked Suryadev and he blessed me with a son.

She looked at Pandu whose face was expressionless. She thought he will judge her but what he said shocked her.

Pandu :- We already have a son and I don't even know. I will write a letter to tatshree today only that Hastinapur has got its yuvraj.

Kunti :- Are you not angry on me arya, I mean I got him before our marriage.

Madri :- I can understand jiji, at that time you were naive and mistakes are a part of life but please tell us when will we meet him and what is his name.

Kunti :- Suryadev named him Karn, saying that one day he will be one of the greatest warriors on earth. But you can't meet him...

Pandu :- Why Kunti what happened ?

Kunti :- I was sacred of the society at that time and didn't knew anything, so I left him in a basket and flew him in ganga river.

She started crying after this, Pandu sits beside her and consoles her.

Pandu :- I can feel your pain Kunti, this society dosen't respect women at all. But I am a little angry, you didn't trusted me to tell this to me before.

Kunti :- I am sorry arya, I was scared....

Pandu :- I will never judge you Kunti, I trust you will my life that you will never do such a thing.

She smiles relieved.

Madri :- Jiji you told that the child will have the characteristics from their godfathers, which one did he have.

Kunti :- He was born with the blessing of Suryadev, he had a divine impenetrable golden armour on his body, his ears were adorned with golden kundals, his aura was divine and he had mark of sun on his forehead.

Pandu :- Don't worry Kunti, I will call tatshree and talk to him, my son will become an archer like me. I can't wait for the day he will hold my bow and conquer the world. But Kunti he will need some support in form of brothers.

Kunti :- Yes arya, so tell me whose's son do you wish for.

Pandu :- He should be the one to follow dharm throughout his life, so he should be son of Yamraj.

Next day after worshipping, she chanted the mantra and invoked Yamraj.

Yamraj appeared with black clouds surrounding him.

Yamraj :- Kunti you called me, now I bless you with my son, he will be the embodiment of dharm, truthful in speech with determination on face, his name will be Yudhisthir. The one who is calm, even in a war.

Suddenly Kunti felt a baby in her arms. They thanked Yamraj and he dissapeared.

Pandu meets Bhisma and tell him about Karn. He tells Pandu to keep quiet for now, that Karn will be searched secretly, if Shakuni comes to know about this he will definitely try to manipulate Dhritrashtra.

At Hastinapur,

Gandhari gives birth to a pound of flesh. Dhritrashtra was very angry after this, but Satyavati called Vedvyas to Hastinapur and tells him the problem.

He divides the flesh into 101 peices and embeded them in pots with medical herbs. A maid gets pregnant with Dhritarashtra's son but he later apologizes to Gandhari.

After 2 months at Adhirath's house,

Radha gives birth to a son and named him Amrit.

At his birth, weather was very harsh, and winds seemed to give some kind of warning of an approaching storm.

10 months later,

Kunti chanted the mantra and invoked Vayu Dev. He blessed her a son with immense strength and named him Bheemsen.

At Hastinapur,

A pot began to move and Vedvyas took out the baby from it. He was a son. Vedvyas handed him to Dhritrashtra, he was very happy and named the child as Duryodhan, the invincible one.

One after the other pots started to move and children were taken out.

Meanwhile,

Kunti invoked Indradev and he blessed her with his son who will be unparalleled as Vajra namely Arjun.

She shared the mantra with Madri who invoked Ashvini Dev.

Ashvini Natsya blessed her with a son who will be most handsome man in the world named Nakul.

Ashvini Darsa blessed her with a son who will be most wise named Sahdev.

Time became pleasant and 2 years passed happily but the search for Karn went on with no results.

Adhirath's wife Radha gave birth to twins Shon and Shivangi.

Karn practiced archery by himself and became quiet good at it.

He urged his father that he wanted to learn archery. Adhirath tried his best to tell him that a sut's son is not allowed to practice warfare. Fed up he took his son to Dronacharya's ashram.

They both reached there and greeted him.

Dron :- Adhirath, you here and who is he with you.

Adhirath :- Acharya, he is my son Vasusen.

Karn came foreward and touched his feet.

Dron :- Kalyan ho vatsya. Your face has glow of sun, Adhirath you should name him Karn. Now tell me why you came here.

Adhirath :- Acharya, my son wants to become an archer, and who can be a better guru than you.

Dron :- (sighs) I am sorry Adhirath, this ashram is only for kshatriya or Raj putras and your son is neither of them. By the way, you are a sut, didn't you told your son that he should be practicing on chariots.

Karn :- Acharya, it is my life, shouldn't it be my decision, what I want to be.

Adhirath :- Vasu, is this the way to talk to elders.

Karn :- I am sorry pitashree but I have the habbit of speaking truth. Acharya, can I ask you a question.

Dron :- Yes, of course.

Karn :- Who is that boy sitting there ?

Dron :- He is my son Ashwatthama.

Karn :- Oh, so he is neither Raj putra nor kshatriya, then how he is eligible for this ashram.

Dron looked at Karn shocked. Till now no one had the audacity to question him like that.

Adhirath :- Vasu, shut up for a moment....

Karn :- Acharya, if you think being a sut I am not fit for this, then today I promise you, I will become such a warrior that you will not be able to train any of your student well enough to defeat me in a straight battle. I vow to become the greatest archer of the universe after Mahadev.

Saying so he angrily went away. Dron stood there numb, he could clearly feel the determination of Karn.

Adhirath :- I am sorry for my son's behaviour acharya, he is still a kid I will make him understand.

Dron :- No need to be sorry, you should be happy to be blessed with this son, one day he will prove his words to be true, all you have to do is to give him freedom.

Adhirath was skleptical but left from there.