Mahabharata – 81

by           

Sankar Mukherjee

&

Dr Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya
                                            AadivamsavataranaParva

As we have already observed in the story of Uparichara, the seed of a pious man was generally never wasted. There was a great sage named Bharadwaja. His seed fell into a pot. From there Drona was born.

The seed of another great saint Gautama fell into the grasses. Thence a girl & a boy was born.The boy was Kripa & the girl was the wife of Drona.She became the mother of Asvatthama.

The bright & exceedingly beautiful Krishnaa or Draupadi was also born.

Earlier Nagnajit & Subala were the discples of Prahlad. Subala was the king of Gandhara or Kandahara of today in Afganisthan.Subal’s son was Sakuni. Subal’s daughter was Gandhari who held from Kandahara or Gandhara.Duryodhana was the son of Gandhari.The king Dhritharastra & the mighty Pandu were born in the womb of the wives of  Vichitravirya with the seed from Vedavyasa.The seed from Vedavyasa caused the birth of Vidura in the womb of a maid servant.

Pandu had two wives in Kunti & Madri. It was in their wombs  that five demi gods were born one by one. Among them Yudhisthira was the eldest.

Yudhisthira was the incarnation of the god Dharma. Bhima was born under the influence of wind god. Arjuna was the child of Indra the king of gods.

The exceedingly beautiful twins Nakula & Sahadeva were born from the twin gods Asvinikumaras.

The superbly clever Dhritarashtra had hundred sons by his wife Gandhari. Another son born to him in the womb of a woman of the Vaisya caste was Yuyutsu.

Duryodhana,Duhsasana,Duhsaha,Durmasana,Vikarna,Chitrasena,Vivimsati,Jaya,Satyavrata,Purumitra & Yuyutsu were great warriors & charioteers.

Arjuna had a son by his wife Subhadra named Abhinanyu.   He was the nephew of Lord Krishna & the grandson of Pandu.

Draupadi had five sons caused by the five brothers or the Pandavas.Prativandhya was the son of Yudhisthira.Sutasoma was the son of Bhima.Srutakirti was the son Arjuna.Satanika was the son of Nakula & Srutasena was the son Sahadeva.Earlier Bhima had a son named Ghatotcacha by the demon woman Hidimba.

Shikhandi was a girl born to the king Drupada. Later she changed her sex.

Countless kings participated in the great war between the members of the race of the Kurus.