Pandava

(“sons of Pandu”) A collective name
for the five brothers who are the
protagonists of the Mahabharata:
Yudhishthira, Arjuna, Bhima, Nakula,
and Sahadeva. Although they are
named after king Pandu, none are actually his son, since Pandu has been
cursed to die the moment he holds his
wife in amorous embrace. Rather, they
are magically conceived through a
mantra given by the sage Durvasas to
Kunti, Pandu’s senior wife. The mantra
gives the woman who recites it the
power to call down any god and to have,
by that god, a son equal in power to himself. Kunti uses this mantra to bear
Yudhishthira by the god Dharma,
Arjuna by the storm-god Indra, and
Bhima by the wind-god Vayu. With
Pandu’s blessing Kunti also teaches the
mantra to her co-wife Madri, who meditates on the Ashvins (divine twins who
are the physicians to the gods), and
delivers the twins Nakula and Sahadeva.
The basic theme of the Mahabharata
is the story of the struggle for royal
power between the Pandavas and
their cousins, the Kauravas, which
culminates in a war that destroys the
entire family.