Sahadeva

Fifth of the five Pandava brothers who
are the protagonists in the great Hindu
epic, the Mahabharata. Sahadeva’s
mother is Madri, who is the junior wife
of King Pandu. None of the Pandava
brothers are actually Pandu’s sons,
since he has been cursed to die the
moment he holds his wife in an
amorous embrace. Madri conceives her
sons magically, using a mantra given to
her co-wife, Kunti, by the sage
Durvasas. The mantra gives the woman
who recites it the power to call down
any of the gods and to have by him a son
equal in power to the god. With Pandu’s
blessing Kunti teaches the mantra to
Madri, who meditates on the Ashvins,
the divine twins who are the physicians
of the gods, and thus bears the twins
Nakula and Sahadeva. As the sons of the
physicians of the gods, both are skilled
healers of animals and human beings.
Although they are among the five
Pandava brothers, they are less important to the Mahabharata than their
three elder siblings.