What is Pandavas known for?
The Pandavas are the five sons of King Pandu in the Mahabharata: Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, and the twins Nakula and Sahadeva. The epic says each was fathered by a god, Dharma, Vayu, Indra and the twin Ashvins, and all five share one wife, Draupadi.
Their cousins the Kauravas, led by Duryodhana, cheat Yudhishthira out of the kingdom in a game of dice and send the brothers into thirteen years of exile. The long Vana Parva, the "Book of the Forest," tells of those years.
The quarrel ends in the eighteen-day war at Kurukshetra, with Krishna as Arjuna's charioteer. The Pandavas win, but nearly everyone on both sides dies. The battle stories, with their divine weapons, are behind many Indian files on this site.
They are at the heart of the Mahabharata files: Kurukshetra, Arjuna's weapons and the Brahmashira.
Mentioned on these pages
- FileBrahmashira
- PassageThe Brahmashira burns the unborn (Mahabharata, Sauptika Parva)
- PersonArjuna
- PersonAshvatthama
- PersonBalarama
- PersonKisari Mohan Ganguli
- PersonKrishna
- PersonParikshit
- PersonVyasa
- PersonYudhishthira
- PlaceKurukshetra
Sources
- The MahabharataOne of the two great Sanskrit epics of India, about a war between two branches of a royal family. With about 100,000 verses it is one of the longest poems ever made. It was mostly put together between about 300 BC and AD 300. Kisari Mohan Ganguli made the first full English version, 1883 to 1896.The Mahabharata, trans. Kisari Mohan Ganguli (1883–1896) Online copyPrimary text Archived copy, 2026-10-03
- WikipediaA free online encyclopedia written and edited by volunteers. It is a good starting point and usually lists its own sources, but anyone can change it, so we treat it as a guide to better sources, not the final word.Wikipedia, 'Pandavas'Reference
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