King Pandu

The pale son of the niyoga

When King Vichitravirya died without an heir, his mother Satyavati asked her elder son, the sage Vyasa, to father children on the two widowed queens. Queen Ambalika turned pale with fear when the ascetic came to her, and her son was born pale, so he was named Pandu. His half-brothers were Dhritarashtra, born blind to Ambika, and Vidura, son of a serving woman. Bhishma raised the three boys, and because a blind man could not rule, the crown went to Pandu.

Pandu took two wives. Kunti, daughter of the Yadava Shurasena and adopted by King Kuntibhoja, chose him at her swayamvara. Madri, sister of Shalya of Madra, was bought for him by Bhishma with the bride-price her country's custom required.

The conqueror of the east

Pandu soon led the Kuru army out. He defeated the Dasharnas, killed King Dirgha of Magadha inside his own city of Girivraja, and received the submission of Videha, Kashi, the Suhmas and the Pundras. He brought the tribute home and handed it over to Dhritarashtra, Bhishma and the family. Then, restless in the palace, he left the kingdom in his brother's care and went with his two queens to live and hunt in the forests below the Himalayas.

The curse of the deer

In the forest Pandu shot two deer that were mating. The stag was the sage Kimdama, who had taken that form to be with his wife. Dying, the sage cursed Pandu to die the moment he lay with a wife in love. Pandu gave up his ornaments and the royal life and settled as an ascetic on Mount Shatashringa, with Kunti and Madri refusing to leave him.

Grieving that he would die without sons, he learned from Kunti that the sage Durvasa had given her a mantra to call any god. At his wish she bore Yudhishthira by Dharma, Bhima by Vayu, and Arjuna by Indra, after Pandu had stood on one leg for a year to win Indra's favour. Kunti then shared the mantra once with Madri, who invoked the Ashvins and bore the twins Nakula and Sahadeva.

Death in the spring

Years later, on a spring day with the forest in flower, Pandu saw Madri alone, forgot the curse and took her in his arms, and died. Madri gave her sons into Kunti's care and joined him on the funeral pyre. The ascetics of the mountain then escorted Kunti and the five boys to Hastinapura and presented them at the city gate as Pandu's heirs.

The father behind the name

Pandu is absent from almost the whole epic, yet the war is fought over his inheritance and his sons are called by his name. He is remembered as a just king whose one careless arrow cost him his life. The sage Narada later tells Yudhishthira that Pandu sits honoured among the righteous kings in Yama's hall and wishes his son to perform the Rajasuya sacrifice, which sets the next part of the story in motion.