Mahabhaarata is an epic. It starts with The King Shantanu (king of Hastinapura) marrying Ganga. They have a son Bhishma. Later king Shantanu marries Satyavati. They have two sons – Vichitraveerya and Chitraanga. Chitraanga has three sons – Dritaraashtra, Pandu and Vidura.
Dritaraashtra is blind by birth, so Pandu rules the kingdom even though he is the younger one. Dritaraashtra has 100 sons – who are called Kauravas. The oldest of them is Duryodhana and the second one is Dushshasana.
Pandu has 5 sons who are called Pandavas. They are Dharma Raju, Bheema, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva. Draupadi is the wife of the Pandavas.
D Dharma Raju being the oldest son of King Padu, should be the next king after Pandu. Duryodhana along with his brother, best friend Karna and his maternal uncle Shakuni decides to rule Hastinapura all by himself instead of letting the Pandavas rule. He does not even give them their share of the kingdom. Instead he tortures them in many ways and denies them their rights to the throne.
Pandavas always were law abiding and never did anything against dharma. So, Lord Krishna is always on their side. Later they fight for the kingdom and the Pandavas win. This is the main story of the Mahabhaarata in a few lines.
In the next few stories, let’s learn about the different characters of Mahabhaarata. The good and bad of all the main characters. What can we learn from them.