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The birth of Pandavas
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Durvasa paid a visit to the palace of Kuntibojan. The king appointed his
foster daughter Kunti to serve the sage and look after his needs. Kunti
sincerely performed her duties with care, patience and devotion. Pleased with
her sincerity, Durvasa gave her a divine mantra. He said, "If you call
upon any God repeating this mantra, he will manifest himself to you and bless
you with a son equal to him in glory."
The impatient curiosity of
youth made Kunti test the efficacy of the mantra by repeating it and invoking
the Sun, whom she saw shining in the heavens. The Sun God approached Kunti
with ardent, soul-scorching admiration. Kunti was aghast and asked him to go
back and forgive the childish folly of hers.
 But
the mantra held him and so Kunti conceived by the grace of the Sun God and
gave birth to Karna who was born with divine armour and earrings and was
bright and beautiful like the Sun. To hide her fault, she placed him in a
sealed box and set it afloat in a river. The child was spotted by a charioteer
and was brought up in his house.
Later, Kunti got married to
King Pandu, and on the advice of Bheeshma and in accordance with the
prevailing custom, he took a second wife, Madri. In the olden days, the kings
took two or three wives to make sure they had progeny and not for any sensual
pleasure.
One day, King Pandu was out
hunting. A sage and his wife were also sporting in the forest in the guise of
deer. Pandu shot the male deer with an arrow, ignorant of the fact that it was
a sage in disguise. Stricken to death, the sage cursed the king that he would
die the moment he tastes sexual pleasure.
Pandu
was heartbroken and retreated to the forest with his wives and lived a perfect
life of abstinence. Seeing him desirious of offspring, Kunti confided in him
the story of the mantra she had received from Durvasa. So, with his
permission, Kunti thought of Yama, Vayu and Indra and chanted the mantra.
Through this, Yudhishtra, Bheema and Arjun were born. Pandu's other wife,
Madri, as desired by him, with the help of Kunti's mantra thought of Ashwini
devatha and gave birth to Nakulan and Sahadevan.
(Mahabaratham -Vanaparvam -
Chapter 207 - Sloka 17 & Aadhiparvam - Chapter 122 - Sloka 77, 78 ).
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