Section 2: Origins of the Kuru Dynasty
To understand the Mahābhārata, one must first go back to the roots of the Kuru dynasty, for it is within this royal lineage that the seeds of the great conflict were sown. The Kurus traced their descent from King Bharata, the son of King Duṣyanta and Queen Śakuntalā. Bharata was a mighty monarch who extended his rule across the subcontinent, and his legacy was so influential that India itself came to be known as Bhārata-varṣa. From his line emerged generations of kings who shaped the destiny of Hastināpura, the capital of the Kuru kingdom.
Several generations after Bharata, the throne of Hastināpura came to be ruled by King Śāntanu, a man whose choices would profoundly impact the future of his dynasty. Śāntanu's first love was the river goddess Gaṅgā, who agreed to marry him on the condition that he would never question her actions. They had eight sons, but Gaṅgā drowned the first seven immediately after birth. When Śāntanu finally intervened to stop her from drowning the eighth child, she left him, revealing that these sons were celestial beings cursed to be born on earth. The last child, spared, was named Devavrata.
Devavrata grew into a brilliant warrior and a devoted son. Later, when Śāntanu desired to marry a fisherwoman named Satyavatī, her father refused unless her children inherited the throne. To secure his father's happiness, Devavrata took a terrible vow of lifelong celibacy and renounced his claim to the throne. This act earned him the name Bhīṣma—"the terrible," one who makes a fearful vow. His pledge of chastity and loyalty to the throne would shape the entire epic, for though he remained the kingdom's guardian, his vow also prevented him from becoming king himself.
From Śāntanu and Satyavatī were born two sons: Citrāṅgada and Vicitravīrya. Citrāṅgada died young in battle, and Vicitravīrya became king but died childless. To preserve the dynasty, the widowed queens of Vicitravīrya were united with Vyāsa, Satyavatī's first-born son (before her marriage to Śāntanu). From these unions were born Dhṛtarāṣṭra, who was blind; Pāṇḍu, who was pale and weakly; and Vidura, born of a maid, who became renowned for his wisdom and righteousness.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra married Gāndhārī, who blindfolded herself for life out of devotion to her husband, while Pāṇḍu married Kuntī and Mādrī. From these marriages, the two branches of the dynasty emerged—the hundred Kauravas, sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, and the five Pāṇḍavas, sons of Pāṇḍu. The rivalry between these two lineages would eventually lead to the catastrophic war of Kurukṣetra.