The news of Pandu's eventual death in the forest- having succumbed to the curse- reaches Hastinapur like a thunderclap. Kunti returns to the palace with five young boys, claiming they are the rightful heirs. The city rejoices, but inside the palace walls, the hundred sons of Dhritarashtra, led by the eldest, Duryodhana, watch with narrowed eyes. To Duryodhana, these "cousins" are intruders, forest-dwellers come to steal his birthright.
The rivalry is instant and physical. Bhima, the second Pandava, is a giant among children. He treats the hundred Kauravas like ninepins, knocking them over in play and dragging them through the dust. Duryodhana's resentment turns into a cold, calculated hatred. Encouraged by his uncle, the master-manipulator Shakuni, Duryodhana decides that "play" is no longer enough.
One afternoon, Duryodhana invites the Pandavas to a beautiful pavilion by the river for a feast. He offers Bhima a specially prepared kheer (sweet pudding), laced with a deadly Kalakuta poison. As Bhima slips into a death-like stupor, Duryodhana and his brothers bind him with vines and heave his massive body into the depths of the Ganges.
They return to the palace, feigning ignorance, assuming the strongest of their rivals is finally at the bottom of the river, food for the fish. Kunti and the brothers are frantic, searching the banks in despair. But beneath the surface, Bhima's body sinks into the kingdom of the Nagas (serpents). Instead of devouring him, the serpents bite him, and their venom acts as an accidental antidote to the palace poison.
As Bhima wakes up in the underwater palace of the Serpent King, he is offered a drink that will give him the strength of ten thousand elephants-but back on land, the Kauravas are already planning a much more "fiery" solution for the remaining brothers.