Pandu for fifteen years enjoyed peace and happiness with his wives and his sons.Then one day Kunti and her sons including Nakula and Sahadeva, went visiting an ashrama.Pandu and his other wife Madri were left all alone.Moved by intense passion he attempted to have a moment of intimacy with Madri and alas! the curse of the rishi came to pass. Pandu dropped dead.

This was a terrible blow to both of his wives and his sons.Their grief was immense.Madri was full of remorse and she alighted the funeral pyre of Pandu and burnt herself to death not only as a sign of repentance but also as part of her Dharma,as were the custom in those days.Kunti was now left to look after her five sons.

Kunti decided to return back to Hastinapura with her five sons and they were escorted by a few kind and concerned rishis.The rishis placed them under the care of Dhritarashtra.

Bhishma,Dhritarashtra, Vidura,Satyavati and others were very compassionate to them. All the after funeral ceremonies were performed in accordance with the Shastras and were well presided over by Vyasa.

When the ceremonies were completed before Vyasa left he went to his mother Satyavati.He told her that what was about to happen there in Hastinapura would be unbearable for her.

He told her that all he can foresee is death and destruction and a total disregard for right conduct.Satyavati became very sad when she heard this from Vyasa.

She immediately made plans to resort to the forest but summoned Bhishma once again.She assigned him the task of guiding the Kuru dynasty through the difficult times ahead.

When she was about to depart,Ambika and Ambalika also accompanied her to the forest.With the memories of their tragedies and sorrows of lives these fine women left Hastinapura for the forest to perform penance and make peace with God.

The luxurious palace life became very fascinating to the Pandavas. Bhima was one of the playful ones ,always pulling pranks on the Kauravas.Duryodhana on the other hand started hating the Pandava brothers.Previous to their coming to the palace he had all the attention from Bhishma.Now Bhishma was showing them his love and affection much to the disatisfaction of Duryodhana.

Shakuni,Duryodhana's maternal uncle,would never miss out on an oppurtunity to fan the fires of hate that Duryodhana had developed for his cousins.Such was the hate that once they poisoned some snacks and tricked Bhim into eating it.Then they tied his arms and legs and threw some serpents on him and then threw him in the river Ganga.

When Yudhishtira and his brothers discovered that Bhima was missing, they ran to their mother.Kunti sent for Vidura and told him that Bhima was missing.Vidura comforted her by telling her that Bhima had the blessings of the Devatas and the rishis and as such he would not die.

Kunti had her suspicions though that Duryodhana and Shakuni were behind that plot.By now the serpents were biting Bhima but their venom were not effective in causing harm to him because their poison were like the antidote for the poison he consumed in the food.As such he regained conciousness.

When the serpents saw what was happening, they ran to their chief Vasuki and told him.Vasuki commanded them to bring Bhima to him.The chief of the serpents welcomed him with great joy and affection.He then offered Bhima nectar,a bowl of which filled him with the strenght of at least one thousand elephants.Bhima drank eight bowls full of the ambrosia.

He spent a few days with the serpent king Vasuki and then he returned to Hastinapura.He told his mother and his brothers about what had happened and both Duryohdhana and Shakuni were angry to see that Bhima had escaped death.

Pandit Bhadase Maharaj.

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