Genealogy from Bharata to
Janamejaya
Kauravas and Pandavas
belong to a line of dynasty that starts with Bharata. That is why India is
called Bharata Varasha. (This is similar to how China got its name from the first emperor whose name was Qin Shi
Huang. Qin is pronounced “chin”). Those of you who have visited Xian to
look at the famous burial ground of this king with the terracotta warriors will
know this). The genealogy of the Kauravas and Pandavas is given in Book1,
section 95. It is interesting that in the Old Testament, the early chapters are about the genealogy of the first
12 tribes of the Holy Land.
The history starts with Sakuntala and Dushyanta and their son,
called Bharata. This story is well-known because of Kalidasa’s Abhignana
Shakuntalam. Bharata married Sunanda, the daughter of the king of Kasi, and had
a son named Bhumanyu. Bhumanyu married Vijaya, the daughter of Dasarha and had
a son. Suhotra was his name and he married Suvarna, the daughter of Ikshvaku
(Remember that this is the family in which Rama was born in the previous yuga).
To her was born a son named Hasti who founded the city called Hastinapura.
And Hasti married
Yasodhara, the princess of Trigarta and their son was named Vikunthana. He
married Sudeva, the princess of Dasarha and had a son named Ajamidha. Ajamidha had four wives
named Raikeyi, Gandhari, Visala and Riksha and had two thousand and four
hundred sons! (after all, this is why this is called purana and not history) One
of them by name Samvarana became the perpetuator of the dynasty. Samvarana married Tapati, the daughter of Vivaswat. Their son Kuru
married Subhangi, the princess of Dasarha. They had a son named Viduratha, who
married Supriya, the daughter of the Madhavas. Anaswan was their son and
Anaswan married Amrita. Parikshit was the son of Amrita and Anaswan. Parikshit
married Suvasa, the daughter of the Vahudas, and Bhimasena(a different Bhima)
was their son. Bhimasena married Kumari, the princess of Kekaya and their son
was Pratisravas whose son was Pratipa. Pratipa married Sunanda, the daughter of
Sivi, and had three sons, viz., Devapi, Santanu and Valhika. Devapi became a
hermit and therefore Santanu became the king.
Santanu married Ganga,
whose son was known as Devavrata. Bhishma is none other than this Devavrata. After
Devavrata was born, Santanu met Satyavati and wanted to marry her. But she
demanded that a son born to her, and not Bhishma and his line, should ascend
the throne. In order to help his father’s wishes, Bhishma took a vow of
Brahmacharya (and thus assuring no progeny). Satyavati already had a son by
Parasara, named Dwaipayana (Who was later called Vyasa, the rishi who wrote the
Mahabharata).
Santanu had two sons by
Satyavati, named Chitrangada and Vichitravirya. Chitrangada was killed by the
Gandharvas. Vichitravirya became king, married the two daughters of the king of
Kasi, named Ambika and Ambalika and died childless. To make sure that the
lineage of her son (Vichitravirya) rule the kingdom, Satyavati thought about
the customs of those days. It was acceptable in those days for a brother to get
children through the brother’s wife. Therefore, she called Vyasa and asked him
to get children for the sake of his brother (half-brother’s) dynasty. Dwaipayana,
consented to his mother’s and got three children, viz., Dhritarashtra,
Pandu, and Vidura.
King Dhritarashtra had a hundred sons by his wife,
Gandhari.(This is also an interesting story to read; but too long to recount
here). And amongst those hundred sons, four are well-known: Duryodhana,
Duhsasana, Vikarna, and Chitrasena. And Pandu had two wives, Kunti ( also
called Pritha), and Madri. Pandu, while out a-hunting, killed a deer during the
act of mating. He was cursed that he will die if he tried to co-habit with his
wives. He stopped going to his wives but wanted children to help him go to the
world of the ancestors. He requested Kunti and Madri to get children through
someone else. Kunti will not think of it but remembered a special boon she had
received earlier. Using that boon, Kunti united with Dharma and Yudhishtra
(Dharma) was born. Bhima was born of Marut (Vayu, also father of Hanuman) and
Arjuna through Indra. Madri got Nakula and Sahadeva through the twin Aswins,
with the help of Kunti. Madri entered the funeral pyre when Pandu died.
Before the Kurukshetra war, after marrying
Draupadi, each of the Pandavas had one son each through her: Yudhishthira got
Prativindhya; Bhima, Sutasoma; Arjuna, Srutakriti; Nakula, Satanika; and
Sahadeva, Srutakarman. Yudhishthira, had another wife Devika, the daughter of
Govasana of the Saivya tribe, and had a son named Yaudheya. And Bhima married Valandhara,
the daughter of the king of Kasi, and had a son named Sarvaga. Bhima also had a
son through a she-demon (Hidimva) and was called Gatothkacha. Arjuna abducted Subhadra, Krishna’s sister with
Krishna’s help and had a son named Abhimanyu. And Nakula married Karenumati,
the princess of Chedi, had a son named Niramitra. Sahadeva married Vijaya, the
daughter of the king of Madra, and had a son named Suhotra.
Abhimanyu was the perpetuator of the Pandava family.All
the other sons of the Pandavas were killed in the war. He married Uttara, the
daughter of Virata. She was pregnant with Abhimanyu’s son during the war. A
weapon used by Aswattaman burnt this child in the womb. The child was born
premature but Krishna asked Kunti to take care of the child with the promise
that he will revive the child to full strength by the age of six months. Krishna
fulfilled his promise. And after reviving him, Vasudeva (Krishna) said,
'Because this child is born in an extinct race, he will be called Parikshit'.
And Parikshit married Madravati, and their son was Janamejaya.
It was during the performance of Aswamedha yaga by
Janamejaya of the Pandava dynasty that the story of Mahabharata was recounted
by Sanjaya, who was Dhrithrashtra’s charioteer and a witness to the war. He was also given special powers by Lord Krishna to be able to see everything that went on in the battle field. In
essence, Sanjaya was the official reporter from the war front.
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