UpapandavasIn the Hindu epic Mahabharata, the Upapandavas (, उपपाण्डव, lit. junior Pandavas), also known as Pandavaputras (, पाण्डवपुत्र, lit. sons of Pandavas), Draupadeyas or Panchakumaras (, पञ्चकुमार, lit. five sons) are the five sons of Queen Draupadi from each of the five Pandavas. They are Prativindhya, Sutasoma, Shrutakarma, Shatanika and Shrutasena. They were Atirathis, as mentioned by Bhishma, and fought the Kurukshetra war on the side of the Pandavas and slew many enemy warriors.
Kurukshetra WarThe Kurukshetra War (कुरुक्षेत्र युद्ध ), also called the Mahabharata War, is a war described in the Hindu epic poem Mahabharata (महाभारत ). The conflict arose from a dynastic succession struggle between two groups of cousins, the Kauravas and the Pandavas, for the throne of Hastinapura. The war laid the foundation for the Bhagavad Gita. The historicity of the war remains the subject of scholarly discussion. The Battle of the Ten Kings, mentioned in the Rigveda, may have formed the core of the Kurukshetra war's story.
RakshasaRākshasas (राक्षस, raːkʂɐsɐ ; rakkhasa; preservers) are a race of usually malevolent beings prominently featured in Hindu mythology. They reside on Earth but possess supernatural powers, which they usually use for evil acts such as disrupting Vedic sacrifices or eating humans. They are offered a distinction from yakshas, their cousins who are depicted to be forces of destruction. The term is also used to describe asuras, a class of power-seeking beings that oppose the benevolent devas.
PandavaThe Pandavas (Sanskrit: पाण्डव, IAST: Pāṇḍava) is a group name referring to the five legendary brothers, Yudhishtira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva, who are central characters of the Hindu epic Mahabharata. They are acknowledged as the sons of Pandu, the King of Kuru, but were fathered by different Devas (gods) due to Pandu's inability to naturally conceive children. In the epic, the Pandavas married Draupadi, the princess of Panchala, and founded the city of Indraprastha after the Kuru Kingdom was split to avoid succession disputes.
ShakuniShakuni (शकुनि, , bird) is one of the antagonists of the Hindu epic Mahabharata. He was the prince of the kingdom of Gandhara when introduced, later becoming its king after the death of his father, Subala. He was the brother of Gandhari and the maternal uncle of the Kauravas. Portrayed as intelligent, crafty and devious, Shakuni supported his nephews, particularly the eldest, Duryodhana, in plotting against their cousinsthe Pandavas. It was Shakuni who played the game of dice against Yudhishthira, one of the seminal events in the epic.
SuryaSurya (ˈsuːrjə;सूर्य, ) is the sun as well as the solar deity in Hinduism. He is traditionally one of the major five deities in the Smarta tradition, all of whom are considered as equivalent deities in the Panchayatana puja and a means to realise Brahman. Other names of Surya in ancient Indian literature include Aditya, Arka, Bhanu, Savitr, Pushan, Ravi, Martanda, Mitra, Bhaskara, Prabhakara, Kathiravan, and Vivasvan.
ArjunaArjuna (Sanskrit: अर्जुन, ), also known as Partha and Dhananjaya, is the central protagonist of the Hindu epic Mahabharata. In the epic he is the third of five Pandava brothers, from the lineage of the Kuru. In the Mahabharata War, Arjuna was a key warrior from the Pandava side and killed many warriors, including his elder brother Karna and grandfather Bhishma. Before the beginning of the war, his mentor Krishna gave him the supreme knowledge of the Bhagavad Gita to overcome his moral dilemmas.
KurukshetraKurukshetra (kʊrʊkʃeːtɾə, ) is a city and administrative headquarter of Kurukshetra district in the Indian state of Haryana. It is also known as Dharmakshetra ("Realm of duty ") and as the "Land of the Bhagavad Gita". Kurukshetra War According to the Puranas, Kurukshetra is a region named after King Kuru, the ancestor of Kauravas and Pandavas in the Kuru kingdom, as depicted in epic Mahabharata. The Kurukshetra War of the Mahabharata is believed to have taken place here.
DraupadiDraupadi (draupadī), also referred to as Krishnaa, Panchali, and Yagyaseni is the main female protagonist of the Hindu epic Mahabharata, and the common consort of the five Pandava brothers—Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva. She is noted for her beauty, courage, and polyandrous marriage. In Mahabharata, Draupadi and her brother, Dhrishtadyumna, were born from a yajna (fire sacrifice) organized by King Drupad of Panchal. Arjuna won her hand in marriage, but she had to marry the five brothers because of her mother-in-law's misunderstanding.
DuryodhanaDuryodhana (दुर्योधन, ) also known as Suyodhana, is the primary antagonist in the Hindu epic Mahabharata. He was the eldest of the Kauravas, the hundred sons of the king Dhritarashtra and his queen Gandhari. Being the first-born son of the king, he was the crown prince of the Kuru Kingdom and its capital of Hastinapura, often forced into ceding the title to his cousin Yudhishthira, who was one of the Pandava brothers and older than he. Aided by his maternal uncle Shakuni, Duryodhana tricked the Pandavas into surrendering their kingdom and forced them to go into exile.
