Karna was born to Kunti before she was married as a result of her testing the boon that Durvasa had given her. Afraid of society, she set him afloat in a box. The baby was found by a charioteer, Atiratha, who along with his wife brought him up with all love and care. He then grew up under Dhritharashtra's care and learnt archery under Drona. He became friends with Duryodhana after, which his sole aim was to fight with Arjuna. When Drona refused to...

Known as Bhishma Pitamaha, Bhishma was actually Devavratha, King Shanthanu and Mother Ganga's son. He received a boon from his father that he could choose his own time of death. He vowed never to get married and remained the constant guide, teacher, philosopher and friend to the Pandavas and the Kauravas. He kept his promise of never contesting the King's throne. Accordingly, after his father's death he made his brothers, Chitrangada and later, Vichitravirya,...

Arjuna was Kunti and Pandu's son born, when Kunti invoked Devendra. At the time of his birth, a loud thunder proclaimed that he would be equal to Vishnu in courage, to Shiva in prowess and would uphold the name of the Kuru clan. He was Drona's best student who learnt the use of Brahmastra upon saving his teacher from the fatal grip of a crocodile. He was able to fulfill his guru's wish and thus brought King Drupada to Drona. He agreed to fight against...

Draupadi was king Drupada's daughter born of fire and was destined to bring the end of the Kauravas. She accepted Arjuna to be her husband in the swayamwara but later on became the wife of all the five Pandavas. Sage Vedavyasa convinced Drupada that Draupadi was Swargalakshmi incarnate and that by marrying the five brothers she was marrying five Indras. Upon Narada's advice, the brothers drew up a code of conduct. One of the codes was that Draupadi...

Sage Vedavyasa, great grandson of Sage Vashista, was also known as Dwaipayana and Badarayana. He classified the Vedas into 4, wrote the Brahma Sutra, and divided the Puranas into 18 Mahapuranas. He initiated four of his disciples—Paila, Vaishampayana, Jaimini and Sumanthu — into the Vedas and invested with them the responsibility of continuing the tradition. Sage Vedavyasa had the power of seeing into the past and the future. Thus he convinced...

Hanuman was born to Anjana, a vanara woman who was cursed by Brihaspathi for having pestered him to marry her. Hanuman was extremely radiant at birth and as a little baby, had once jumped into the sky to eat up the sun thinking it was a fruit! During a scuffle among Devendra, Rahu and Hanuman, Indra injured the child Hanuman and Vayudeva got angry with him. In retaliation, he took away the child and went into a cave. The world became bereft of air...

Ravana was born to Kaikasi and Vishravasa, and Pulatsya (son of Prajapathi Brahma) was his grandfather. Kumbhakarna and Vibhishana were his brothers and Shoorpanakha was his sister. As he was born with ten heads, he was known as Dashagreeva, Dashanana, etc. He went to Gokarna with his brothers and performed such severe penance that Lord Brahma appeared before him and granted him a boon by virtue of which he would be immune to death at the hands of...

Narada, Lord Brahma's son, was asked to leave Satyaloka, be born twice as a human being in order to understand the trials and tribulations of earthly life. So first, he was born as a gandharva when he invented the Veena. Second, he was born as a son of a housemaid who worked in a brahmin's house. Thus his mind was filled thoughts of God and service to Him. God appeared before him saying that he had fulfilled his purpose. Soon after, there was the...

After all the four weddings, Rama, his brothers and parents went to Ayodhya. On the way they met Parasurama who acknowledged that Rama was superior to him. Rama's coronation was stalled as Kaikeyi demanded Dasharatha to send Rama to the forest and anoint Bharatha king of Ayodhya. The king, Kausalya and many others were shocked. In spite of leading a sheltered life, Sita pledged her support to her husband. Lakshmana also joined them and together they...