Pandavas
Topic: Society in Early India: Kinship, Varna-Jati, Women · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 3 "Kinship, Caste and Class - Early Societies"
Meaning
The Pandavas are the five sons of King Pandu in the Mahabharata. Yudhisthira, Bhima and Arjuna were born to Kunti. Nakula and Sahadeva were born to Madri. All five shared one wife, Draupadi. They fought their cousins, the Kauravas, over land and power in the Kuru kingdom and won the war. After their victory, patrilineal succession (the throne passing from father to son) was proclaimed.
Example
Draupadi's marriage to all five brothers is a case of polyandry, one woman with several husbands. The epic explains it in three different ways. Historians take this as a sign that polyandry existed among some elite groups and later fell out of favour.
Don't confuse with
- Kauravas: the hundred sons of Dhritarashtra, led by Duryodhana. They were the cousins who lost the war.