Today we tell you an incident related to Mahabharata, in which five Pandavas had eaten the flesh of their dead father Pandu, to know why they did so, first we have to know about the birth of Pandavas. It was Pandu’s wish that after death his son would eat his flesh.
5 Sons of Pandu
Pandu had five sons Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva. Among them, Kunti was the mother of Yudhishthira, Bhima and Arjuna and Madri was the mother of Nakula and Sahdev. Pandu was the father of these five sons, but they were not born from Pandu’s semen and intercourse because Pandu was cursed that as soon as he had intercourse, he would die. That’s why on the request of Pandu, this son was obtained by Kunti and Madri by invoking Gods with her boon.
Pandu died of curse
After marriage with King Pandu, Kunti invoked many gods one by one. The result was that with the boon of sage Durvasa, Kunti got three sons Yudhishthira, Bhima and Arjuna and Madri got two sons Nakul and Sahadeva. One day Pandu had a physical relationship with Madri. Because of doing this, the sage’s curse affected him and he died immediately.
Pandu’s wish
When Pandu died, the flesh of his dead body was shared and eaten by the five brothers. He did this because Pandu himself had such a wish. Since his sons were not born from his semen, the knowledge and skills of Pandu could not pass on to his children. That’s why he had asked for such a boon before his death that after his death. His children would eat the flesh of his body by distributing it. So that his knowledge would be transferred to the children.
Two popular beliefs
There are two popular beliefs regarding Pandavas eating their father’s meat. According to the first belief, the meat was eaten by the five brothers, but Sahadeva ate the maximum portion. While according to another belief, only Sahdev ate three parts of his brain following his father’s wish. Sahdev got the knowledge of history after eating the first piece, of the present after eating the second piece and of the future after eating the third piece. This was the reason that Sahdev was the most knowledgeable among the five brothers and this gave him the power to see future events.
Sahdev became Trikaldarshi by eating Pandu’s flesh
According to some beliefs, he had eaten the finger. It is also said that Shri Krishna had reached at that time and had stopped the Pandavas from doing so. When the Pandavas left from there, Shri Krishna himself started eating their flesh. When Sahdev saw this, he also secretly ate the finger.
According to the scriptures, apart from Shri Krishna, he was the only person Sahdev who could see the future Mahabharata war. He knew everything about it. Shri Krishna was afraid that Sahdev might tell all these things to others. So Shri Krishna had cursed Sahdev that if he did so, he would die.
Sahadeva was Trikaldarshiwent so Duryodhana also asked him about the correct Muhurta before starting the battle even being enemies. Sahadeva knew that Duryodhana was his biggest enemy, yet he told the right time to start the war.