Devalok
From the epics · 1 telling · Pan-India

Madri calls the Ashvins: the birth of Nakula and Sahadeva

Who is in it

Texts: Mahabharata

The story, beat by beat

  1. Madri, childless, asks Pandu to ask Kunti to share her invocation.
  2. Kunti tells Madri to think of a god; Madri thinks of the twin Ashvins.
  3. Twins are born, Nakula and Sahadeva, unrivalled in beauty.
  4. A bodiless voice says they will surpass even the Ashvins in energy and beauty.
  5. Kunti refuses to share the invocation again, saying Madri got two sons from one use.

birth twins boon rivalry

How it is told, place by place

Base telling · Primary text (translation)

Mahabharata, Adi Parva 124

Pan-India All traditions

After Kunti's three sons are born, Madri tells Pandu her one grief is to be childless beside her equal, and asks him to speak to Kunti. Kunti gives her the invocation once. Madri thinks of the twin Ashvins, who come quickly, and she bears twins, Nakula and Sahadeva. A voice declares they will exceed the Ashvins themselves in energy and beauty. When Pandu asks again on Madri's behalf Kunti refuses: by calling on twin gods Madri won two sons at one birth and may outdo her.

The Mahabharata, tr. K. M. Ganguli (1883-96), sections read for the Vedic layer § adi.124

Sources: The Mahabharata, tr. K. M. Ganguli (1883-96), sections read for the Vedic layer

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