In the forests of the Śataṣṛṅga hills, Pānḍu and Kunti were leading a blissful life after having borne Dharmarāja and Bhīmasena. One day, a tiger rushed into the āśrama of the Ṛṣi-s. Pāṇdu immediately shot down the beast. In the ensuing commotion, the infant Bhīmasena fell down from Kunti’s lap onto a rocks of a small hillock where she was seated. The rock broke into thousands of pieces , but Bhīma was not hurt.

Kunti then used the mantra provided by Dūrvāsa to call the King of the Deva-s Indra himself. Through him Arjuna was born to Kunti, when the star was Uttara-Phālguṇi. Six months prior to the birth of Arjuna, in a cell of the Mathura palace, on the night of the eight day of the dark fortnight of the Śrāvaṇa month, when the star was Rohinī was born Kṛṣṇa to Devaki. Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa were the incarnations of the famed Nara-Nārāyaṇa Rṣi-s.

Satisfied with three kids, Kunti taught the mantra to Mādri, who invoked the Aśvinī twins. A year after Arjuna was born were born the twins Nakula and Sahadeva to Mādri.

Kunti’s brother Vasudeva sent gifts to Kunti and Pāṇḍu on knowing that they had begotten children. The five sons of Pāṇḍu, though born of different mothers, acted in unison, without differentiating among each other. The Ṛṣi-s prophesied that they would go on to become great men.

Audio Link: https://archive.org/download/kumaravyasa-bharata-recitation/Parva-01-Adiparva-004-Sandhi-Part-04-of-04.mp3