The Pandavas were in their 13th year of exile, and Duryodhana was so bitter that he refused to accept that the Pandavas had completed their exile in the time allotted. In the Virata Kingdom, Arjuna appeared in front of the Kaurava army and defeated all of the great warriors, including Bhisma, Drauna, Ashwathama, and Kripacharya. 

It was time for the Pandavas to reclaim what had been taken from them in a dice game. They even sent a message to Duryodhana, asking him to share lands in order to avoid war, but he flatly refused. Duryodhana was looking for a war. Even Lord Krishna warned Duryodhana about the possible consequences and devastation of the war, but he was still unconcerned.

Lord Krishna was Arjuna's charioteer, whereas Duryodhana felt powerful by choosing Krishna's massive army. Both the Pandavas and the Kauravas had anticipated the inevitable. Thousands of humans and animals died as a result of the war, which lasted 18 days. Only a few people survived the Kurukshetra war, which left death and destruction in every family.

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Days passed and the Pandavas had completed almost ten months in the Matsya Kingdom. Queen Sudeshna had a brother, Kichaka, the commander in chief of the Virata’s army and extremely proud and vain. King Virata actually was powerless without him. The real ruler was Kichaka. He once saw Draupadi and was smitten by her beauty and wanted her as his queen.

While Draupadi had clearly mentioned to Queen Sudhishna that she was already married to five celestial beings and whoever tried to trouble her would themselves be in trouble, but Kichaka wouldn’t listen. He insisted on having Draupadi as his queen. One day when Draupadi went near Kichaka’s dwelling to perform her household chores, Kichaka started troubling her. She ran from there to the main courtroom but cold Kichaka pushed her down to the ground and insulted her in front of everyone.

No one came to her help. Angry and fuming; Draupadi went to Bhima and insisted that Kichaka should be taught a lesson for his behavior. They came up with a clever plan. They put off all the lights of a dark hall. Bhima wrapped a sari around him and sat there like a woman. Kichaka thought it was Draupadi. As he came near, Bhima pounced on him and there was a fierce fight. Bhima with all his anger and disgust crushed Kichaka.

Draupadi announced to the guards that her Gandharva husbands were angry with Kichaka and they killed him. Everyone knew how powerful Kichaka was and that no one other than Balarama and Bhima had the ability to kill Kichaka. The news spread far and wide and reached Duryodhana, who was waiting for a chance to find the Pandavas and decided to attack the Matsya Kingdom.

As soon as King Virata heard this, he was shaken. He had always depended on Kichaka and without him, he didn’t know what to do. Yudhishthira , the advisor reassured him that he was also a good warrior and could help him. He along with Bhima, Nakul and Sahadev went on to fight with Kaurava's army. 

But Duryodhana's army attacked the kingdom from a different direction. King Virata’s son Uttara came forward to defend the kingdom and reached the battlefield with Arjuna as his charioteer.  In the battle, Uttara was scared to see the massive enemy's army.

Arjuna took him to the Shami tree and asked to pull out the weapons.  As soon as Uttara saw the weapons, he recognized Arjuna.  Arjuna told him about the other Pandavas who were at the palace and also the reason why they had hidden there. 

They quickly got onto the chariot and approached the army. Arjuna’s teacher Dronacharya and his great grandfather Bhima could immediately make out that the one riding in the chariot was none other than Arjuna himself. Even Duryodhana was jumping with joy thinking that he had found the Pandavas during the anonymous exile year and they will now have to repeat the 13 years of exile again.

Wait for the next part of this epic Indian mythological story for kids.

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Finally, it was the 13th year and Pandavas had to decide where they would hide to complete one year of anonymity exile. They had many kingdoms in mind that would give them shelter agreeing to keep it a secret but unanimously, there all agreed to go to the Matsya Kingdom.

The Pandavas changed their complete appearance in order to stay hidden. Yudishthira decided to be an advisor to the King by the name of Kanka. Bhima disguised himself as a cook and wrestler, Vallabha. Arjuna as a neuter Brihannala, Nakula as a keeper of horses, Granthika and Sahadeva as a keeper of cattle, Tantipala. Draupadi decided to be a female attendant to the queen, Sairandhri. They hid their weapons under a  Shami tree near a crematorium in the form of a corpse so that people won’t touch it and went to the Kingdom to serve the king. 

Once there was a huge fest in the Kingdom where the King sent Vallabha (disguise of Bheema) to wrestle with Jimuta. Vallabha not only defeated Jimuta but in a single throw ended up killing him on the spot.

After the completion of the exile year, the Pandavas on the day of Dusshera worshipped this same Shami tree and took back their weapons, and hence even today. leaves of Shami tree are exchanges on Dusshera.

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Pandavas are ready to go into their secret year of exile after completing the 12 years of normal exile. As they are wandering through the forests, they end up in a deep forest while chasing a deer.

When the brothers and Draupadi are thirsty, the brothers start to look for some water source and end up at an enchanted lake. And this turned out to be one of their scariest and fascinating experience of their exile. The lake was controlled by divine power and when the brothers, one at a time, come over with the intention to drink water from the lake, a divine voice called out and asked them to answer a few questions before drinking a drop of water. When the brothers kept ignoring this warning, they immediately fell on the ground lifeless. 

Finally, when Yudhishthra reached there, he paid heed to the divine voice and answered the questions before drinking any water. Eventually, he was able to convince the divine power, who not only allowed him to drink but also asked him to choose any one of his brothers to be brought back to life. When Yudhishthra chose Sahadev, explaining that since one of Kunti's son was alive in him, it was fair to also have one of his step mother Madri's son alive too, the divine power was very pleased and brought all of his brothers back to life. The divine power also blessed the Pandavas that they will go on to win back what was rightfully theirs in the battle with Kauravas.

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As the story continued, Arjuna reached the Himalayas and started to pursue penance. One day, a wild boar surged towards him and was about to attack. Arjuna being alert, pulled his bow and shot the boar. At the same time, another bow also hit the boar. Surprised Arjuna saw a hunter standing with a bow. Both of them started arguing about who hit the prey first. 

Arjuna wondered who the hunter was, so he decided to pray to Lord Shiva. He then noticed that all the flowers which Arjuna offered to Lord Shiva were around the hunter’s neck. The Hunter, indeed, was Lord Shiva in disguise to test Arjuna’s strength. Lord Shiva blessed Arjuna with one of the most powerful weapons, the Pashupatastra. He also got several other celestial weapons from Lord Shiva. Arjuna had become invincible after obtaining all the divine and celestial weapons.

Arjuna was then invited by Indra, the King of gods and also Arjuna’s divine father. Urvasi, one of the apsaras, cursed Arjuna to become a eunuch, i.e. neither a man nor a woman, for dismissing her and not paying attention to her. But Lord Indra explained to Arjuna that this curse was a boon that would help him during the year.

While Arjuna enjoyed his stay in Indraloka, his brother and wife Draupadi were missing him. They spent many years without Arjuna. One day a sage called Brihadaswa visited them and narrated a story of King Nala, who also lost everything in a game of dice just like the Pandavas. But in the end, he emerged victorious, regaining his kingdom, his wife, and also his health. This story helped Yudhishthira to gain his confidence and look forward to better days. They all visited many sacred places and heard many mystical stories. 

During their travel, Bheema had an encounter with a huge monkey. He tried to frighten the monkey by shouting but instead, the monkey warned Bheema not to go any further since it was the path of the gods. Angry Bheema demanded the monkey to move out of his way. Bheema thought to pull the monkey out of the way by pulling its tail but to his amazement, he could not move it even an inch. He tried his best, exerted himself, put all his strength, strained every muscle, but still could not move the monkey. 

It was then that the monkey revealed its true identity. The huge monkey was none other than the great Hanuman- Son of the wind god. He gave his parting blessing to his brother that he would be present on the flag of the chariot of Arjuna. He blessed Bheema and assured him that they would be victorious in the forthcoming battle.

Disclaimer: Some of the dialogues in the narration have been inspired by C Rajagopalachari's Mahabharata.

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As the story progressed, all of the sages wished to accompany them as the Pandavas left the kingdom. But Yudhishthira was concerned how we will be able to feed everyone since he had lost all his wealth. One of the sages approached him and urged him to pray to Lord Surya, the Sun God, while he was profoundly frightened and disturbed.

Yudhishthira did that with all his devotion and sincerity. The Sun God, pleased with his prayers, bestowed upon him the Akshaya Patra which was a mystical bowl. This patra, according to Hindu mythology, was a magical jar that will provide an endless supply of food until Draupadi had eaten for the day.

Then Pandavas came upon a demon named Kirmira, Bakasura’s brother, on their way to the forest. Bhima defeated the Kirmira monster and rid the jungle of the evil spirit. In the wilderness, the Pandavas felt helpless, and even Draupadi felt led down. Draupadi is consoled by Lord Krishna, who assures her that it will pass as well. Many storytellers visited the Pandavas frequently during their exile and told them various stories. Once, the Pandavas were visited by Sage Markandeya who told them tale of Lord Rama, Lord Vishnu’s seventh avatar. Yudhishthira’s heart and mind calmed after hearing the story, and he was filled with bravery. 

While Yudishthira was fascinated by the stories, Draupadi and Bhima never failed to feed Yudisthira’s mind with vengeance against the Kauravas. But he kept his cool and told Draupadi and Bhim to wait for the appropriate moment because defeating the Kauravas in a fight without superpowers and divine weapons would be difficult. And it was Arjuna who was tasked by the Pandavas to collect these powers.

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Mahabharata is one of India's most popular Hindu epics. The Kurukshetra war is depicted in this story as a historical battle between two groups of cousins and was probably the most horrific battle ever fought.

Sage Vyasa is known for writing this epic. The Pandavas- Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadev, the five brothers, and the Kauravas are the main characters in the Mahabharata. It’s almost like a family feud over land and property. 

Pandu, the king of Hastinapur, chose to live in the forest with his two wives, Kunti and Madri, and his 5 sons. Therefore he gave up his throne to his brother Dhritrashtra, who was blind, and went to live in the forest. 

In the kingdom of Hastinapur, Dhritrashtra’s wife, Gandhari, gave birth to a hundred sons. Duryodhana was the eldest of them. Bhisma asked Dhronacharya to teach the skills of warfare to both Kauravas and Pandavas when Pandavas returned to Hastinapur after the death of Pandu and Madri. 

Kauravas were very jealous of Pandavas and always plotted to harm them. After one such failed attempt, Pandavas went into exile and reached the Kingdom of Panchala. The king of Panchala had a beautiful daughter named Draupadi, and an archery competition was in works to choose the rightful husband for her. Arjuna, who was an unrivalled archer, entered the competition and won. 

When they all came back to Hastinapur, Dhritarashtra gave the Pandavas a small piece of barren land, far away from Hastinapur. The Pandavas built a beautiful city there named Indraprastha on it. Soon again, Duryodhana along with his evil uncle Shakuni started plotting and invited Yudisthira to play a dice game with the Kauravas. Yudhishthira not only lost his kingdom and wealth in this game but also his brothers and wife. 

After the game when Draupadi was humiliated in the open palace, Dhritrashtra out of fear and consequences returned everything to the Pandavas. But the game did not stop there. In the next round when the Pandavas lost again, they had to go on an exile for 12 years and had to spend another year in disguise.

Listen to the next part of the story in the next episode of this podcast.

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After the Story of Rama, a question might arise in your mind that why did Rama not return to his kingdom despite being stopped by his father and called back by his brother. Well, that’s Rama. He believed that he needed to follow certain rules as a friend, king, master, son, and husband. He was the most loving husband who fought demon Ravana to save his wife Sita but at the same time, he did not accept her until he proved her loyalty towards him. Sita fearlessly entered the fire and emerged unfarmed, proving to the world her faithfulness.

Ramayana is not just about Rama but also Sita. Sometimes it is also called “Sita Charitam”.  Sita was called Janaki, daughter of Janaka and Maithili as the princess of Mithila. She was an ideal woman who was strong and fearless. Only she dared to counter-question, Rama. Sita is said to be discovered in a furrow in a plowed field by King Janaka. She is also referred to as Bhumi, daughter of Earth. She grew up as a wife child who questioned people about life and its ways. She at times also exhibited superpowers like once in her childhood she moved a huge and heavy trunk to get a ball. After she got married to Rama, during the time of Rama’s coronation, they had to leave Ayodhya in exile. Despite being all the hardships one faces in the forest, Sita decided to accompany her husband no matter what.

Sita lived happily in the forest with the wives of other sages until one day a demoness called Surpanaka happened to see Rama and was attracted to him. She approached him and urged him to marry her but Rama refused. Surpanaka unable to accept the rejection attacked Sita. Lakshman immediately cut off her nose. Screaming and wailing Surpanaka went to her brother Ravana, the fiercest demon. A few days later, Sita saw a golden deer, she was very insisted on getting the deer. Sita was instructed not to leave the protective line drawn by Lakshman.  But she crossed the line and fell into the trap of Ravana. He grabbed Sita and put her into his Pushpaka vimana, a flying chariot. He chopped off the wings of Jatayu, the bird who fought bravely to save Sita. Sita threw all her jewels for Rama to follow the trail. Ravana took Sita to Lanka and placed her in the Palace garden.

Sita had complete faith in Rama that he would save her. Therefore she paid no heat and attention to Ravana’s threat. As she expected, Rama saved her with the help of Hanumana and Vanar Sena. Her joy knew no bounds but not for long. As practiced earlier, Sita was asked to prove her faithfulness. She chooses to give “Agnipariksha”. She came out of the fire unharmed and no one could question her loyalty. After all these, Rama was coronated as the King of Ayodhya and Sita, the Queen. Later, she was sent off to the forest where she had two sons. After years when she was summoned back to the palace as queen, she denied being one. Instead, she enters the Earth from where she came.

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Eka Sloki Ramayana is the entire story of Ramayana recited in one verse.

aadau raama tapovanaadi gamanam hatvaa mrugam kaanchanam
vaidehee haraNam jaTaayu maraNam sugreeva sambhaash aNam |
baalee nigrahaNam samudra taraNam lankaapuree daahanam
pashchaat raavaNa kumbhakarNa hananametaddhi raamaayaNam 
Iti ekashlokee raamaayaNam sampoorNam ||

It means long ago, Lord Rama went to the forest, chased and killed the golden deer, Sita was kidnapped, Jatayu passed away, discussions with Sugreeva happened, Bali was killed, the ocean was crossed and  Lanka was burnt. Then Ravana and Kumbakarna were killed. This is the story of Ramayana. 

Ramayana, which means the journey of Rama, is a Hindu epic describing the entire life of Lord Rama along with his wife Sita. Lord Rama is said to be a dutiful son, an ideal husband, a loving brother, a reliable friend, a remarkable king, and a perfect human being. Despite his noble traits, he was very humble and friendly. He is considered the seventh avatar of Lord Vishnu. This avatar was to show the world how a human being should be.

The entire life of Rama was very eventful and thrilling. Rama was a prince born to King Dasharatha and his wife Kaushalya. Dasharatha had two more wives Kaikeyi and Sumitra who also had their own sons. The four brothers Rama, Bharata, Lakshman, and Shatrughna were inseparable. During the time of Rama’s coronation, Kaikeyi wanted her son to be made the king, so she asked Rama to go to the forest for 14 years. Rama agreed to go to the exile. Lakshman and Sita accompanied him. 

They helped many sages and defeated many demons throughout their time of exile. Rama was not only a great friend to humans but also animals. He befriended Sugriva, The Monkey Lord, and promised to protect them from his wicked brother. Jatayu the bird, tried to save Rama’s wife Sita from Ravana but got its wings chopped off. Rama wept and thanked him for his service. Rama also welcomed Vibhishan from the enemy camp and expressed his love to everyone. Rama considered Hanuman to be his other brother without whom finding Sita could have been impossible. 

As per Hindu beliefs, Rama is the legendary deity who is still alive in the hearts of entire mankind.

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No matter what our problems are, but we always connect to stories from Indian Puranas that help us to stay strong in life. The Pandavas and Kauravas from the Mahabharat always fought with each other. The Pandavas lost all their wealth and kingdom in a dice game against the Kauravas and had to go incognito in the forest for twelve years.  The Pandava brothers were unhappy and upset with the hurdles. Yudhisthira felt miserable for putting his family through all the troubles. He was helpless and homeless. At the time of immense sorrow, Yudhisthira met a storyteller, who lived through ages, had fought death, and had the boon to be immortal by Lord Shiva. He knew the past, present, and future because of his severe penance. He was Sage Markandeya- the greatest storyteller from the Puranas. He also has a Purana in his name, the Markandeya Purana.

Sage Markandeya is the son of sage Mrikandu and Marudmati. He was born after several prayers to Lord Shiva. Markandeya grew up to be one of the greatest devotees of Lord Shiva. At the age of 16 when he became aware of his short life span, he started to meditate non-stop. When Yamraj himself came to take him away, Markandeya refused to go and hugged the shiva linga tight. The shiva linga split into and from the middle appeared Lord Shiva himself. He pushed Yama to the ground and defeated him. He then revived his life back and told him that he was punished. After Yamraj left, Lord Shiva was immensely impressed with Makendeya and blessed him with a boon to be immortal. Since then Markandeya has been living through ages.

Sage Markendeya narrated a story to Yudhistir to cheer him up. He explained to him that everyone has to go through unhappy times once in their lives. He narrated the story of Lord Rama, the seventh avatar of Lord Vishnu. After listening to the story, Yudhistira’s heart and mind calmed down and he was then filled with courage.

Listen to several Indian mythological stories for kids and other god stories on Chimes Radio mobile apps - India's 1st Kids Radio & Podcast Network. Available on Google and Apple App stores. Keep listening to your favorite podcasts for kids.

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