The story begins with the introduction of the brothers' parents.

Amongst the primary antagonists

was Duryodhana (loosely translated as "unconquerable"), cousin to the Pandavas. He was the
eldest of 100 brothers known as the Kauravas, who were born to Dhritarashtra, the blind king
of Hastinapura, and his queen Gandhari, princess of Gandhara.
The Pandavas were born to Pandu and his wives, Kunti and Madri by the boon given to Kunti
by Durvasa, that she could have a son by any god whom she respects without having any marital
affair. After Madri's marriage, Pandu voluntary renounced royal life as penance for having
accidentally killed the sage Rishi Kindama and his wife. At his death, Rishi Kindama cursed
Pandu that he would surely die if he attempted to have sexual relationships with his wives.
Because of this curse, Kunti had to use her boon to get sons. She bore him three sons:
Yudhishthira by the god of Dharma, Bhima by the god of Wind, and Arjuna by Lord Indra. At the
request of Pandu she shared this boon with Madri to get her sons, the twins Nakula and
Sahadeva from the divine Ashvin twins.
After the death of Pandu and Madri's sati, Kunti brought the Pandavas back to Hastinapur. As
children, the Pandavas and Kauravas often played together. However, Bhima (one of the
Pandavas) was always at odds with the Kauravas, particularly with Duryodhana, who refused to
accept the Pandavas as his kin. This usually led to much tension between the cousins. Insecure
and jealous, Duryodhana harboured intense hatred for the five brothers throughout his childhood
and youth, and following the advice of his maternal uncle Shakuni, often plotted to get rid of them
to clear his path to the lordship of the Kuru Dynasty.
This plotting took a grave turn when Dhritarashtra had to relent to the will of the masses and
rightfully appointed his nephew Yudhishthira as crown prince. This went against the personal
ambitions of both father and son (Dhritarashtra and Duryodhana) and drove Duryodhana into
such a rage that he enthusiastically agreed to an evil ploy by Shakuni to murder Yudhishthira.
Shakuni commissioned the construction of a palace in Varnavrata, secretly built by incorporating
flammable materials into the structure, most notably the lacquer known as lac. This palace was
known as Lakshagraha. Duryodhana then successfully lobbied Dhritarashtra to send
Yudhishthira to represent the royal household in Varnavrata during the celebrations of Shiva
Mahotsava. The plan was to set the palace on fire during the night while Yudhishthira would
likely be asleep. Yudhishthira left for Varnavrata, accompanied by his four brothers and their
mother Kunti. The plan was discovered by their paternal uncle Vidura, who was very loyal to
them and an extraordinarily wise man. In addition, Yudhishthira had been forewarned about this
plot by a hermit who came to him and spoke of an imminent disaster. Vidura arranged for a
tunnel to be secretly built for the Pandavs to safely escape the palace as it was set afire.
Pandavas' Journeying With Their Mother

After their flight from the palace, the five brothers lived in the forests for some time disguised as
Brahmins. They heard from a group of travelling sages about a contest (Swayamvara) being held
in the Kingdom of Panchala that offered the princess Draupadi's hand in marriage to the winner.
The Swayamvara turned out to rely on the skills of archery, and Arjuna, who was a peerless
archer, entered the competition and won. When the brothers took Draupadi to introduce her to
their mother, they announced to Kunti that they had arrived with excellent alms. Kunti was busy
with some work, and replied without turning to look at Draupadi (who was the alms referred to)
ordering the brothers to share the alms equally amongst the five of them. Even when uttered
erroneously, their mother's word was supreme for the Pandavas, and they agreed to share the
princess, who was subsequently married to all five brothers.
When Dhritarashtra heard that the five brothers were alive, he invited them back to the kingdom.
However, in their absence, Duryodhana had succeeded in being made the crown prince. Upon
the return of the Pandavas, the issue of returning Yudhishthira's crown to him was raised.
Dhritarashtra led the subsequent discussions into ambiguity and agreed to a partition of the
kingdom "to do justice to both crown princes". He retained the developed Hastinapur for himself
and Duryodhana and gave the barren, arid and hostile lands of Khandavaprastha to the
Pandavas. The Pandavas successfully developed their land and built a great and lavish city,
which was considered comparable to the heavens, and thus came to be known as Indraprastha.
Reeling under the loss of half the lands of his future kingdom, Duryodhana's jealousy and rage
were further fuelled by the Pandavas' success and prosperity. Eventually Shakuni sired yet
another ploy and got Duryodhana to invite the Pandavas over to his court for a game of dice
(gambling). Shakuni was a master at gambling and owned a pair of dice which magically did his
bidding. Owing to this, bet after bet, Yudhishthira lost all of his wealth, and eventually his
kingdom, in the game. He was then enticed by Duryodhana and Shakuni to place his brothers as
bets. Yudhishthira fell for it and put his brothers on stake, losing them too. He then placed
himself as a bet and lost again. Duryodhana now played another trick and told Yud