"Pandu had two wives, two jewels among women — Kunti and Madri. Now Pandu, roaming on the hunt, saw a sage [in the form of a deer] joined with a doe; him, not yet having attained the pleasure of love, unsatisfied, [Pandu] struck with an arrow. He, pierced by the arrow, said to Pandu: 'Since by you — who practice dharma yet know the taste of love — I, not having attained the pleasure of love, have been slain, therefore you too, coming into this same state, not having attained the pleasure of love, shall soon meet death.' Pandu, turned pale, avoiding the fulfillment of the curse, did not approach his wives, and spoke these words: 'Through my own rashness I have brought this upon myself; and I hear that there are no [blessed] worlds for the childless.' He said to Kunti: 'For my sake, beget sons'; and she bore sons there — Yudhishthira from the god Dharma, Bhimasena from the god Vayu, Arjuna from Shakra (Indra). Pandu, overjoyed, said to her: 'This co-wife of yours is childless; it would be good if offspring were begotten in her too'; and he was answered by Kunti, 'So be it.' Then in Madri, by the two Ashvins, Nakula and Sahadeva were begotten. Pandu, seeing Madri adorned, inclined his heart toward her; the moment he touched her, he attained disembodiment [— died]; and Madri ascended his funeral pyre after him. [Madri] said to Kunti: 'Watch over the twins vigilantly, noble one.' Then those five Pandavas, together with Kunti, were brought by ascetics to Hastinapura and presented to Bhishma and Vidura. There too they attempted to burn them in the house of lac, but by Vidura's counsel they could not be burned."