As long as Pandu sojourned in the Himalayas, the blind prince reigned in his stead, but when he died, his surviving widow brought to the capital (Hastinapur) her five divine sons, the Pandavs.  There the blind uncle had them brought up with their cousins, the hundred Kurus (or Kauravas), with whom, however, they were never able to live in perfect peace.  Once, as the result of a boyish quarrel, a Kuru flung Bhima, one of the Pandavs, into the Ganges, where, instead of sinking, this hero was inoculated by serpent-bites with the strength of ten thousand elephants before he returned to his wonted place at home.

The young princes, who had all been trained to fight by their tutor, Drona, and who had already given sundry proofs of their proficiency in arms, were finally invited by the blind monarch to give a public exhibition of their skill.  The poem gives us a lengthy description of this tournament, expatiating on the flower-decked booths reserved for the principal spectators, and dilating particularly on the fact that the blind monarch, unable to see with, his own eyes, made some one sit beside him to describe all that was going on.

After the preliminary sacrifice offered by the tutor, the skill of the princes, as archers, was tested on foot, on horseback, in howdahs, and in chariots; then they indulged in mock fights with swords and bucklers, closely watched by Drona, who pronounced his favorite Arjuna, the third Pandav, the finest athlete ever seen.

  Still the princes shook their weapons, drove the deep resounding car,
  Or on steed or tusker mounted waged the glorious mimic war! 
  Mighty sword and ample buckler, ponderous mace the princes wield,
  Brightly gleam their lightning rapiers as they range the listed field,
  Brave and fearless is their action, and their movements quick and light,
  Skilled and true the thrust and parry of their weapons flaming bright![42]

Thereupon, from the ranks of the spectators, emerged Karna, son of a charioteer, who challenged Arjuna to fight with him, but the prince refused on the score that they were not of equal rank.  Still a legend assures us that Karna was a child of the Sun-god, set afloat by his mother on the river Jumna, whence this Hindu Moses, floating down into the Ganges, was rescued and brought up by the charioteer, his reputed father.  Meantime the four Pandav brothers were greatly elated by the eulogy bestowed upon their brother, but their jealous cousins became so enraged that, when the time came for the youths to face each other in club exercises, the sham battle degenerated into an earnest fight.

  With ponderous mace they waged the daring fight. 
  As for a tender mate two rival elephants
  Engage in frantic fury, so the youths
  Encountered, and amidst the rapid sphere
  Of fire their whirling weapons clashing wove
  Their persons vanished from the anxious eye. 
  Still more and more incensed their combat grew,
  And life hung doubtful on the desperate conflict;
  With awe the crowd beheld the fierce encounter
  And amidst hope and fear suspended tossed,
  Like ocean shaken by conflicting winds.