“Hearing her, Pandu replied, ’O Madri, I do revolve this matter often in my own mind, but I have hitherto hesitated to tell thee anything, not knowing how thou wouldst receive it.  Now that I know what your wishes are, I shall certainly strive after that end.  I think that, asked by me, Kunti will not refuse.’

“Vaisampayana continued, ’After this, Pandu addressed Kunti in private, saying, ’O Kunti, grant me some more offspring for the expansion of my race and for the benefit of the world.  O blessed one, provide thou that I myself, my ancestors, and thine also, may always have the funeral cake offered to us.  O, do what is beneficial to me, and grant me and the world what, indeed, is the best of benefits.  O, do what, indeed, may be difficult for thee, moved by the desire of achieving undying fame.  Behold, Indra, even though he hath obtained the sovereignty of the celestials, doth yet, for fame alone, perform sacrifices.  O handsome one, Brahmanas, well-acquainted with the Vedas, and having achieved high ascetic merit, do yet, for fame alone, approach their spiritual masters with reverence.  So also all royal sages and Brahmanas possessed of ascetic wealth have achieved, for fame only, the most difficult of ascetic feat.  Therefore, O blameless one, rescue this Madri as by a raft (by granting her the means of obtaining offspring), and achieve thou imperishable fame by making her a mother of children.’

“Thus addressed by her lord, Kunti readily yielded, and said unto Madri, ’Think thou, without loss of time, of some celestial, and thou shall certainly obtain from him a child like unto him.’  Reflecting for a few moments.  Madri thought of the twin Aswins, who coming unto her with speed begat upon her two sons that were twins named Nakula and Sahadeva, unrivalled on earth for personal beauty.  And as soon as they were born, an incorporeal voice said, ’In energy and beauty these twins shall transcend even the twin Aswins themselves.’  Indeed possessed of great energy and beauty, they illumined the whole region.

“O king, after all the children were born the Rishis dwelling on the mountain of a hundred peaks uttering blessings on them and affectionately performing the first rites of birth, bestowed appellations on them.  The eldest of Kunti’s children was called Yudhishthira, the second Bhimasena, and the third Arjuna, and of Madri’s sons, the first-born of the twins was called Nakula and the next Sahadeva.  And those foremost sons born at an interval of one year after one another, looked like an embodied period of five years.  And king Pandu, beholding his children of celestial beauty and of super-abundant energy, great strength and prowess, and of largeness of soul, rejoiced exceedingly.  And the children became great favourites of the Rishis, as also of their wives, dwelling on the mountain of a hundred peaks.