Pandawa

Pandawa is a word from Sanskrit (Dewanagari: पाण्डव; Pandawa), which literally means the son of Pandu (Dewanagari: पाण्डु; IAST: Pandu), which is one of the King Hastinapur in the epic Mahabharata. Thus, the Pandawa are the kingdom's crown prince. In the epic Mahabharata, the Pandawa are the protagonists while the antagonists are the Kauravas, the sons of Dhritarashtra, the brother of their father (Pandu). According to Hindu literature (Mahabharata), each member of the Pandawa is the embodiment (incarnation) of a particular god, and every member of the Pandawa have given another name. Suppose the name "Werkodara" literally means "belly wolf". The five Pandawa marry Draupadi for grabs in a contest in the Kingdom Panchala, and have (respectively) a son from him.

The Pandawa and their wives in Indian painting. Description: Nakul and Sahadev (left-top right), Arjuna (bottom right), Bima (bottom left), Yudhishthira and Draupadi (middle).

The Pandawa is an important figure in an important part in the epic Mahabharata, the great battle of Kurukshetra in the land between the Pandawa to the Kauravas and their allies. The story became an important story in the epic Mahabharata, in addition to the story of Pandawa and Kauravas play dice.

Genealogy

The Pandawa princes consisted of five persons, three of whom (Yudhisthira, Bhima, and Arjuna) is the biological son of Kunti, while others (Nakul and Sahadev) is the biological son of Madri, but their father together, that is Pandu.

Members of Pandawa

Yudhisthira
Bima
Arjuna
Nakul
Sadewa

Incarnation

According to Hindu tradition, the fifth son of Pandu is a incarnation not directly from each of the Gods. This is explained as follows:
Yudhisthira incarnation of Lord Yama, the god of the afterlife;
Bhima incarnation of the god Bayu, the god of wind;
Arjuna incarnation of the god Indra, god of war;
Nakul and Sahadev Aswin twins incarnation of the god, the god of medicine.