"For the guru-fee," Drona said to his pupils, the Pandavas and the Kauravas, "you will attack King Drupada. Seize him, and bring him here."

The princes succeeded, and they brought Drupada in chains to Drona.

"I could kill you right now, Drupada," said Drona, "but I will not kill you. I want us to be friends." Drona then smiled a cold smile. "Friends must be equals. So I will take half of your kingdom."

Drupada stared at him in angry silence.

"That makes us equals," Drona continued, "and now we can be friends."

Drupada agreed, but he never forgave Drona.

Enraged at Drona and his patrons in Hastinapura, Drupada prayed to Shiva. "Give me a son to kill Bhishma, then a son to kill Drona, and a daughter to divide and destroy Hastinapura."

The god Shiva appeared and said, "Your prayers are granted."

Drupada's wife had a daughter, Shikhandini. Trusting this would be the son who would kill Bhishma, Drupada raised Shikhandini as a boy: Shikhandin.

Drupada then conducted a ritual and from the sacred fire a young man emerged, wearing supernatural armor. Drupada named him Dhrishtadyumna.

Then, a young woman emerged from the fire, and Drupada named her Draupadi.

The girl born to King Drupada, Shikhandini, was Amba. As the gods promised, she was reborn as a warrior who would defeat Bhishma, but because she had cut short her life as a woman, she still had years of a woman's life left to live.

Drupada, however, was confident, and he raised Shikhandini as a boy. He even arranged for Shikhandin to marry the daughter of King Hiranyavarna, but when the bride discovered her husband-to-be was a woman, she ran home to her father, who declared war on King Drupada.

Shikhandin resolved to go into the forest and commit suicide.

Shikhandin built a funeral pyre and was prepared to leap into the flames when a yaksha shouted, "Wait! What are you doing, young warrior? Why end your life?"

Shikhandin explained.

The yaksha, whose name was Sthuna, offered to trade genders. "I will give you my manhood," said the yaksha, "and instead of Sthuna, I will become Sthuni. You can go prove to your father that you are his son and to your wife that you are her husband, and then come return my manhood to me."

Shikhandin was delighted. "I will come back and return your manhood tomorrow," he promised.

Shikhandin went back home to prove his manhood, while Sthuni awaited his return.

Later that day, however, Kubera, King of the Yakshas, paid a visit and noticed Sthuni had changed gender. "When did you become a woman?" he asked, and Sthuni explained.

This made Kubera angry. "Gender is not a toy to play with. You will remain a woman, and Shikhandin will remain a man. Only when Shikhandin dies will his manhood return to you."

Thus the gods fulfilled their promise to Amba and Drupada: Shikhandin, a warrior born as a woman, would be able to defeat Bhishma in battle.

Kunti decided to perform an elephant ceremony to bring blessings upon her sons, so she had the potters of Hastinapura make elephants of clay for her to use.

Gandhari was jealous and wanted to perform an even grander ritual for her sons, so she had the goldsmiths make golden elephants.

Kunti was dismayed, but Arjuna said, "Don't worry! I'll ask my divine father Indra to send his heavenly elephant Airavata." Arjuna then lifted his bow, shooting arrows into the sky to create a bridge by which Airavata descended.

Kunti thus conducted the most grand elephant ritual ever seen in Hastinapura.

The aged Queen Satyavati was dismayed to see such strife among her great-grandsons, the sons of Pandu and the sons of Dhritarashtra.

"All my life I worked for the success of this family," she said, "but now I see the sons of the sons of my son quarreling with each other like dogs fighting over scraps in the street. I cannot bear it. I am going to retire into the forest."

The widows of Vichitravirya, Ambika and Ambalika, departed together with her. No one ever saw them again.

Kunti and Gandhari were then the elders among the ladies of Hastinapura.

The young Kauravas often insulted their Pandava cousins. "Pathetic Pandu had no sons!" they would shout. "Your mothers were whores!"

One day, though, Bhima shouted back, "Your mother's a widow!"

The Kauravas ran to Bhishma to ask what this meant, and Bhishma launched an investigation. He learned that the astrologers of Gandhara predicted Gandhari's first husband would die, while her second husband would live a long life. Gandhari's father, King Subala, thus decided to cheat fate: he married Gandhari to a goat which he then sacrificed.

Dhritarashtra was her second husband.

Bhishma was furious when he learned of this deceit.

Bhishma vowed to kill Subala and his family. He locked them in prison, giving them only a handful of rice each day.

Subala's sons fought over the rice, but Subala ordered them to give it all to Shakuni. "He is the most clever," said Subala. "He must live to avenge us." Subala then broke Shakuni's ankle. "When you limp," he said, "remember us."

Later, as he was dying, Subala said, "Make my knucklebones into dice. Those dice will do your bidding."

Shakuni alone survived. He then lived in Hastinapura with Gandhari, but he nursed hatred for Bhishma in his heart.

King Dhritarashtra assigned his nephew Yudhishthira important public duties in Hastinapura, but he later regretted this decision. Yudhishthira and his brothers became wildly popular, and Dhritarashtra was worried that the Pandava brothers had eclipsed his own son Duryodhana in the public's esteem.

As a result, the king decided to send the Pandavas away. "Take a long holiday!" he said to Yudhishthira. "Go with your mother and brothers to Varanavata."

Yudhishthira was surprised, but he did as his uncle commanded.

Meanwhile, Dhritarashtra, Duryodhana, and Shakuni hatched an evil plot, hoping to put an end to the Pandavas once and for all.