The Mahabharata starts off with introducing Shantanu, who is a king, that is married to a woman that he met at the river banks. When they finally had kids, this woman would take them to the river and drown them one by one.When they had their eighth kid, Shantanu objects and demands an explanation. She tells him that she is Ganga and narrates the story about the eight gods and Vasistha's cow. She then goes into the river with their eighth child, promising to bring him back when he gets older. The eighth child is returned to Shantanu when he gets older; this child is Bhishma.
Shantanu falls in love once again, but this time with a fisherman's daughter. The father of this girl denies getting them married because his grandson would never get the chance of being a successor due to Bhishma. Bhishma steps down from being successor and makes a vow to not have any children. Making this sacrifice, his father and the fisherman's daughter are able to get married. They have two sons, one of whom dies shortly after being king. The other one was too young to take over as successor, so Bhishma takes care of the kingdom while he grows up. The neighboring kingdom had 3 princess that were looking for a prince. Bhishma wanting them for Vichitravirya (Shantanu's son) goes and seized them. One of them promised had already promised herself to another man, so he let her go. The other two both marry Vichitravariya.
Vichitravirya dies without leaving any successor. With no successor, Vichitravariya's mother gets worried and brings back her son with Parashara, Vyasa. Vyasa us supposed to get with Vichitravirya's widows and give her some grand babies. Ambika is repelled by Vyasa and therefore closes her eyes, therefore making a blind baby. Amblika is scared and pale, therefore making a pale baby. So, Amblika orders her maid to make a baby, Pandu, with Vyasa. The maid, who is attracted to Vyas, is able to make a normal baby named Vidura.
Pandu, married to Kutni and Madri, is unable to make successors due to a curse. Kunti was blessed with a mantra that allows her to produce a baby from the gods. Pandu asks her to use the mantra and achieve a baby of Yama. She agrees and uses the mantra to get Yudhishthira, the son of Kunti and Yama. She thens asks for a child from Vayu (Bhima). She gets Arjuna from Indra. Madri now uses this mantra and summons two sons, Sahadeva and Nakula. These children of Pandu are called Pandavas.
Pandas brother, Dhritarashtra, has 100 children, the oldest of whom is Duryodhana. These children are known as Kauravas. Dhritarashtra accepts his brother's five sons and wife Kunti and take them into his kingdom. The Pandavas always tended to pick on their cousins, especially Duryodhana causing him to not be too fond of them.
All of these kids were put under the care of Drona, who is their guru and teaches them a lot. Arjuna one day saves him from a crocdila and in return Drona gives him a special gift. After this, Drona sets up a ceremony for all of his pupils. At this ceremony, Arjuna meets Karna, who challenges Arjuna. But before they can fight, Drona asks for a gift in return for the years of teaching and this gift is to capture Drupada, who had angered Drona. Drona takes half of Drupada's kingdom and then returns the rest.
Duryodhana, not wanting the Pandavas to take over his father's kingdom, tries to kill the Pandavas. They escape and disguise them as Brahmin and come across Draupadi. Arjuna bing the bow expert is able to win the challenge setup by Draupadi's father. As their mathoer tells, they must share everything and therefore they must share Draupadi. At this challenge, Arjuna also meets Krishna (Vishnu), who recognizes th Pandavas in their disguise.
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