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<div>{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}<br />
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2020}}<br />
{{short description|Character in Mahabharata, second wife of Pandu}}<br />
{{Infobox character<br />
| color = #FFC569<br />
| info-hdr = Personal Information<br />
| image = Pandu at Shatasrunga Hill.jpg<br />
| caption = Madri, Kunti and Pandu at Shatasrunga hill.<br />
| spouse = [[Pandu]]<br />
| family = '''Brothers'''{{bulleted list|[[Shalya]] (elder)|[[Characters in the Mahabharata#Madrasena|Madrasena]] (younger)}}<br />
| children = '''Sons'''{{bulleted list|[[Nakula]] by [[Ashvins]]|[[Sahadeva]] by [[Ashvins]]}}<br />
'''Step Sons'''{{bulleted list|[[Yudhishthira]] by [[Yama (Hinduism)|Dharmaraja]]|[[Bhima]] by [[Vayu]]|[[Arjuna]] by [[Indra]]}} <br />
'''Daughter'''{{bulleted list| Shashwathi}}<br />
}}<br />
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In the [[Mahakavya|Hindu epic]] ''[[Mahabharata]]'', '''Madri''' is the princess of [[Madra Kingdom]] and the second wife of the king [[Pandu]]. She is the mother of the youngest [[Pandava]]s - the twin brothers [[Nakula]] and [[Sahadeva]] and Shashwathi. The word ''Mādrī'' means 'she who is the princess of Madra kingdom'.<ref>{{Cite web|last=www.wisdomlib.org|date=2012-06-15|title=Madri, Mādrī, Mādri, Madrī: 14 definitions|url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/madri|access-date=2020-08-31|website=www.wisdomlib.org}}</ref><br />
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== Marriage ==<br />
In the epic ''Mahabharata'', Madri is the sister of [[Shalya]], the king of Madra Kingdom. Once [[Hastinapur]]'s [[Kuru Kingdom|Kuru]] king Pandu encounters the army of Shalya. Very soon, Pandu and Shalya become friends. The [[Adi Parva]] of the ''Mahabharata'' says that [[Bhishma]] goes to Madra and asks for the hand of Madri for Pandu. Shalya assents, but according to their family custom he cannot 'bestow' his sister to the Kurus. So Bhishma gives him wealth, gold, elephants, horses etc. and takes Madri with him to Hastinapur.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Debalina|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9hfHDwAAQBAJ&q=bhishma+gets+pandu+married+with+Madri&pg=PT123|title=Into the Myths: A Realistic Approach Towards Mythology and Epic|date=2019-12-20|publisher=Partridge Publishing|isbn=978-1-5437-0576-8|language=en}}</ref><br />
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== Pandu's curse ==<br />
While hunting in a forest, Pandu sees a couple of deer in the process of coitus, and shoots arrows at them; only to find out that it was a sage named [[Kindama]] and his wife who were making love in the form of deer. The dying sage curses Pandu, that if he would approach his wives with the intent of making love, he would die. Upset and seeking to repent his action, Pandu renounces his kingdom and lives as an ascetic with his wives.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ramankutty|first=P.V.|title=Curse as a motif in the Mahābhārata|publisher=Nag Publishers|year=1999|isbn=9788170814320|edition=1.|location=Delhi}}</ref><br />
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== Birth of Nakula and Sahadeva ==<br />
Due to [[Pandu]]'s inability to bear children, [[Kunti]] uses a boon by Sage [[Durvasa]] to give birth to her three children [[Yudhishthira|Yudhisthira]], [[Bhima]] and [[Arjuna]] from divine fathers. She shared the boon with Madri, who invoked the divine twins [[Ashwini Kumaras]] to beget [[Nakula]] and [[Sahadeva]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Williams|first=George Mason|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SzLTWow0EgwC&q=birth+of+nakula+and+sahadeva&pg=PA218|title=Handbook of Hindu Mythology|date=2003|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-106-9|language=en}}</ref>Meanwhile, She invoked Goddess [[Saraswati]] to beget a daughter, Shashwathi.<br />
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== Death ==<br />
One day, Pandu becomes captivated by the beauty of Madri and embraces her. As a result of the sage's curse, Pandu dies. In grief that her husband died because of her, Madri commits suicide.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fang|first=Liaw Yock|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yIv3AwAAQBAJ&q=madri+suicide&pg=PA76|title=A History of Classical Malay Literature|date=2013|publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian|isbn=978-981-4459-88-4|language=en}}</ref> A stanza in the Mahabharata states that Madri committed suicide by [[Sati (practice)|sati]]. However this account is contradicted by the very next stanza, which states that her dead body and that of her husband were handed over by sages to the Kaurava elders in [[Hastinapur]] for the funeral rites.<ref>{{Cite book|last=M. A. Mehendale|url=http://archive.org/details/InterpolationsInTheMahabharata|title=Interpolations In The Mahabharata|pages=200-201|date=2001-01-01}}</ref><br />
[[File:Pandu hunt kindama and his death.jpg|thumb|Madri committed [[sati (practice)|sati]] (see pannel corner) , from Birla [[Razmnama]]]]<br />
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== References ==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
{{Commons category}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Characters in the Mahabharata]]<br />
[[Category:Indian queen consorts]]<br />
[[Category:Ancient Indian women]]</div>2402:3A80:18C3:2FD2:8169:577B:4739:445B