The main story of the Mahabharata in the briefest possible outline is as follows: In the country of the Bharatas, which, from the name of the ruling race, had come to be called Kurukshetra, or "Land of the Kurus," there lived at Hastinapura, fifty-seven miles north-east of the modern Delhi, two princes named Dhritarashtra and Pandu. The elder of these brothers being blind, Pandu succeeded to the throne and reigned gloriously. He had five sons called Pandavas, the chief of whom were Yudhishthira, Bhima, and Arjuna. Dhritarashtra had a hundred sons, usually called Kauravas, or Kuru princes, the most prominent of whom was Duryodhana. On the premature death of Pandu, Dhritarashtra took over the reins of government, and receiving his five nephews into his palace, had them brought up with his own sons. As the Pandus distinguished themselves greatly in feats of arms and helped him to victory, the king appointed his eldest nephew, Yudhishthira, to be heir-apparent. The Pandu princes, however, soon found it necessary to escape from the plots their cousins now began to set on foot against them. They made their way to the king of Panchala, whose daughter Draupadi was won, in a contest between many kings and heroes, by Arjuna, who alone was able to bend the king's great bow and to hit a certain mark. In order to avoid strife, Draupadi consented to become the common wife of the five princes. At Draupadi's svayamvara (public choice of a husband) the Pandus made acquaintance with Krishna, the hero of the Yadavas, who from this time onward became their fast friend and adviser. Dhritarashtra, thinking it best to conciliate the Pandavas in view of their double alliance with the Panchalas and Yadavas, now divided his kingdom, giving Hastinapura to his sons, and to his nephews a district where they built the city of Indraprastha, the modern Delhi (i.). Here the Pandavas ruled wisely and prospered greatly. Duryodhana's jealousy being aroused, he resolved to ruin his cousins, with the aid of his uncle Çakuni, a skilful gamester. Dhritarashtra was accordingly induced to invite the Pandus to Hastinapura. Here Yudhishthira, accepting the challenge to play at dice with Duryodhana, lost everything, his kingdom, his wealth, his army, his brothers, and finally Draupadi. In the end a compromise was made by which the Pandavas agreed to go into banishment for twelve years, and to remain incognito for a thirteenth, after which they might return and regain their kingdom (ii.). With Draupadi they accordingly departed to the Kamyaka forest on the Sarasvati. The account of their twelve years' life here, and the many legends told to console them in their exile, constitute the vana-parvan or "Forest book," one of the longest in the poem (iii.).