Kuru kingdom in the context of "Vedic Period"

Yudhishthira (Sanskrit: युधिष्ठिर, IAST: Yudhiṣṭhira), also known as Dharmaputra, is the eldest among the five Pandavas, and is also one of the central characters of the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata. He was the king of Indraprastha and later the King of Kuru kingdom in the epic.

Yudhishthira was the son of Kunti, the first wife of King Pandu, fathered by the god Yama due to Pandu's inability to have children. Yudhishthira held a strong belief in dharma (morals and virtues) and was chosen as the crown prince of Kuru. But after the Lakshagriha incident, he was presumed dead and his cousin Duryodhana was appointed as the new heir. The kingdom was split in half due to a succession dispute between Yudhishthira and Duryodhana. Yudhishthira received the barren half, which he later transformed into the magnificent city of Indraprastha.

The Adi Parva ("Book of the Beginning") is the first of the eighteen parvas (books) of the Indian epic Mahabharata. "Ādi" (आदि) in Sanskrit means "first". Adi Parva traditionally has 19 parts and 236 adhyayas (chapters). The critical edition of Adi Parva has 19 parts and 225 chapters.

Adi Parva describes how the epic came to be recited by Ugrasrava Sauti to the assembled rishis at the Naimisha Forest after first having been narrated at the sarpasatra of Janamejaya by Vaishampayana at Taxila. It includes an outline of contents from the eighteen books, along with the book's significance. The history of the Bhāratas and the Bhrigus are described. The main part of the work covers the birth and early life of the princes of the Kuru kingdom and the persecution of the Pandavas by Dhritarashtra.

Panchala (IAST: Pañcāla) was an ancient kingdom of northern India, located in the Ganges-Yamuna Doab of the Upper Gangetic plain which is identified as Kanyakubja or region around Kannauj. During Late Vedic times (c. 1100–500 BCE), it was one of the most powerful states of ancient India, closely allied with the Kuru kingdom. By the c. 5th century BCE, it had become an oligarchic confederacy, considered one of the solasa (sixteen) mahajanapadas (major states) of the Indian subcontinent. After being absorbed into the Mauryan Empire (322–185 BCE), Panchala regained its independence until it was annexed by the Gupta Empire in the 4th century CE.

Arjuna (Sanskrit: अर्जुन, IAST: Arjuna) is one of the central characters of the ancient Hindu epic Mahabharata. He is the third oldest of the five Pandava brothers and is widely recognised as the most distinguished among them. He is the son of Indra, the king of the gods, and Kunti, wife of King Pandu of Kuru dynasty—making him a divine-born hero. Arjuna is famed for his extraordinary prowess in archery and mastery over celestial weapons. Throughout the epic, Arjuna sustains a close friendship with his maternal cousin, Krishna, who serves as his spiritual guide.

Arjuna is celebrated for numerous heroic exploits throughout the epic. From an early age, he distinguishes himself as an exceptional student under the tutelage of the revered warrior-sage Drona. In his youth, Arjuna secured the hand of Draupadi, the princess of Panchala, by excelling in an archery competition. Subsequently, during a period of temporary exile prompted by a breach of a fraternal agreement, Arjuna embarked on a journey during which he entered into matrimonial alliances with three princesses: Ulupi, Chitrangada, and Subhadra. From these unions, he fathered four sons: Shrutakarma, Iravan, Babhruvahana and Abhimanyu. Arjuna plays a major role in establishing his elder brother Yudhishthira’s sovereignty, subduing numerous kingdoms and setting fire to the forest of Khandavaprastha. When the Pandavas are deceitfully exiled after being tricked into forfeiting their kingdom by their jealous cousins, the Kauravas, Arjuna vows to kill Karna—a key Kaurava ally and Arjuna's main rival who is later revealed to be his elder half-brother. During exile, Arjuna undertakes a journey to acquire divine weapons and earns the favour of the god Shiva. Beyond his martial prowess, Arjuna was also skilled in music and dance, which enabled him to disguise himself as a eunuch teacher of princess Uttarā of Matsya during his final year of exile. During this period, he also defeats the entire Kuru army.

Abhimanyu (Sanskrit: अभिमन्यु, IAST: Abhimanyu) is a character in the ancient Hindu epic Mahābhārata. He was a young and valiant warrior of the Kuru lineage, born to Arjuna—the third Pandava brother—and Subhadra—a Vrishni princess. He was also one of the few individuals, along with his father, who knew the technique to enter the Chakravyuha, a powerful military formation. Abhimanyu was raised by his maternal family in Dvārakā because the Pandavas had been exiled for thirteen years by their cousins, the Kauravas. After his father's return, his marriage was arranged with Uttarā, the princess of the Matsya Kingdom.

Abhimanyu played a significant role on the Pandava side during the Kurukshetra War. The Kaurava soldiers banded together on the thirteenth day of the battle to build the Chakravyuha in an effort to defeat the Pandavas. With Arjuna diverted to another part of the battlefield, Abhimanyu was the only one who was able to burst through the formation and take on the Kaurava soldiers. At that point, six maharathis (powerful warriors) launched simultaneous attacks on him while violating several kshatriya codes, and he was killed at the age of sixteen.

Indraprastha (Sanskrit: इन्द्रप्रस्थ, lit. "Plain of Indra" or "City of Indra"), contemporarily in Delhi, is a city cited in ancient Indian literature as a constituent of the Kuru kingdom. It was designated the capital of the Pandavas, a brotherly quintet in the Hindu epic Mahabharata. The city is sometimes also referred to as Khandavaprastha or Khandava Forest, the epithet of a forested region situated on the banks of Yamuna river which, going by the Hindu epic Mahabharata, was cleared by Krishna and Arjuna to build the city. Under the Pali form of its name, Indapatta, it is also mentioned in Buddhist texts as the capital of the Kuru Mahajanapada.

The topography of the medieval fort Purana Qila on the banks of the river Yamuna in Delhi matches the literary description of the citadel Indraprastha in the Mahabharata; however, excavations in the area have revealed no signs of an ancient fortified city to match the epic's described grandeur, as only a limited quantity of Iron Age pottery shards were found, and some few artifacts and structural remains of Maurya to Kushan period settlements (see below). Coordinating material archaeological culture with ancient literature is methodologically extremely difficult.