Originally posted by: varaali
Yes, you are correct in saying that the Pandavas too are decendents of Emperor Kuru- and hence can be called Kauravas.
The coinage of the name "Pandavas" happened at the time of the formation of Indraparstha. The Kuru family - had for the first time in four generations- seen a split in the kingdom.
Now there were two branches of the same family ruling over two divisions of the same kingdom. Since Hastinapur- the traditional capital of the Kuru dynasty - remained with the Duryodhana, he and his immediate family members retained the patronymic name and came to be called the Kauravas.
The sons of Pandu- since they had carved a distinctly separate kingdom for themselves- were given a new identity- simply to distinguish them from their cousins' branch.
Maybe if Chitrangada had sons and Vichitraveerya also had sons, such a split would have occured two generations earlier.
Varaali
IIRC, the term 'Pandava' started being used from the moment they appeared in Hastinapur, to distinguish them from Duryodhan & his brothers. You can check, but I think the MB uses that term during incidents like the house of lac.
Even if Dhritarashtra had given Yudhisthir Hastinapur, and had himself left w/ Duryodhan to any other part of the kingdom, his clan would still have retained the Kaurava brand name. By the customs of that time (and even now in royal families that still exist, like in Rajasthan), the eldest son gets to propagate the family name, and any other sibling of his, were he to start a new dynasty, would be known by his name. So for instance, in the Ramayan, after Rama crowned all his sons & nephews, only Kush's dynasty would be known as Raghukul, while that of Luv, Angad, Taksha et al would all be known by their names. (I guess Angad or Taksha or Subahu could even have continued naming their dynasties after Lakshman, Bharat or Shatrughan)
So as a result of both Dhritarashtra & Pandu (or his sons, since he was dead) getting their kingdoms, Dhritarashtra's clan would henceforth be the only one to be known as the Kauravas, while Pandu's would be known as the Pandavas.
The only way that Yudhisthir & his successor would be known as Kurus would have been if Dhritarashtra died childless. But he did have sons & even grandsons, so once they had already taken the Kuru name, there was no way the Pandavas could use it.
Also, after the Pandava victory in the war, Dhritarashtra abdicated, and Yudhisthir succeeded him. That would have been unthinkable had either Pandu been in Dhritarashtra's place, or had Duryodhan been in Yudhisthir's. That's another indicator of the family forking off, and hence, it's less than accurate to describe the Pandavas as Kauravas.
Edited by .Vrish. - 10 years ago
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