Krishna met the Pandavas for the first time during Draupadi’s swayamvar. Krishna was an uninvited guest at the swayamvar. He silently witnessed the whole swayamvar ceremony. When the Pandavas returned home with Draupadi, after Arjuna had won the challenge of the swayamvar, Krishna followed them with all his retinue. He also took lots of presents for the Pandavas like elephants, gold, silver and precious gems. He told them that he had recognised at the swayamvar that the brothers were not the Brahmins but the Pandavas. He even sorted out the tension of Draupadi being married to each of the Pandavas, by revealing the reason for this. He offered the gifts to Yudhishthira and returned to Dwarka. The next important association of Krishna with the Pandavas was when Dhritarashtra grudgingly granted a piece of land to the Pandavas for their residence–a rocky, stony land called Khandavaprastha, which was later called Indraprastha. Again, Krishna came and assisted the Pandavas, in making the land fertile and beautiful with the help of angelic associates such as Maya Danava, who built a great, unsurpassed, glittering palace for the Pandavas. Krishna and Arjuna became close friends. Krishna then went back to Dwarka once again.
KRISHNA AND THE PANDAVAS
