Madri

Madri (Sanskrit: माद्री, IAST: Mādrī), also known as Madravati (Sanskrit: माद्रवती, IAST: Mādravatī), is a character in the Mahabharata, one of the two major Hindu epics. She is the princess from the Madra Kingdom and becomes the second wife of Pandu, the king of the Kuru Kingdom. She is the mother of the twins Nakula and Sahadeva, the youngest of the five Pandava brothers.

Madri is the daughter of Madraraja—the king of Madra—and sister of Shalya. Her marriage to Pandu is arranged by Bhishma, the grandsire of the Kuru dynasty, in exchange for a heavy bride price. Pandu is cursed that he would die if he engaged in sexual relations. Following the curse, Madri accompanies Pandu in his self-imposed exile, along with Pandu's first wife, Kunti. Using Kunti's divine boon, Madri invokes the twin gods Ashvins to conceive her twin sons. Later, the cursed Pandu dies when he is overcome by desire and attempts to engage in lovemaking with Madri. Overcome with remorse and grief, Madri entrusts her sons to Kunti's care and joins him in death.

Madri is traditionally viewed as a pativrata (devoted wife), whose beauty and charm are emphasised in the epic and its later adaptations. Madri's death by self-immolation is often cited as the earliest textual attestation of the sati practice; however, due to conflicting verses in the Mahabharata, it has been the subject of varied interpretations.