Pandava
In the Mahabharata, a Hindu epic text, the Pandava are the five acknowledged sons of Pandu, by his two wives Kunti who was of Yadhuvansh and Madri who was the princess of Madra. Their names are Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva. All five brothers were married to the same woman, Draupadi.
Together, the brothers fought and prevailed in a great war against their cousins the Kauravas, which came to be known as the Kurukshetra War.
Etymology
The word Pandava is derived from the their father's name, Pandu (पाण्डु). So the meaning of the word is- descendants (sons) of Pandu, aka, Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva. The other epithets of the Pandava group are-
Pandava (spider)
Pandava is a genus of araneomorph spiders in the family Titanoecidae.
Taxonomy
In 1967, Pekka T. Lehtinen transferred the species Amaurobius laminatus, first described by Tamerlan Thorell in 1878, into his newly created genus Pandava as P. laminata, placing it in the family Titanoecidae. Over 30 years later, in 2001, a further species, Pandava hunanensis, was added to the genus. A major revision of Pandava in 2010 saw five new species being added.
Diagnosis
Male spiders placed in the genus Pandava differ from other species of Titanoecidae in features of the palpal bulb: the tegular process (a projection from the tegulum) is smaller; the median apophysis (one of the hardened plates making up the palpal bulb) is thumb-shaped. Females differ in features of the epigynum: the copulatory openings are more anterior.
Species
As of January 2016, the World Spider Catalog accepted the following species:
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