King Bharat of Hastinapur, even after having nine sons, chooses a sage's son Bhumanyu as his successor. A few generations later, King Shantanu's reign weakens due to a promise made to his wife, Ganga.
After revealing about a curse to King Shantanu, Ganga leaves with their eighth son, Devavrat. He finds two newborns and names them as Kripa and Kripi. 16 years later, Ganga returns with Devavrat.
Devavrat is crowned as Yuvraj, heir apparent to King Shantanu. But, to enable his father's remarriage to a village girl, Devavrat vows to remain unmarried for the rest of his life and renounces his rights to the throne.
Rishi Vyas is introduced and is the father of Pandu, Dhritarashtra and Vidhur. These are imparted knowledge and training by Bhisma and a new king of Hastinapur is selected.
This is the divine story of Karna's birth. Lord Surya comes and blesses Kunti with a child who is named as Vasusena by the gods because his birth was royal and celebrated by Devas,Yakshas and Apsaras
Pandu establishes the supremacy of the Kuru House. During his campaigns he takes another wife, Madri. After the campaigns, Pandu goes to the forest for relaxation with his two queens Kunti and Madri.
While hunting, Pandu accidentally kills a Sage. To do penance Pandu decides to spend his life in exile and entrusts Kingdom to Dhritarastra. In time five children are born to Kunti and Madri. Dhritarastra had a hundred sons from Gandhari.
In Mathura, King Kans dethrones his father and takes over. He arranges his sister Devki's marriage with his influential friend Vasudev. But when a Sage predicts Kans' death, he imprisons Devki and Vasudev.
Kans personally kills Devki's first six children. Devki's seventh "pregnancy" is taken over by Vasudev's second wife, giving birth to Balram. During eighth child, Vasudev is able to smuggle out the child.