Satyavati and her brother were born out of a fish and found by their father, the king of fishermen, Dusharaj. This made them Matsya Santan, i.e. children of fish. They were said to be actually the children of Chedi King Vasu and Apsara-turned-fish Adrika. The King, however, took away her brother as his heir and gave her away to the fisherman, making her selfish and hungry to be Queen. As Satyabati married the Emperor of Hastinapur with the desire to be Raajmata to the King, her future son, her brother was given a small kingdom in the west. It is in present-day Rajasthan in Alwar and Bharatpur. The Kingdom was called the Matsya Kingdom. Its capital was named Viratnagari under the influential king Virat. This city is present-day Bairat in Rajasthan. Thus, King Virat was Satyabati's grand-nephew and relative to the Pandavas who sought his help during exile. Grand-nephew or not is unclear but there was some relation as Virat was a descendant of her brother. If Virat is in fact a Grand-nephew to Satyabati and thus a cousin to the Pandavas and Kauravas, then Abhimanyu, son of Pandava Arjun and Uttara, daughter of Virat, was in fact a cousin. Distant relatives, they were not yet married. Satyavati died at the hermitage shortly before the war.
Gandhari, the princess of Gandhar in present-day Afghanistan, was the youngest sister among her brothers. She was forcefully married by Bheeshma to the blind prince Dhritarashtra. Her brother Shakuni, the Gandhar prince, stayed with her at Hastinapur much against her will. Bheeshma had killed their family. He sought revenge through his nephews. He plotted to make the Kuru clan fight against each other and thus was in a constant conflict with Gandhari, who misunderstood his love for his sister.
Duhsala was the only Kuru prince among all her hundred and five male brothers and cousins. She was pampered among all her brothers and cousins, irrespective of the fact how much her brothers and cousins were at war. She was married to her eldest brother's friend, Jayadrata, who was the king of Sindhu. She had a discontent marriage to the cruel king, who was spared time and again by her cousins, the Pandavas, because they loved her. Finally, when he killed Abhimanyu, Arjun killed him, but Duhsala was not angry at her cousins. She knew his lust for their wife. Her son became king of Sindhu and was again spared by Arjun at a war for the sake of his love for his cousin-sister. Her unimportant feature in the epic proves her minority status among her brothers and in the palaces of both Hastinapur and Sindhu.
Subhadra was the only sister of Balarama and Krishna, and she was very pampered as she was much younger than they, born after their parents were freed by Krishna. She stayed with them at Dwarka and was an intelligent lady. Her marriage to Duryodhan was arranged by Balarama, who was impressed by his student, but Krishna knew his sister secretly loved their cousin Arjun. Arjun's mother, Kunti and their father, Vasudeva, were first cousins. Against the whole Yadu clan, Krishna helped them escape and get married. They had the warrior prince Abhimanyu shortly after marriage, but Subhadra had to return to Dwarka with her newborn when the Pandavas left for Exile. Balarama accepted his sister back and trained his nephew. She reunited with her cousins and husband after thirteen years on the occasion of Abhimanyu's marriage. She remained in the palace to look after her grandson Parikshit when the Pandavas left for the Himalayas.
Draupadi, the Princess of Panchal and the shared wife of the Pandavas, were born out of the Agni with her brother Dhristadyumna. Drupad loved his son and heir more than the daughter he ever wanted, but that did not sour the relationship among the siblings. They were close and respected, and stood up for each other. When Draupadi left for Exile, she left her children in the care of Dhristadumnya and Sikhandi, their elder cousin. Dhistadumnya was a brave warrior and remained undefeated. He killed Drona, for which Arjun was angry at him, but Draupadi defended her brother. He was killed by Aswathama wrongly after the war, along with his nephews.
Uttar and Uttara were twins born to King Virat and Queen Sudeshna of Viratnagari. Uttara was a graceful dancer and a strong person who got married to Abhimanyu at the age of thirteen or fourteen, Uttar was an ambitious warrior who wanted to be the greatest warrior king on earth and make his father proud. He died at the age of fourteen in the Kurukshetra War trying to save Yudhisthir. They were taught dancing and archery by Arjun. Uttara and Uttar were close to each other in the very little part they play in the great epic; it is seen that Uttara deeply mourns her brother's demise.
The relationship between brothers and sisters as depicted in the Mahabharata was strange and unique in its own way. They were married, enemies, friends or even completely unknown to one another. Yet these relationships yielded some kind of lessons in the epic. All their characters were bound by a sibling bond that stayed throughout, even after the wars.
