Since Gita is a part of the great Indian epic Mahaabhaarat scripted by sage Ved Vyaas, it is necessary to go through relevant part of Mahaabhaarat briefly as given below.
Vichitraveerya, the king of Hastinaapur, had two sons namely Dhrutraashtr and Paandu, born by a boon from Vyaas. Since Dhrutraashtr was born blind, the nobles made Paandu the king of Hastinaapur after the death of Vichitraveerya. Soon thereafter, Paandu went to live in the forest for some time with his two wives, Kuntee and Maadree, with a hope to recover from some mysterious ailment. There, he had 3 sons named Yudhishthir, Bheem and Arjun from Kuntee; and the twin sons named Nakul and Sahadev from Maadree. Dhrutraashtr ruled Hastinaapur as caretaker in the absence of Paandu. However, when Paandu succumbed to his incurable disease in the forest, Maadree committed Sati with his body after entrusting her sons to the care of Kuntee.
Kuntee, with five young sons collectively called Paandavs, returned to Hastinaapur after Paandu's death. She painfully realized it soon that Dhrutraashtr (supposed to act as a caretaker) was in full and firm command of the kingdom of Hastinaapur along with his ambitious and atrocious son Duryodhan and other 99 sons collectively called Kauravs. The latter started disputing legitimate claim of Paandavs on the throne. They made several vile attempts to eliminate them, even by killing, but never succeeded. Paandavs, in order to avoid a family feud, gracefully accepted partition of the Empire, left Hastinaapur and settled in Khaandavaprasth, a very hostile forestland allotted to them. By their dedicated hard work, they developed it into a very prosperous Empire and renamed it Indraprasth that outshined Hastinaapur. Krishn, their cousin and king of Dwaarikaa guided, helped and stood with them all along in their tragic times. They in turn, reposed full faith and love for Him. Jealous of newly created wealth of Paandavs, Kauravs conspicuously lured them into playing a Game of Dice and defeated them in it due to cunning maneuvers and trickery of Shakuni, the maternal uncle of Kauravs. Paandavs lost everything to Kauravs including their kingdom Indraprasth. They lived for 12 years in exile in the forests, followed by living incognito in the 13th year to fulfill pre-decided terms of the Game of dice sincerely. Upon expiry of the 13th year, they asked Kauravs to return Indraprasth to them in accordance with the Game agreement. Kauravs did not honor the agreed terms and refused.
All attempts to persuade Dhrutraashtr and Duryodhan for a peaceful settlement failed. Krishn Himself made the last attempt for peace with a proposal to allot five villages to Paandavs but Duryodhan refused pointblank saying he would not part with a land equal in area to even the point of a sharp needle without a fight. The result was inevitable.
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