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260. King Yudhishthira
Yudhishthira (aka Ajatashatru [word meaning: one without enemies], Dharmaputra), the eldest of the Pandavas, is the son of Pandu and Kunthi. The story of how he was conceived by Kunthi who invoked Lord Yama, the god of death and righteousness, is narrated in the story of Arjuna. He was married to Draupadi, who bore him his son Prativindya and a daughter Suthanu. Yudhishthira had another wife named Devika; they had a son, Yaudheya.
Yudhishthira along with his Pandava brothers was trained in religion, science, administration and military arts by the Kuru preceptors Kripa and Drona. He was a master of the spear weapon. He was known for his honesty, justice, sagacity, tolerance, good behavior and discernment; his true prowess was his unflinching adherence to sathya (truth) and dharma (righteousness), in the face of any adversity.
One such instance is given below……
Once, Duryodhana and his army men reached Kamyak forest, to nettle the Pandavas who were in exile nearby leading a spartan life. When Duryodhana to set up a camp near a pond, Chitrasena the leader of gandharvas, objected since they were already staying there and did not want to be disturbed. When asked to shift to some other place, Duryodhana refused to move believing that his strong and powerful army could easily overpower Chitrasena. Needless to say, a battle ensued in which the gandharvas using their divine powers rendered Duryodhana and his army captive. Some of the soldiers from the army took refuge in the Pandava’s hermitage!
When Yudhishthira, came to know about this, he exhorted his brothers to go forth and release the Kauravas from the clutches of the gandharvas. They protested and reasoned with Yudhishthira that he should be more practical; they wondered aloud — why should they help the tormentor of Draupadi? Yudhishthira calmly explained that such thoughts should not come in the way when Kauravas are in difficulty. Convinced with this, the Pandavas led by Arjuna defeated the gandharvas and set them free, including an ashamed Duryodhana.
Yaksha prashna
During their exile, Pandavas came across a brahmin whose arani (wooden blocks to light fire) were stolen by a deer. Pandavas, who took it upon themselves to retrieve the same, went in search of the deer; during the course of this search, the tired Pandavas decided to take some rest. Yudhishthira asked his youngest brother Nakula to fetch some water for him. Nakula came across a beautiful lake; when he drank the water from the lake, a yaksha (in some versions it is mentioned as yaksha disguised as a crane) appeared and told him that the water from the lake cannot be taken unless he answers all the questions posed to him.
However, when Nakula not heeding to this, was about to drink the water, he fell down unconscious. The same thing happened with the rest of the Pandavas who came in search of their brothers. When finally Yudhishthira came to the lake and was asked by the crane to answer his series of questions on religion, philosophy and related topics, Yudhishthira was able to correctly answer them, thus exemplifying not only his immense knowledge of dharma but also his very own way of understanding the finer implications of dharma, as judged by Yama, who was testing him in the guise of the yaksha.
A pleased yaksha, asked Yudhishthira for a boon; he prayed that they should not be discovered in the 13th year of exile; since the condition was that if they were to be found out during this period, they would have to go on an exile for a further period of 12 years… This wish was duly granted.
When the yaksha offered to revive one of the Pandavas; Yudhishthira, wanting to be fair to both of his father’s wives, chose Nakula, son of Madri. Impressed with the king’s dharmic choice, the yaksha, who was actually the god Dharma in disguise, revived all the Pandavas.
Some of the deepest philosophical questions and answers given by Yudhishthira are as follows:
- “What is true ablution?” “A true bath consists in washing the mind clean of all impurities”
- “What is charity?” “Charity consists in protecting all creatures”
- “What is envy?” “Envy is nothing else than grief of heart”.
- “What is weightier than the earth?” “The mother is weightier than the earth”
- “What is higher than heaven?” “The father is higher than the heaven”.
- “What is fleeter than the wind?” “The mind is fleeter than the wind”
- “What is more numerous than grass?” “Our thoughts are more numerous than grass”
- “What is that which is renounced makes one wealthy and happy?” “By renouncing desire one becomes wealthy; by renouncing avarice (extreme greed) one obtains happiness”
- “What enemy is invincible?” “Anger is the invincible enemy”.
- “What constitutes an incurable disease?” “Covetousness constitutes a disease that is incurable”
- “What is the best of all kinds of happiness?” “True happiness comes as a result of contentment”
- “Who accompanies man in death?” “Dharma”
- “What is happiness?” “Happiness is the result of good conduct”
- “What is that by giving up which man becomes rich?” “Desire”
- “What is the loss of which yields joy and not sorrow?” “Anger”
- “What is greatest wonder in the world?” “Every day men see creatures die, yet those who remain seek to live forever!”
When the Pandavas came of age, king Dhritharashtra under the advice of Vidura, gave the Pandavas half the Kuru kingdom, albeit the lands which were arid, barren and scantily populated, known as Khandavaprastha. The story of how the wild, unkempt tract of forest land was cleared by Krishna and Arjuna, with the help of Agni, is narrated in the story of Agni.
A new city, named Indraprastha, was constructed by the Vishwakarma, the divine architect. Yudhishthira was crowned king of Indraprastha and ruled for 36 years; he governed with absolute piousness, with a strict adherence to duty and service to this people, his kingdom grew prosperous, and people from all over were attracted to it.
Yudhishthira performed rajasuya sacrifice in which, Yudhishthira honored Krishna as the most famous and greatest personality. When Shishupala objected to Krishna being bestowed with this honour, he started hurling abuses; Krishna hurled his Sudarshana Chakra and beheaded him at the count of 100th abuse, as mentioned in the story of Jayadratha
Duryodhana, the elder Kaurava, who was already present, was very much envious of the prosperity and progress being made by the Pandavas. He hatched a plot along with Shakuni; Yudhishthira was invited for a game of dice. Shakuni, who was the master of the game ensured the defeat of Yudhishthira, who ended up losing their kingdom, wealth, prestige and were exiled for 13 years, with the additional condition of anonymity in the last year as narrated in the story of Dhritharashtra.
Yudhishthira was roundly criticized by Draupadi and Bhima for succumbing to temptation and playing dice, a game in which he was not a skilled player; however, Yudhishthira defended himself, arguing that it was obliged to accept the challenge of any nature, being a kshatriya and thus stand by the kshatriya code of honour.
During the 13 years of exile, he was repeatedly tested for staunch adherence to religious values in face of adversity. During the 13th year, he was disguised as a brahmin, named Kanka in the court of king Virata, so as not to be discovered during that year.
After the period of successfully completed, Dhritharashtra refused to return Yudhishthira’s kingdom, prompted mainly by his blind love for his eldest son Duryodhana, who refused to part with the kingdom, he had taken over after winning the game of dice.
The numerous diplomatic efforts to retrieve their kingdom peacefully, through various emissaries including Krishna, failed miserably. Yudhishthira was loath to go to war to reclaim his right, since it would be mean fighting and killing his own relatives. Krishna, Yudhishthira’s most trusted advisor, justified the inevitability of the war and pointed out that Yudhishthira’s claim was righteous, more so since all the peace efforts had failed.
Kurukshetra battle
Yudhishthira who was an excellent car-warrior and a master at spear-fighting; his spear was called Shakti. He defeated many warriors, including Shalya, the king of Madra and the last Kuru commander.
On the 15th day, when Drona, the Kuru commander was killing of thousands of Pandava warriors Krishna hatched a plan to tell Drona that his son Ashwathama had died, so that Drona would give up his arms and thus could be killed. The plan of how an elephant named Ashwathama was killed and Yudhishthira told the half truth, confirming the death of Ashwathama by omitting to mention that it was an elephant is narrated in the story of Drona. It is said that due to his piety, Yudhishthira’s feet and his chariot did not touch the ground, to symbolize his purity! However, after he spoke his half-lie, both Yudhishthira’s feet and his chariot touched the ground and remained so.
At the end of the war, Pandavas emerged victorious; however, many thousands of warriors on both sides were killed, including many Pandava heroes like Dhristadyumna, Abhimanyu, Virata, Drupada, Ghatotkacha and all the sons of Pandavas. Yudhishthira performed the tarpana ritual for the departed souls; he then returned to Hastinapur and was crowned king of both Indraprastha and Hastinapur. Out of his piousness, he retained Dhritharashtra as the king of the city of Hastinapur, and offered him complete respect and deference as an elder, despite his misdeeds and the evil of his dead sons.
During the course of his reign, Yudhishthira performed ashwamedha yajna to re-establish the rule of dharma. The sacrificial horse, which was led by Arjuna, passed through many kingdoms; all the kings submitted to Yudhishthira’s rule.
Upon the death of Krishna, the onset of kali yuga, Yudhishthira and his brothers proceed on mahaprasthana, their final journey of pilgrimage in the Himalayas, after appointing Parikshit, Arjuna’s grandson, as the king.
While climbing the Himalayan peak, one after the other, Draupadi and each of the Pandavas, in reverse order of age, fell to their deaths; the reason for their fall being explained in each instance by Yudhishthira. When finally, Yudhishthira reached the mountain peak, due to being unblemished by sin or untruth, his only companion was a dog.
On the mountain peak, when Indra, king of gods, arrived to take Yudhishthira to heaven in his golden chariot, Yudhishthira requested him to take the dog who was his only surviving companion. When he was told that dog being an unholy creature, was not worthy of heaven; Yudhishthira therefore refused to get into the chariot. When asked how could he leave his wife and brothers behind, without arranging proper cremations for them, and yet refuse to leave behind a stray dog, Yudhishthira responded that Draupadi and others left him and he did not leave them behind. At that moment, the dog changed into Yama, his father, who was testing him… without any doubt, Yudhishthira had passed this test as well! Yudhishthira was carried away on Indra’s chariot.
On reaching heaven, he did not find either his virtuous brothers or Draupadi; instead he saw Duryodhana and other Kauravas. He was told that his brothers were in hell atoning for their little sins, while Duryodhana and others were in heaven for only a short while, since they died fighting at the blessed place of Kurukshetra.
When Yudhishthira was taken to hell to meet his brothers and wife, he was horrified by the sights and sounds of gore and blood. When he heard the voices of hell-mates calling out to him, asking him to stay with them in their misery, he expressed his wish to stay back in hell. Yama was pleased with his compassionate nature.
Instantaneously, the scene changed and he was in heaven with his wife and brothers. The brief time spent in hell enabled him to atone for his sin for using deceit resulting in the death of Drona.
