Copyright@shravancharitymission
By Kamlesh Tripathi
During vanvas (forced exile into forest) Pandavas
were spending time in the Datya forest. And, while roaming around in the forest
they felt thirsty. Dharmraj Yudhistir then climbed a tree to see if there was
water in the vicinity, where at one spot he could see a lot of greenery and
that gave an indication as if water was around. And then he requested his
youngest brother Nakul to get some water from that spot; and obeying the eldest
brother, Nakul left immediately.
There he found a
lake brimming with clear blue water; but the moment he bent down to drink it,
he heard a loud voice warning him, ‘do not dare to have the water from this
lake, for I have established my authority on this water and it belongs to me.
So, first reply, to my queries before you drink the water.’
Nakul, was
extremely thirsty. He therefore did not pay too much attention to the warning
that a Yaksha (nature-spirits,
usually benevolent) was passing, but the moment he tasted the water from the
lake, he fell down and expired on the spot.
And back here, in the Pandav’s camp there
was a bit of restlessness now as the Nakul had still not returned. Worried
Yudhistir then sent Sahdev after Nakul. Sahdev too heard the warning of Yaksha but tried to drink the water,
ignoring him and died on the spot. In the same manner Yudhistir then sent Arjun
and Bhimsen. But they too came one by one and met with the same fate.
When Yudhistir realised that all his four
brothers had not returned from the lake, where they had gone to get water, he
readied himself to go there, in spite of his being tired, and soon he was
there. And upon seeing his valiant brothers lying dead he went into a deep
gloom. And after mourning for sometime on the bodies of his brothers he felt thirsty
when he too decided to have water from the lake. Yaksha first tried to stop him from having water in the disguise of
a crane; but when Yudhistir asked him, ‘who are you?’ he dawned the form of a Yaksha and appeared on a tree top.
When, peaceful and saint like Yudhistir
said—‘Yaksha! I do not want to acquire anything that belongs to someone else.
You have laid down your authority on the water of this lake so let the water be
yours. Any questions you want to ask, please ask. I will try and reply to your
questions, to the best of my ability.
There after Yaksha asked many questions and Yudhistir answered all of them quite
correctly. And satisfied with his answers, Yaksha
said, ‘Rajan! (King) you have
correctly answered all my questions; and therefore I grant the life of one of your
brothers. So whom do you want alive out of the four?’
Yudhistir replied, ‘kindly give life to my
younger brother Nakul.’
Yaksha
in a surprised tone asked—‘you are wandering in life without a kingdom in these
dense forests. And you need to wage a fierce battle against your enemies to
protect dharma, and in such a situation you are not asking for the life of your
most powerful brother Bhimsen or Arjun, who is the best archer of the world,
and asking for the life of Nakul, why so?’
Dharmraj Yudhistir said—‘Yaksha! The bliss of ruling a kingdom or
the torture of vanvas depends on your
fate and destiny; but a human being shouldn’t abrogate dharma. One, who protects
dharma, is protected by dharma itself. And that is why I won’t deviate from the
path of dharma. Kunti and Madri, both are my mothers. I am Kunti’s live son.
And I want the lineage of my second mother, Madri also to remain intact and so
I am requesting you to bring back Nakul to life, so that both the mothers have
at least one child alive.
Yaksha
said--‘Yudhistir you are very knowledgeable and liberal in matters of
interpretation, modesty and dharma, therefore I am pleased with you and may God
give life to all your four dead brothers. And I’m your father dharma. I had
come to see how you’re doing, and test your love for dharma.’
And, in the manner Yudhistir tried to
protect dharma, dharma protected Dharmaraj Yudhistir; when all his four brothers
got up, as if from deep sleep.
***
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