Life is all about being ready for any kind of challenge that comes our way, and today’s character of discussion is known for the same. Welcome, everyone, once again, to the forgotten stories of the epic tale that led to one of the greatest wars in the whole world, known as the Mahabharat.
Today’s main character of our blog will be Yudhistara, and in the true sense, Yudhistara was the only one who kept a level head even in the most difficult situations.
Where was Yudhishtara born?
Kunti had abandoned Karna ( her firstborn son ), and after some time, she got married to Pandu, who was to be crowned king of Hastinapur. Pandu was cursed not to have any biological children of his own, and if he did, he would die, so when he got to know about the boon to Kunti given by Rishi Durvasa of having children with any god, he was overjoyed and asked Kunti to call upon the lord of death himself first for his first child.
Lord Yama ( God of delivering the souls from the mortal realm and taking them to hell or heaven, and he also keeps a track of all the sins one commits) came in his spiritual form and blessed Kunti with a baby that would possess an extreme sense of justice, truth, Duty, and honour, he also blessed the child to possess a calm head and fight for and with righteousness no matter what. And so was the warrior, the dharmaraj, and the only one who tried to avoid the catastrophic war of Mahabharat was born.
What was Yudhishthara’s reason for fighting in the war of Mahabharat?
There were multiple reasons for the Pandavas to fight in the war, but the primary one was the extreme barbaric conduct in the game of Chausar ( the devious game that was organised to disrespect and strip Pandavas of literally everything ), where not only were Pandavas cheated but the disrespect shown to their wife Draupadi. Yudhistara, enraged by the conduct, took an oath to destroy everyone present in the court who was involved in the nefarious act.
Did Yudhishtara follow any kind of unjust or questionable method in his lifetime?
Let’s jump to the wartime and discuss one of the instances of unjust conduct on Yudhishtara’s part. Guru Dronacharya, an infamous warrior, was destroying the army of Pandavas, to which lord krishna thought of stopping him in some way. Guru Dron’s son Ashwathama was also a fierce warrior who was pressing on the Pandavas and giving them a tough battle. At the same time, an elephant named Ashwathama was also present on the battlefield, and lord krishna seized the opportunity.
In the middle of the battle of Mahabharat, Lord Krishna asked Bheem to kill the elephant and announce on the battlefield that Ashwathama was killed, which would create confusion in the heart of Dronacharya, but Drona was ever careful and decided not to trust anyone and asked Yusdhishtara himself with a belief that Yusdhishtara under any circumstance won’t lie. When Guru Dron asked Yudhishtara, he told Dron that the elephant Ashwatha died, but lord krishna blew his conch at the exact time when the word elephant was being announced, and Guru Dron heard only the name of his son and was heartbroken and decided to give up his life.
He sat in the middle of the battle to be slain and was soon killed. So, although Yudhistara didn’t lie, the method of delivering the news is still considered questionable for someone who is famed for his truthful and righteous mindset.
What did Yudhishtara do to avoid the war of the Mahabharat?
Even after everything had gone wrong with Pandavas, Yudhishtara still decided to give Kauravas a chance to repent and asked lord krishna to offer a peace offering and negotiate on their part with Kauravas, but Kauravas broke all the rules of how to treat a peace ambassador and not only refused all the offers made by The Lord but Duryodhana blinded by his fake ego ordered for lord krishna to be captured and brought to dungeons to which lord krishna showed him the grand vision of his actual strength. Even after a peace trial, the war of the Mahabharat was set in stone.
The forgotten Story about Yushishtara for my Readers
A lesser-known story about Yudhishtara is what happened when all five brothers and Draupadi were heading towards heaven. During their journey, a dog joined them from the start. Draupadi felt a chill after some distance and fell, and soon died. Sahadeva fell, and after some time, Nakula, Arjuna, and Bheem, only Yudhishtara and the dog remained.
When Yudhishtara reached the gates of heaven, the dog transformed into his real form, and it was none other than Yudhishtara’s biological father, Lord Yama. Before entering heaven, Yama decided to test Yudhishtara’s mettle and asked him the reason for the death of his companions, to which Yudhishtara replied with the following reasoning from whatever knowledge he acquired from his life and the war of Mahabharat:
- Fall of Draupadi: Although Draupadi was married to all five of the Pandavas, she loved Arjuna more than the others and was partial in his favour, due to which she fell first of all.
- Fall of Sahadeva: Sahadeva, according to Yudhishtara, held pride in his wisdom and considered himself the wisest amongst all.
- Fall of Nakula: Nakula was very beautiful, and so he held ego for being the most handsome amongst his brothers, although not prejudiced against the non-attractive lot, ego is still considered a great sin according to our scriptures that leads one away from divinity.
- Fall of Arjuna: Arjuna, being a fearless warrior and being immensely devoted to lord krishna, also held the ego of being invincible and being too good with his archery skills, for which he died in the middle of his journey and could not reach the gates of heaven.
- Fall of Bheem: According to Yudhishtara, Bheem had an insatiable hunger and ate a lot, being a glutton and priding himself in his strength, which caused Bheem to fall and ultimately die.
After ruling for almost 36 years after the war of the Mahabharat, Yudhishtara was still wise, righteous, remained on the path of dharma, and also remained detached from material lures, due to which he was able to complete his journey and answer the questions of lord Yama with no ego, pride, or prejudices for anyone.
As always, it was a pleasure writing for you, my readers, and I will be back with some more interesting stories to engulf your brain with more thoughts to munch upon. Till then, stay strong, stay healthy, and keep reading Mahabharat: the forgotten stories. Also to increase mental stability like Yudhistara follow some good habits and make your life much easier.
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