[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879) › c5.2206 # A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.2206 A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.2206 - **Language:** English ### [c5.2206.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.2206.1) YUDHI-SHTHIRA. The eldest of the five Pāndu princes, mythologically the son of Dharma, the god of justice. With the Hindus he is the favourite one of the five brothers, and is represented as a man of calm, passionless judgment, strict veracity, unswerving rectitude, and rigid justice. He was renowned as a ruler and director, but not as a warrior. Educated at the court of his uncle, Dhrita-rāshtra, he received from the family preceptor, Drona, a military training, and was taught the use of the spear. When the time came for naming the Yuva-rāja or heir-apparent to the realm of Hastinā-pura, the Mahā-rāja Dhrita-rāshtra selected Yudhi-shthira in preference to his own eldest son, Dur-yodhana. A long-standing jealousy between the Pāndava and Kaurava princes then broke forth openly. Dur-yodhana expostulated with his father, and the end was that the Pāndavas went in honourable banishment to the city of Vāranāvata. The jealousy of Dur-yodhana pursued them, and his emissaries laid a plot for burning the brothers in their dwelling-house. Yudhi-shthira’s sagacity discovered the plot and Bhīma frustrated it. The bodies of a Bhil woman and her five sons were found in the ruins of the burnt house, and it was believed for a time that the Pāndavas and their mother had perished. ### [c5.2206.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.2206.2) When Draupadī had been won at the swayam-vara, Yudhi-shthira, the eldest of the five brothers, was requested by his juniors to make her his wife, but he desired that she should become the wife of Arjuna, by whose prowess she had been won. Through the words of their mother, Kuntī, and the decision of the sage Vyāsa, the princess became the common wife of the five brothers. An arrangement was made that Draupadī should dwell in turn with the five brothers, passing two days in the separate house of each, and that under pain of exile for twelve years no one of the brothers but the master of the house should enter while Draupadī was staying in it. The arms of the family were kept in the house of Yudhi-shthira, and an alarm of robbery being raised, Arjuna rushed there to procure his weapons while Draupadī was present. He thus incurred the pain of exile, and departed, though Yudhi-shthira endeavoured to dissuade him by arguing that the elder brother of a fatherless family stood towards his juniors in the position of a father. After the return of the Pāndavas from exile and their establishment at Indra-prastha, the rule of Yudhi-shthira is described as having been most excellent and prosperous. The Rāja “ruled his country with great justice, protecting his subjects as his own sons, and subduing all his enemies round about, so that every man was without fear of war or disturbance, and gave his whole mind to the performance of every religious duty. ### [c5.2206.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.2206.3) And the Rāja had plenty of rain at the proper season, and all his subjects became rich; and the virtues of the Rāja were to be seen in the great increase of trade and merchandise, in the abundant harvests and the prolific cattle. Every subject of the Rāja was pious; there were no liars, no thieves, and no swindlers; and there were no droughts, no floods, no locusts, no conflagrations, no foreign invasions, and no parrots to eat the grain. The neighbouring Rājas, despairing of conquering Rāja Yudhi-shthira, were very desirous of securing his friendship. Meanwhile Yudhi-shthira, though he would never acquire wealth by unfair means, yet prospered so exceedingly that had he lavished his riches for a thousand years no diminution would ever have been perceived.” After the return of his brother Arjuna from exile, Yudhi-shthira determined to assert his supremacy by performing the Rāja-sūya sacrifice, and this led to a war with Jarāsandha, Rāja of Magadha, who declined to take part in it, and was in consequence defeated and killed. The dignity which Yudhi-shthira had gained by the performance of the sacrifice rekindled the jealousy of Dur-yodhana and the other Kauravas. They resolved to invite their cousins to a gambling match, and to cheat Yudhi-shthira of his kingdom. Yudhi-shthira was very unwilling to go, but could not refuse his uncle’s invitation. Sakuni, maternal uncle of Dur-yodhana, was not only a skilful player but also a dexterous cheat. ### [c5.2206.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.2206.4) He challenged Yudhi-shthira to throw dice with him, and Yudhi-shthira, after stipulating for fair-play, began the game. He lost his all, his kingdom, his brothers, himself, and his wife, all of whom became slaves. When Draupadī was sent for as a slave and refused to come, Duh-sāsana dragged her into the hall by the hair, and both he and Dur-yodhana grossly insulted her. Bhīma was half mad with rage, but Yudhi-shthira’s sense of right acknowledged that Draupadī was a slave, and he forbade Bhīma and his brothers to interfere. When the old Mahā-rāja Dhrita-rāshtra was informed of what had passed, he came into the assembly, and declaring that his sons had acted wrongfully, he sent Draupadī and her husbands away, imploring them to forget what had passed. Duryodhana was very wroth, and induced the Mahā-rāja to allow another game to avoid war, the condition being that the losers should go into exile for thirteen years, and should remain concealed and undiscovered during the whole of the thirteenth year. The game was played, and loaded dice gave Sakuni the victory, so the Pāndavas went again into exile. During that time they rendered a service to Duryodhana by rescuing him and his companions from a band of marauders who had made them prisoners. When Jayad-ratha, king of Sindhu, was foiled in his attempt to carry off Draupadī, the clemency of Yudhi-shthira led him to implore his brothers to spare their captive’s life. ### [c5.2206.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.2206.5) As the thirteenth year of exile approached, in order to keep themselves concealed, the five brothers and Draupadī went to the country of Virāta and entered into the service of the Rāja. Yudhi-shthira’s office was that of private companion and teacher of dice-playing to the king. Here Yudhi-shthira suffered his wife Draupadī to be insulted, and dissuaded his brothers from interfering, lest by so doing they should discover themselves. When the term of exile was concluded, Yudhi-shthira sent an envoy to Hastinā-pura asking for a peaceful restoration to the Pāndavas of their former position. The negotiations failed, and Yudhi-shthira invited Krishna to go as his representative to Hastinā-pura. Notwithstanding Yudhi-shthira’s longing for peace the war began, but even then Yudhi-shthira desired to withdraw, but was overruled by Krishna. --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.2206](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.2206) · Pramāṇa