Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c8.1176

c8.1176

At Hastināpura, Nakula learned archery under the great teacher Droṇa. According to the instruction of the teacher, Arjuna had to fight with him (teacher) on the completion of the teaching and during that fight Nakula and Sahadeva were the guards of Arjuna's chariot-wheels. As Nakula was such an expert in wielding the weapons, he got the name ‘Atirathi’. (M.B. Ādi Parva, Chapter 138, Stanza 30). When the lac-palace was completed at Vāraṇāvata, the Pāṇḍavas shifted to that mansion by the instruction of Dhṛtarāṣṭra. When the lac-palace was set fire to, the Pāṇḍavas escaped by way of an underground passage and reached the banks of the Gaṅgā. There Nakula and Sahadeva fell down weary and exhausted. Bhīma carried them on his shoulders. After Baka had been killed, they proceeded to Pāñcālapura, where at the Svayaṃvara (marriage) Pāñcāli became the wife of the Pāṇḍavas. They returned to Hastināpura. A son named Śatānīka was born to Nakula by Pāñcāli. (M.B. Ādi Parva, Chapter 95, Stanza 75).