The Yaksha's questions at the lake

Classical

Asked what is most wonderful, Yudhishthira says: everyone sees others die and still thinks he will not.

The Pandavas are close to the end of twelve years in the forest. They are tired and thirsty, and the story begins with that most ordinary of problems: where to find water.

Four of the brothers go to a lake one after another, and one after another they die there. Yudhishthira, who comes last, finds Arjuna, Bhima, Nakula and Sahadeva lying dead. Arjuna's bow and arrows are on the ground. Yudhishthira laments, goes back over the vows each brother had made, and looks for wounds or tracks. There are none, and the faces do not even look deathly pale. He wonders if Duryodhana has poisoned the water, then decides that only Yama could have done this, and goes down to bathe.

A voice from the air stops him. It says it is a crane that lives on small fish. It killed his brothers because they ignored its warning, and it will kill him too unless he answers its questions first. Yudhishthira asks what being this is, and the voice shows itself as a Yaksha, not a bird: a huge, fierce figure in a tree.

Then the questions begin. The text records a long string of them. The Yaksha asks what makes the sun rise, what keeps it company, who makes it set, and what it stands on. Yudhishthira answers: Brahma, the gods, dharma and truth. What makes a man learned? Study of the Vedas. What is heavier than earth? A mother. What is higher than the sky? A father. What is faster than wind? The mind. What is more numerous than grass? Thoughts. Who is the friend of a man who has left home? His companion on the road. Of the householder? His wife. Of the sick? The physician. Of the dying? Charity. What makes a Brahmana: birth, study or conduct? Conduct, says Yudhishthira, and nothing else.

Some of the answers are moral definitions. Forgiveness is enduring the wrongs done by an enemy. Anger is the enemy who cannot be overcome. Greed is the disease that cannot be cured. A good person is one who wishes well to all beings.

The final questions are the famous ones. Who is truly happy? The person who cooks simple food at home, owes nothing, and stays at home. What is the most wonderful thing? Day after day, creatures go to the house of Yama, yet the living wish to stay forever. What is the path? Arguments disagree, scriptures disagree, and truth is hidden in a cave, so the path is the one the great have walked. And what is the news? Time cooks all beings in the pot of ignorance, with the sun as fire and days and nights as fuel.

Now the Yaksha makes his offer: he will bring one brother back to life. Yudhishthira chooses Nakula. The Yaksha is surprised, since Bhima and Arjuna are the stronger men. Yudhishthira explains that dharma protects those who protect it, and non-injury is the highest virtue. His father had two wives, Kunti and Madri. Kunti will have him, her son, still living, and he wants Madri to have a son too. The Yaksha is pleased by this evenness, and gives life to all four brothers.

Then Yudhishthira asks who he really is. The Yaksha reveals he is Dharma, Yudhishthira's father, who came to test him, and he explains that he had taken the form of the deer that carried off the Brahmana's fire-sticks. He grants boons: the fire-sticks are returned, and in the thirteenth year of exile, which is now beginning, no one will recognise the Pandavas. Yudhishthira asks only that he always be free of greed, folly and anger, and stay devoted to giving, truth and austerity.

That is why this episode matters in the larger epic. It is the pause between the exile and the hidden year at Virata's court, and it shows the king's character before the war that will test it.

Who: Yudhishthira, Yaksha, Nakula, Bhima, Arjuna, Sahadeva

Bound to

Yudhishthira, the dog and Dharma again mirror

Dharma, Yama, Vidura and Yudhishthira: one essence causes

Nachiketa and Yama mirror

The butcher who taught a Brahmin mirror

Draupadī and Yudhiṣṭhira on Forbearance mirror

Yudhiṣṭhira's Visit to Hell mirror

Places: Dwaita forest

Where this comes from

vulgate (Ganguli) · Ganguli translation of the Mahabharata (read via MahabharataOnline) Ganguli, Vana Parva, Yaksha episode (Section number not shown on the page read.)
commentary · Wikipedia: Yaksha Prashna (summary of Vana Parva episode) Vana Parva, verse numbers not given on page
modern-popular · Prekshaa / eSamskriti / Matheson Trust PDFs appeared in search results (not fetched) search listing only
read for this telling · Mahabharata, Ganguli translation (mahabharataonline.com) Vana Parva, Section CCCXI (as labelled on page): brothers' deaths, crane's warning, questions, revival of Nakula
read for this telling · Mahabharata, Ganguli translation (mahabharataonline.com) Vana Parva, concluding portion of the Yaksha episode: Yaksha reveals himself as Dharma, the boons, the fire-sticks

See it on the tree · All stories

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