Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Yudhisthira

In the Mahabharata, Yudhisthira was the son of King Pandu and Queen Kunti. He was born of a boon given to Queen Kunti by Durvaasa rishi who had granted her the power to invoke the devas. Yudhisthira was born when Kunti invoked the Lord of Righteousness (Dharma) or Yama. He was known for his honesty and his steadfastness to dharma.Yudhisthira was the eldest of the five Pandavas, the other four being Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva (unless Karna, Kunti's son out of wedlock, is counted, then Yudhisthira becomes second oldest). As detailed in the Mahabharata, Yudhisthira and his brothers were forced to fight the Kauravas (their paternal cousins) for the Kingdom of Hastinapura (around modern-day Delhi).Interestingly, because of his reputation for steadfastness to truth, he, according to the Mahabharata, is the only human who ascended to Swarga, or heaven, in his own bodily form rather than through death. However, he was punished for his only crime of making one lie to Drona by receiving a vision of Naraka or hell.



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