Yaksha Prashna

Vana Parva 295 — The deer and the firewood-sticks

पञ्चनवत्यधिकद्विशततमोऽध्यायः

A brahmin's araṇi (fire-churning sticks) are carried off by a deer's antlers. The Pandavas pursue the deer through the forest, grow thirsty, and search for water. Nakula climbs a tree, spies a lake, and goes to fetch water for his brothers.

17 verses

Vana Parva 296 — The four brothers fall at the lake

षण्णवत्यधिकद्विशततमोऽध्यायः

Nakula, then Sahadeva, then Arjuna, then Bhima — each in turn — reaches the lake, ignores the yaksha's warning to answer questions before drinking, drinks anyway, and falls dead. Yudhishthira, alarmed by their absence, sets out himself.

43 verses

Vana Parva 297 — The Yaksha's questions

सप्तनवत्यधिकद्विशततमोऽध्यायः

Yudhishthira finds his four brothers fallen at the lake's edge. The yaksha — guardian of the waters — questions him on dharma; only correct answers will let him drink. The dialogue covers the highest dharma, the heaviest burden, the swiftest thing, the meaning of true happiness, and the famous riddle 'what is the greatest wonder of the world?'

74 verses

Vana Parva 298 — Yaksha is Dharma; the boon

अष्टनवत्यधिकद्विशततमोऽध्यायः

Pleased with Yudhishthira's answers, the yaksha offers a boon. Yudhishthira asks not for his own brothers first but for Nakula — the son of his stepmother Madri — to be revived, that no mother may lose all her sons. The yaksha reveals himself as Dharma, Yudhishthira's own father, restores all four brothers, and grants the boon of incognito vāsa for the thirteenth year of exile.

28 verses