Near the end of the twelve years in the forest, the four younger Pandavas go to a lake for water and do not come back. Yudhishthira finds them dead on the bank, and a voice from the water tells him that they died because they drank without answering — and that he may drink when he has replied. What follows is the Yaksha Prashna: a long examination in which a king with four dead brothers answers questions about dharma, and then is offered the life of exactly one of them.
💧 The Episode at a Glance
Where: Mahabharata, Vana Parva — near the end of the twelve years
Also called: the Dharma Baka Upakhyana, or Yaksha Prashna
The four: Nakula, Sahadeva, Arjuna and Bhima, in that order
The yaksha: Dharma — Yudhishthira's own divine father
Best-known answer: on the greatest wonder in the world
The choice: one brother revived — and Yudhishthira chooses Nakula
📑 Table of Contents
💧 The Lake
A brahmana's fire-sticks have been carried off in the antlers of a deer, and the Pandavas pursue it without success. Exhausted and thirsty, they reach a lake.
Nakula goes first. A voice warns him to answer before drinking; he drinks, and dies. Sahadeva follows, then Arjuna, then Bhima — each finding the last dead, each warned, each drinking anyway.
Yudhishthira arrives to find all four dead with no wound on them and no sign of struggle. The voice speaks again, and he stops.
📌 What the setup establishes
Four of the greatest warriors alive die because they are thirsty and will not stop to answer a question. Yudhishthira, who has no particular martial distinction among them, survives because he does. The epic is being unusually direct about which faculty it rates.
❓ The Examination
The yaksha asks a long series of questions covering ritual, cosmology, ethics and definition. Some are riddles; most are questions about what dharma actually requires. A representative selection, in substance:
| Question | Yudhishthira's answer |
|---|---|
| What makes one a brahmana — birth, learning or conduct? | Conduct. Neither birth nor study nor learning makes one a brahmana; conduct alone does |
| What is heavier than the earth? | The mother |
| Higher than the sky? | The father |
| Faster than the wind? | The mind |
| More numerous than grass? | Thoughts |
| What is a person's greatest friend? | The friend who accompanies one after death — dharma |
| What is the highest duty? | Ahimsa — non-injury |
| By abandoning what does one become dear to all? | Pride |
| By abandoning what does one become free of grief? | Anger |
| By abandoning what does one become wealthy? | Desire |
| What is true bathing? | Washing away the impurities of the mind, not the body |
| What is the path? | Not argument, not scripture, not the opinions of many — the path is what the great have travelled |
🌍 The Greatest Wonder
The exchange the episode is remembered for. The yaksha asks: what is the greatest wonder?
Day after day countless beings go to the abode of Death — and those who remain believe themselves permanent. What could be a greater wonder than this?
It is among the most quoted lines in the epic, and the setting sharpens it considerably: it is spoken by a man standing over the bodies of his four brothers, to a voice that killed them.
⚖️ The Choice
Satisfied, the yaksha offers to restore one brother, and tells Yudhishthira to choose.
He chooses Nakula.
The yaksha is surprised and says so — Bhima has the strength of ten thousand elephants and Arjuna is the one on whom the coming war depends; why revive Nakula, of all of them?
Yudhishthira's answer is a legal one. His father Pandu had two wives. Kunti's sons are Yudhishthira, Bhima and Arjuna; Madri's are Nakula and Sahadeva. Yudhishthira himself is alive, so Kunti still has a living son. If he chooses for utility, Madri's line ends. Both mothers must have a son.
📌 Why this is the real test
The questions establish that he knows what dharma is. The choice establishes that he will apply it against his own interest — on the eve of a war he needs Arjuna and Bhima to win. The yaksha, satisfied, revives all four.
👤 Who the Yaksha Was
The yaksha then reveals himself as Dharma — Yudhishthira's own divine father, who has come to test him. He grants boons, including that the Pandavas will pass the coming thirteenth year in disguise without being recognised, which is what makes the Virata Parva possible.
💡 The pattern of Dharma testing Yudhishthira
This is not the only time. In the Svargarohana Parva, at the very end of the epic, Yudhishthira refuses to enter heaven without the dog that has followed him — and the dog turns out to be Dharma again. The epic opens and closes its treatment of Yudhishthira with the same examiner, and he passes both times by refusing an advantage.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Yaksha Prashna?
An episode of the Vana Parva in which Yudhishthira's four brothers die at a lake for drinking without answering a yaksha's questions, and Yudhishthira submits to a long examination on dharma to save them. Also called the Dharma Baka Upakhyana. The yaksha turns out to be Dharma, his own divine father.
What is the greatest wonder, according to Yudhishthira?
That day after day countless beings go to the abode of Death — and those who remain believe themselves permanent. Among the most quoted lines in the epic, and the setting sharpens it: spoken by a man standing over the bodies of his four brothers, to the voice that killed them.
Why did Yudhishthira choose Nakula?
Because Pandu had two wives. Kunti's sons are Yudhishthira, Bhima and Arjuna; Madri's are Nakula and Sahadeva. Yudhishthira was alive, so Kunti still had a living son — choosing for utility would end Madri's line. Both mothers must have a son. The yaksha, satisfied, revived all four.
What makes a person a brahmana according to the Yaksha Prashna?
Conduct. Asked directly whether it is birth, learning or conduct, Yudhishthira answers that neither birth nor study nor learning makes one a brahmana — conduct alone does. One of the most cited passages in the epic on the question.
Does Dharma test Yudhishthira more than once?
Yes. Besides the Yaksha Prashna, Dharma appears again in the Svargarohana Parva as the dog that follows Yudhishthira on the final journey — and Yudhishthira refuses to enter heaven without it. The epic opens and closes its treatment of him with the same examiner, and he passes both times by refusing an advantage.
🙏 Conclusion
The Yaksha Prashna is the Mahabharata's clearest statement of what it values in Yudhishthira, who is otherwise the least impressive of the five brothers by every martial measure. Four superb warriors die of thirst because they will not stop to answer a question. He answers, and gets them all back — but only after choosing, when offered one life, the brother whose survival does nothing for him and everything for a dead stepmother's claim. The answer about the greatest wonder is the line everyone remembers; the choice about Nakula is the one the episode is actually for.