Eldest Pandava, Kunti's son by Dharma.
Yudhishthira, eldest of the Pandavas, is Kunti's son by Dharma. At the poisoned lake he answers the Yaksha's questions. Asked for the greatest wonder, he says that people watch others die every day and still act as if they will live forever (MBh 3.314.118).
यथा कुन्ती तथा माद्री विशेषो नास्ति मे तयोः ।मातृभ्यां सममिच्छामि नकुलो यक्ष जीवतु ॥
yathā kuntī tathā mādrī viśeṣo nāsti me tayoḥ |mātṛbhyāṃ samamicchāmi nakulo yakṣa jīvatu ||
As Kunti is, so is Madri. I make no difference between them. I want the same for both my mothers. Let Nakula live, Yaksha.
MBh 3.314.135Yudhishthira to the Yaksha
He picks Nakula, Madri's son, over his own mother's Bhima and Arjuna, so that both his mothers keep a son.
Kunti calls Dharma with her mantra, and Yudhishthira is born.
He accepts the challenge to play, and stakes and loses his kingdom, his brothers, himself and Draupadi.
Draupadi presses him to act. He answers that he gives because it should be given, without an eye on the reward. MBh 3.31.2
His four brothers lie dead by the water. He answers every question, and the Yaksha turns out to be Dharma, his father. MBh 3.314 to 3.315
Grief-stricken, he wants to give up the throne. Bhishma teaches him from the bed of arrows.
He walks toward the mountains with his brothers and Draupadi, and will not enter heaven without the dog that followed him.
अहन्यहनि भूतानि गच्छन्तीह यमालयम् ।शेषाः स्थावरमिच्छन्ति किमाश्चर्यमतः परम् ॥
ahanyahani bhūtāni gacchantīha yamālayam |śeṣāḥ sthāvaramicchanti kimāścaryamataḥ param ||
Day after day, living beings go to the house of death. Those left behind want to stay forever. What could be a greater wonder?
MBh 3.314.118Yudhishthira to the Yaksha
तर्कोऽप्रतिष्ठः श्रुतयो विभिन्नानैको मुनिर्यस्य मतं प्रमाणम् ।धर्मस्य तत्त्वं निहितं गुहायांमहाजनो येन गतः स पन्थाः ॥
tarko'pratiṣṭhaḥ śrutayo vibhinnānaiko muniryasya mataṃ pramāṇam |dharmasya tattvaṃ nihitaṃ guhāyāṃmahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ ||
Reasoning has no firm footing. The scriptures differ. No single sage has the final word. The truth of dharma lies hidden in a cave. The path is the one the great have walked.
MBh 3.314.119Yudhishthira to the Yaksha
धर्म एव हतो हन्ति धर्मो रक्षति रक्षितः ।तस्माद्धर्मं न त्यजामि मा नो धर्मो हतोऽवधीत् ॥
dharma eva hato hanti dharmo rakṣati rakṣitaḥ |tasmāddharmaṃ na tyajāmi mā no dharmo hato'vadhīt ||
Dharma destroyed destroys. Dharma protected protects. So I will not abandon dharma, or dharma, destroyed, would destroy us.
MBh 3.314.131Yudhishthira to the Yaksha
आनृशंस्यं परो धर्मः परमार्थाच्च मे मतम् ।आनृशंस्यं चिकीर्षामि नकुलो यक्ष जीवतु ॥
ānṛśaṃsyaṃ paro dharmaḥ paramārthācca me matam |ānṛśaṃsyaṃ cikīrṣāmi nakulo yakṣa jīvatu ||
Not being cruel is the highest dharma, higher to my mind than the highest gain. I want to act without cruelty. Let Nakula live, Yaksha.
MBh 3.314.132Yudhishthira to the Yaksha
नाहं धर्मफलाकाङ्क्षी राजपुत्रि चराम्युत ।ददामि देयमित्येव यजे यष्टव्यमित्युत ॥
nāhaṃ dharmaphalākāṅkṣī rājaputri carāmyuta |dadāmi deyamityeva yaje yaṣṭavyamityuta ||
I do not practise dharma hungry for its fruit, princess. I give because it should be given. I worship because worship should be offered.
MBh 3.31.2Yudhishthira to Draupadi
जयेयं लोभमोहौ च क्रोधं चाहं सदा विभो ।दाने तपसि सत्ये च मनो मे सततं भवेत् ॥
jayeyaṃ lobhamohau ca krodhaṃ cāhaṃ sadā vibho |dāne tapasi satye ca mano me satataṃ bhavet ||
Let me always overcome greed, delusion and anger, Lord. Let my mind stay always on giving, tapas and truth.
MBh 3.315.24Yudhishthira to Dharma
"I give because it should be given" (MBh 3.31.2) is the Gita's act without craving the fruit, said in the forest years before.
His greatest wonder, that we forget we will die, meets Krishna's "for the born, death is certain".
Book six, between the two armies, told by Sanjaya after Bhishma falls.
Week 1 of the Gita by email: one verse a day and what it asks of you.
Send my weekLines come from the Sanskrit we hold for books 3, 5, 12, 13 and 14, a southern-recension text whose numbering runs close to the Kumbhakonam edition, so verse numbers can differ from the Pune critical edition. Events from books we have yet to add in Sanskrit carry no verse number. The English is Wisdom's own, read with Nilakantha's commentary, with K. M. Ganguli's public-domain translation consulted.
Wisdom translation, edited by Ankur Shukla.