Nakula

Birth of the twins

King Pandu could not father children because of a curse, so Kunti used the mantra given to her by the sage Durvasa to call upon the gods, and her three sons were born. Pandu’s second wife Madri was sad that she had no child, and Pandu asked Kunti to help her. Kunti shared the mantra with Madri for one use only.

Madri thought carefully and called upon the Ashvini Kumaras, who are twins, and so she was blessed with two sons at once, Nakula and Sahadeva. When Pandu asked Kunti to give the mantra to Madri again, Kunti gently refused, saying that Madri had cleverly gained two sons with one prayer.

Not long after, Pandu died in the forest, and Madri chose to go with him on the funeral fire. Before she went, she placed her little twins in Kunti’s care, trusting that Kunti would love them as her own. Kunti kept that trust all her life.

The Ashvini Kumaras are the healers of the gods and are famous for their beauty, and the twins took after them. Nakula grew up to be so handsome that people stopped to look at him, and he had a natural gift for healing and caring for animals, especially horses. The twins grew up with their three elder brothers in the forest hermitages of the Shatashringa mountain, among the sages, under Pandu’s loving care.

Growing up, and his marriages

The sages brought Kunti and the five boys to Hastinapur. There the princes studied under Kripacharya and then Dronacharya. Nakula became a master of the sword and also learnt everything about the training and healing of horses.

When Drona asked his pupils to capture King Drupada as their teacher’s fee, the Pandavas rode into battle together. Bhima went ahead with his mace, Arjuna fought from his chariot, and Nakula and Sahadeva guarded the wheels of Arjuna’s chariot so that no one could attack him from the side. It was the first time the twins went into a real battle, and they did their duty well.

Nakula shared every danger of his brothers. When the house of lac was set on fire, Bhima carried the twins out on his hips. He lived with them in disguise at Ekachakra and went with them to Draupadi’s swayamvara, where Arjuna won her.

Draupadi became the wife of all five brothers, and Nakula’s son with her was Shatanika. Nakula also married Karenumati, a princess of Chedi, and their son was Niramitra.

Conquest of the west

When Yudhishthira decided to perform the Rajasuya sacrifice, his four brothers rode out in four directions. Nakula, with a large army, went to the west.

He won over the land of Rohitaka, the Trigartas, the Malavas and many other peoples, some by battle and some by friendship. When he reached Madra, his uncle King Shalya welcomed him with love and accepted Yudhishthira as emperor. Nakula also sent messengers to Krishna in Dwarka, who gladly agreed.

Nakula returned to Indraprastha with so much treasure that it was said ten thousand camels could hardly carry it, and he laid it all at Yudhishthira’s feet, keeping nothing for himself.

At the Rajasuya itself, kings from every direction came with gifts, and the success of the sacrifice owed much to the four brothers who had travelled so far to make Yudhishthira emperor. Nakula had shown everyone that he was not only handsome and gentle, but also a brave and capable leader of armies.

The dice game and the forest

In the dice game, after losing his wealth and kingdom, Yudhishthira staked his brothers. The first he lost was Nakula, whom he described as young, dark-skinned and broad-shouldered as a lion. Then he lost Sahadeva, Arjuna and Bhima. When Draupadi was insulted, each brother made a vow. Nakula vowed that he would send to the land of death those sons of Dhritarashtra who had spoken so cruelly to her.

Nakula spent the twelve years of exile beside his brothers, serving them and Draupadi. When King Jayadratha tried to carry Draupadi away, the twins rode out with Bhima and Arjuna and fought his soldiers until she was rescued. Once the rakshasa Jatasura, disguised as a Brahmin, tried to carry away Yudhishthira, the twins and Draupadi, until Bhima came and killed him.

Late in the exile, the brothers grew thirsty while chasing a deer. Yudhishthira sent Nakula first to find water. He found a clear lake, but a voice said, “Answer my questions before you drink.” Nakula drank anyway and fell lifeless. Sahadeva, Arjuna and Bhima followed and fell the same way.

Yudhishthira came and answered every question of the Yaksha, who then said he could bring back one brother. Yudhishthira chose Nakula. “My father had two wives,” he said. “Kunti’s son lives in me; let one son of Madri live too.” Pleased by this fairness, the Yaksha revealed that he was Dharma, Yudhishthira’s own divine father, and brought all four back to life. Nakula owed his second life to the fairness of his eldest brother, and he never forgot it.

Granthika, and the war

In the year of disguise Nakula worked in King Virata’s stables as Granthika, the keeper of horses. He told the king that he knew the nature of horses, could cure their illnesses and could train even wild ones, and Virata soon saw that no one understood horses better. When King Susharma of Trigarta raided Virata’s cattle, Nakula fought beside his brothers and helped rescue the king.

When the brothers discussed Krishna’s peace mission, Nakula spoke calmly and wisely, asking Krishna to do whatever was right for the moment. When Yudhishthira asked who should be commander of their army, Nakula suggested Draupadi’s father, King Drupada. Meanwhile his own uncle Shalya, who had set out to join the Pandavas, was cleverly won over by Duryodhana’s hospitality and gave his word to fight for the Kauravas.

Nakula fought bravely on the Pandava side for all eighteen days of the war. More than once the twins faced their own uncle Shalya in battle and held their ground. On the seventeenth day he faced Karna, who broke his bow and could easily have killed him, but let him go, because Karna had promised Kunti to kill none of her sons except Arjuna. On the last day Nakula killed several of Karna’s sons in battle.

After the war Ashwatthama attacked the sleeping Pandava camp, and Draupadi’s five sons, including Nakula’s son Shatanika, were killed. Nakula had lost his own son in the very hour of victory.

After the war and the last journey

After the war Yudhishthira was so full of grief that he wanted to give up the kingdom and live in the forest. Nakula, like his brothers, gently urged him to do his duty as a king and a householder, saying that a life of duty lived without attachment is itself a great penance. When Yudhishthira became king, he gave each brother a duty, and Nakula was placed in charge of the army and its affairs. During the Ashvamedha sacrifice, Nakula stayed with Bhima to guard the kingdom while Arjuna followed the horse.

Many years later, after hearing that Krishna had left the world, Yudhishthira crowned Arjuna’s grandson Parikshit king of Hastinapur. The five brothers and Draupadi put on simple bark clothes, gave up the throne and set out on their final journey towards the Himalayas. Yudhishthira walked in front, followed by Bhima, Arjuna, the twins and Draupadi, and a dog came with them all the way. Draupadi fell first, then Sahadeva, and then Nakula. Bhima asked Yudhishthira why Nakula, who had always followed dharma, had fallen.

Yudhishthira answered, “He thought that no one was as handsome as he was. That is why he has fallen.” Even so, Nakula had lived a good life, and in heaven Yudhishthira later found the twins shining with glory beside the Ashvini Kumaras.