Kali's Wait

A god returning from the swayamvara told Kali that Damayanti had chosen a mortal — and Kali waited twelve years, for a single lapse

Kali on the road

Returning from the swayamvara, Indra, Agni, Varuna and Yama met Kali and Dvapara along the way. Kali too desired Damayanti, and was on his way to the swayamvara.

"You are too late," Indra said. "Damayanti has made her choice — she chose Nala, in front of all four of us, with us standing right there."

Kali filled with rage. "She chose a mortal, before the gods themselves? Such a thing deserves a heavy punishment."

Waiting for a lapse

The gods said Nala was virtuous, that the choice had been rightly made, and that there was no cause for anger. But Kali would not be swayed. He said to Dvapara — "I will enter Nala and take his kingdom from him. You enter the dice, to help me."

Kali reached Nishadha, but found no opening for twelve years — Nala lived by strict rule every single day, without a single lapse.

In the twelfth year, one day, Nala returned from relieving himself, touched water without washing his feet, and sat down for his evening prayers. Kali seized on this very breach of purity as his opening — and entered Nala.

Pushkara's challenge

The moment Kali entered, Nala's mind began to change. Kali himself went to Pushkara and provoked him into challenging Nala to a game of dice; Dvapara entered the dice.

Pushkara challenged Nala to a game. Nala, who had always been fond of dice, now lost again and again, under Kali's hold. With every loss he staked more — gold, silver, chariots, garments.

Courtiers and ministers came again and again, begging him to stop, my king. Damayanti too kept asking him to meet his subjects, to hear them. Nala listened to none of it.

As the losses mounted, Damayanti summoned the charioteer Varshneya. She sent him, with both children — the son Indrasena and the daughter Indrasena — along with the chariot and horses, to her father Bhima's kingdom at Kundina, before everything else was lost as well.

Everything, then the garment too

In the end Pushkara won everything, and said with a laugh — "Now stake Damayanti."

Nala sat stunned, then rose in silence without a word. He removed all his ornaments and walked out wearing a single garment. Damayanti walked out with him, just as she was.

Pushkara had it proclaimed that anyone who sheltered Nala would be put to death. Nala and Damayanti spent three nights outside the city, without food, on water alone.

Note: This is the central turning point of the Nalopakhyana. Kali and Dvapara are both names of ages of the world and names of throws of the dice — both readings are possible, but in the story they act as persons. In Ganguli's translation the two children are twins — the son Indrasena and the daughter Indrasena; some other retellings give slightly different names. The English dialogue lines are flowing paraphrases of the Sanskrit verses, not word-for-word translations.

Source: Mahabharata, Vana Parva — Nalopakhyana, Kali's Wait