Chapter 1

Why This Story Is Told

A king who had lost everything at dice is told this story, in exile, in the forest — that coming back from ruin is not impossible

A question in the forest

Yudhishthira had lost everything at dice — his kingdom, his wealth, even the twelve years of forest exile were the dice's doing. He sat in the Kamyaka forest, defeated and worn down.

Then the sage Brihadashva arrived. Yudhishthira asked him — had there ever been a man more unlucky than himself, brought down like this by dice?

Brihadashva smiled. "There was a king," he said, "who lost everything at dice just as you have — his kingdom, his wealth, even his wife's company. But he came back. His name was Nala."

The king of Nishadha

Nala was king of the Nishadha country, son of Virasena. He was masterful with horses, fond of the game of dice, and gifted in many other ways too — the story ahead shows his extraordinary skill at cooking as well. He was so handsome that people compared him to the twin Ashvins.

Just as far away, in the country of Vidarbha, King Bhima had a daughter — Damayanti. Bhima had gone childless for years, until the sage Damana granted him three sons and this one daughter. Damayanti's beauty was spoken of in kingdoms far beyond her own.

The two had never once seen each other. But each kept hearing of the other — from courtiers, from travellers, from talk that drifted on the wind — until a single name had settled in each of their minds.

For a defeated king

Brihadashva said to Yudhishthira — "Nala too lost his kingdom and his happiness, my king — and in the end got them back. Listen to his story."

This is that story — of love, of a swan, of a curse, and of a king who came home again.

Note: This story appears in the Vana Parva of the Mahabharata as the Nalopakhyana — sections 52 to 79 in Ganguli's translation. The sage Brihadashva tells it to Yudhishthira after his loss at dice and departure into exile. At the very end of the story, Brihadashva also teaches Yudhishthira the secret of dice (akshahridaya), just as Nala later learns it from Rituparna. The names of Damayanti's brothers vary a little between translations; the sage's name is given here as Damana. The English dialogue lines are flowing paraphrases of the Sanskrit verses, not word-for-word translations.

Source: Mahabharata, Vana Parva — Nalopakhyana, Why This Story Is Told

Now — how much stayed with you?

Fact

When was the story of Nala told to Yudhishthira?

  • At his coronation
  • Just before the war began
  • During his forest exile, after losing at dice
  • After his year in hiding was over
Read the whole story — A story after a defeat

Yudhishthira was in the forest, having lost his kingdom and wealth at dice.

The sage Brihadashva told him the story of Nala to console him.

This story appears in the Vana Parva of the Mahabharata.

Who said it?

Who told Yudhishthira the story of Nala?

  • The sage Brihadashva
  • Narada
  • Vedavyasa
  • Markandeya
Read the whole story — A sage offering comfort

Brihadashva came to Yudhishthira in the forest.

Yudhishthira asked if anyone had ever been more unlucky than himself.

Brihadashva answered by telling him the story of Nala.

Fact

Which country was Nala king of?

  • Vidarbha
  • Kosala
  • Chedi
  • Nishadha
Read the whole story — The king of Nishadha

Nala was king of the Nishadha country, son of Virasena.

Nala was masterful with horses, fond of dice, and — as the story shows later, in the episode with Bahuka — an exceptional cook.

His looks were compared to the twin Ashvins.

Whose son?

Whose daughter was Damayanti?

  • King Nala's
  • King Bhima of Vidarbha's
  • King Dasharatha's
  • King Drupada's
Read the whole story — The princess of Vidarbha

Damayanti was the daughter of King Bhima.

Bhima had gone childless for years, until the sage Damana granted him a boon.

From that same boon came three sons, and Damayanti.

Why is that?

Nala and Damayanti fell in love without ever having seen each other — why did this happen?

  • Because each was constantly spoken of in the other's kingdom
  • Because their parents had arranged the marriage
  • Because they met in the same dream
  • Because a sage had prophesied it
Read the whole story — A love without seeing

Nala and Damayanti lived in distant kingdoms and had never met.

But talk of each other's looks and virtues kept reaching them, carried by travellers and courtiers.

This was enough for each other's name to settle into their minds.

Who said it?

"There was a king who lost everything at dice just as you have — his kingdom, his wealth, even his wife's company. But he came back." — Who said this?

  • Yudhishthira to Bhima
  • Nala to Damayanti
  • Vyasa to Arjuna
  • Brihadashva to Yudhishthira
Read the whole story — A story of coming back from ruin

Brihadashva gave Yudhishthira the gist of Nala's story before telling it in full.

Nala too had lost his kingdom, his wealth and his wife's company.

Yet he came back — this was meant to console Yudhishthira.

What happened?

How did King Bhima come to have Damayanti and her brothers?

  • By winning a war
  • Through a boon from the sage Damana
  • Through his own austerities alone
  • As the incarnation of a god
Read the whole story — A sage's boon

King Bhima had gone childless for years.

The sage Damana granted him a boon of three sons and one daughter.

That daughter was Damayanti.

Fact

Which skill is Nala's early introduction in the story most closely tied to?

  • Warfare and wrestling
  • Music and dance
  • Horsemanship; he was also fond of dice, and his skill at cooking comes up later in the story
  • Astrology and medicine
Read the whole story — One king, many gifts

Nala was masterful with horses.

He was fond of dice — though the true mastery of dice reaches him later, from Rituparna.

His skill at cooking comes up later, in the Bahuka episode.

Why is that?

Why does Brihadashva tell Yudhishthira the story of Nala?

  • Purely for entertainment
  • Because Yudhishthira had asked about dice
  • Because Draupadi had asked to hear it
  • To show that coming back is possible even after losing everything at dice
Read the whole story — Ruin, then a return

Yudhishthira asks whether anyone had ever been more unlucky than himself.

Brihadashva answers with Nala's story — a king who lost everything and still came back.

This sets the shape of the whole story that follows.

Riddle

I am the forest where a defeated king sat, when a sage told him the story of another king. Who am I?

  • Kamyaka forest
  • Naimisharanya
  • Dandakaranya
  • Chitrakuta
Read the whole story — Where the story began

Yudhishthira was in the Kamyaka forest, having lost at dice.

There Brihadashva told him the story of Nala.

That same story now unfolds across the chapters ahead.