THE ENCHANTED POOL

THE ENCHANTED POOL

THE stipulated period of twelve years was

drawing to a close.

One day, a deer was rubbing itself against

a poor brahmana's fire-kindling mortar

and as it turned to go, the mortar got

entangled in its horns and the affrighted

animal fled wildly with it into the forest.

In those days matches were unknown and

fire was kindled with pieces of wood by

mechanical friction.

"Alas! The deer is running away with my

fire-kindler. How can I perform the fire

sacrifice?" shouted the brahmana and

rushed towards the Pandavas for help in

his extremity.

The Pandavas pursued the animal but it

was a magic deer, which sped in great

leaps and bounds, decoying the Pandavas

far into the forest and then disappeared.

Worn out by the futile chase, the

Pandavas sat in great dejection under a

banyan tree.

Nakula sighed: "We cannot render even

this trifling service to the brahmana. How

we have degenerated!" said he sadly.

Bhima said: "Quite so. When Draupadi

was dragged into the assembly, we should

have killed those wretches. Is it not

because we did not do so that we have had

to suffer all these sorrows?" and he looked

at Arjuna sadly.

Arjuna agreed. "I bore in silence the

vulgar and insulting brag of that son of the

charioteer, doing nothing. So we have

deservedly fallen into this pitiable state."

Yudhishthira noticed with sorrow that all

of them had lost their cheerfulness and

courage. He thought they would be more

cheerful with something to do. He was

tormented with thirst and so he said to

Nakula: "Brother, climb that tree and see

whether there is any pool or river nearby."

Nakula climbed the tree, looked around

and said: "At a little distance I see water

plants and cranes. There must certainly be

water there."

Yudhishthira sent him to fetch some to

drink.

Nakula was glad when he got to the place

and saw there was a pool. He was very

thirsty himself and so thought of

quenching his thirst first before taking

water in his quiver for his brother. But no

sooner did he dip his hand in the

transparent water than he heard a voice,

which said:

"Do not be rash. This pool belongs to me.

O son of Madri, answer my questions and

then drink the water."

Nakula was surprised, but carried away by

his intense thirst and heedless of the

warning, he drank the water. At once,

overcome by irresistible drowsiness, he

fell down, to all appearance dead.

Surprised that Nakula had not returned,

Yudhishthira sent Sahadeva to see what

the matter was. When Sahadeva reached

the pool and saw his brother lying on the

ground, he wondered whether any harm

had come to him. But before looking into

the matter further, rushed irresistibly to

the water to quench his burning thirst.

The voice was heard again: "O Sahadeva,

this is my pool. Answer my questions and

then only may you quench your thirst."

Like Nakula, Sahadeva also did not heed

the warning. He drank the water and at

once dropped down.

Puzzled and worried that Sahadeva also

did not return, Yudhishthira sent Arjuna to

see whether the brothers had met with any

danger. "And bring water," he added, for

he was very thirsty.

Arjuna went swiftly. He saw both his

brothers lying dead near the pool. He was

shocked at the sight and felt that they

must have been killed by some lurking

foe.

Though heart-broken with grief and

burning with the desire for revenge, he

felt all feelings submerged in a monstrous

thirst, which irresistibly impelled him to

the fatal pool. Again, a voice was heard:

"Answer my question before you drink the

water. This pool is mine. If you disobey

me, you will follow your brothers."

Arjuna's anger knew no bounds. He cried:

"Who are you? Come and stand up to me,

and I will kill you," and he shot keenedged

arrows in the direction of the voice.

The invisible being laughed in scorn:

"Your arrows do but wound the air.

Answer my questions and then you can

satisfy your thirst. If you drink the water

without doing so, you will die."

Greatly vexed, Arjuna made up his mind

to seek out and grapple with this elusive

foe. But first he had to quench his terrible

thirst. Yes, thirst was the enemy he must

kill first. So he drank the water and also

fell down dead.

After anxious waiting Yudhishthira turned

to Bhima: "Dear brother, Arjuna, the great

hero, has also not yet returned. Something

terrible must have happened to our

brothers, for our stars are bad. Please seek

them out and be quick about it. Also bring

water, for I die of thirst." Bhima, racked

with anxiety, hurried away without a

word.

His grief and rage can be imagined when

he saw his three brothers lying there dead.

He thought: "This is certainly the work of

the Yakshas. I will hunt them down and

kill them. But O! I am so thirsty, I shall

first drink water the better to fight them."

And then he descended into the pool.

The voice shouted: "Bhimasena, beware.

You may drink only after answering my

questions. You will die if you disregard

my words."

"Who are you to dictate to me?" cried

Bhima, and he drank the water avidly,

glaring around in defiance. And as he did

so, his great strength seemed to slip from

him like a garment. And he also fell dead

among his brothers.

Alone, Yudhishthira wailed full of anxiety

and thirst. "Have they been subjected to a

curse or are they wandering about in the

forest in a vain search for water or have

they fainted or died of thirst?"

Unable to bear these thoughts and driven

desperate by an overpowering thirst, he

started out to look for his brothers and the

pool.

Yudhishthira proceeded in the direction

his brothers had taken through tracts

infested with wild boar and abounding in

spotted dear and huge forest birds.

Presently he came upon a beautiful green

meadow, girdling a pool of pellucid water,

nectar to his eyes.

But when he saw his brothers lying there

like sacred flagpoles thrown pell-mell

after a festival, unable to restrain his grief,

he lifted his voice and wept. He stroked

the faces of Bhima and Arjuna as they lay

so still and silent there and mourned:

"Was this to be the end of all our vows?

Just when our exile is about to end, you

have been snatched away. Even the gods

have forsaken me in my misfortune!"

As he looked at their mighty limbs, now

so helpless, he sadly wondered who could

have been powerful enough to kill them.

Brokenly, he reflected: "Surely my heart

must be made of steel not to break even

after seeing Nakula and Sahadeva dead.

For what purpose should I continue to live

in this world?"

Then a sense of mystery overcame him,

for this could be no ordinary occurrence.

The world held no warriors who could

overcome his brothers. Besides, there

were no wounds on their bodies which

could have let out life and their faces were

faces of men who slept in peace and not of

those who died in wrath.

There was also no trace of the footprints

of an enemy. There was surely some

magic about it. Or, could it be a trick

played by Duryodhana? Might he not

have poisoned the water? Then

Yudhishthira also descended into the pool,

in his turn drawn to the water by a

consuming thirst.

At once the voice without form warned as

before: "Your brothers died because they

did not heed my words. Do not follow

them. Answer my questions first and then

quench your thirst. This pool is mine."

Yudhishthira knew that these could be

none other than the words of a Yaksha

and guessed what had happened to his

brothers. He saw a possible way of

redeeming the situation.

He said to the bodiless voice: "Please ask

your questions." The voice put questions

rapidly one after another.

The Yaksha asked: "What makes sun

shine every day?"

Yudhishthira replied: "The power of

Brahman."

The Yaksha asked: "What rescues man in

danger?"

Yudhishthira replied: "Courage is man's

salvation in danger."

The Yaksha asked: "By the study of which

science does man become wise?"

Yudhishthira replied: "Not by studying

any sastra does man become wise. It is by

association with the great in wisdom that

he gets wisdom."

The Yaksha asked: "What is more nobly

sustaining than the earth?"

Yudhishthira replied: "The mother who

brings up the children she has borne is

nobler and more sustaining than the

earth."

The Yaksha asked: "What is higher than

the sky?"

Yudhishthira replied: "The father."

The Yaksha asked: "What is fleeter than

wind?"

Yudhishthira replied: "Mind."

The Yaksha asked: "What is more

blighted than withered straw?"

Yudhishthira replied: "A sorrow-stricken

heart."

The Yaksha asked: "What befriends a

traveller?"

Yudhishthira replied: "Learning."

The Yaksha asked: "Who is the friend of

one who stays at home?"

Yudhishthira replied: "The wife."

The Yaksha asked: "Who accompanies a

man in death?"

Yudhishthira replied: "Dharma. That

alone accompanies the soul in its solitary

journey after death."

The Yaksha asked: "Which is the biggest

vessel?"

Yudhishthira replied: "The earth, which

contains all within itself is the greatest

vessel."

The Yaksha asked: "What is happiness?"

Yudhishthira replied: "Happiness is the

result of good conduct."

The Yaksha asked: "What is that,

abandoning which man becomes loved by

all?"

Yudhishthira replied: "Pride, for

abandoning that man will be loved by all."

The Yaksha asked: "What is the loss

which yields joy and not sorrow?"

Yudhishthira replied: "Anger, giving it up,

we will no longer subject to sorrow."

The Yaksha asked: "What is that, by

giving up which, man becomes rich?"

Yudhishthira replied: "Desire, getting rid

of it, man becomes wealthy."

The Yaksha asked: "What makes one a

real brahmana? Is it birth, good conduct or

learning? Answer decisively."

Yudhishthira replied: "Birth and learning

do not make one a brahmana. Good

conduct alone does. However learned a

person may be he will not be a brahmana

if he is a slave to bad habits. Even though

he may be learned in the four Vedas, a

man of bad conduct falls to a lower class."

The Yaksha asked: "What is the greatest

wonder in the world?"

Yudhishthira replied: "Every day, men see

creatures depart to Yama's abode and yet,

those who remain seek to live forever.

This verily is the greatest wonder."

Thus, the Yaksha posed many questions

and Yudhishthira answered them all.

In the end the Yaksha asked: "O king, one

of your dead brothers can now be revived.

Whom do you want revived? He shall

come back to life."

Yudhishthira thought for a moment and

then replied: "May the cloudcomplexioned,

lotus-eyed, broad-chested

and long-armed Nakula, lying like a fallen

ebony tree, arise."

The Yaksha was pleased at this and asked

Yudhishthira: "Why did you choose

Nakula in preference to Bhima who has

the strength of sixteen thousand

elephants? I have heard that Bhima is

most dear to you. And why not Arjuna,

whose prowess in arms is your protection?

Tell me why you chose Nakula rather than

either of these two."

Yudhishthira replied: "O Yaksha, dharma

is the only shield of man and not Bhima or

Arjuna. If dharma is set at naught, man

will be ruined. Kunti and Madri were the

two wives of my father. I am surviving, a

son of Kunti, and so, she is not completely

bereaved. In order that the scales of

justice may be even, I ask that Madri's son

Nakula may revive." The Yaksha was

pleased with Yudhishthira's impartiality

and granted that all his brothers would

come back to life.

It was Yama, the Lord of Death, who had

taken the form of the deer and the Yaksha

so that he might see his son Yudhishthira

and test him. He embraced Yudhishthira

and blessed him.

Yama said: "Only a few days remain to

complete the stipulated period of your

exile in the forest. The thirteenth year will

also pass by. None of your enemies will

be able to discover you. You will

successfully fulfil your undertaking," and

saying this he disappeared.