Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata, Part C

     One of the stories that really caught my attention while reading this portion of the Mahabarata was Riddles at the Lake. This story starts off with them coming upon a stag that carried wood in it's antlers that the brahmins used for fires. The Pandava brothers were begged to get the wood for them, and eventually they agreed. So they chased the deer until they were exhausted and thirsty. So they looked for water.

     The came across a pool of water that told the princes that they would be allowed to drink the water if they could answer a riddle. The first brother, Nakula, was impatient and drank from teh water and fell dead. So it went, brother after  brother falling dead because they were too impatient to answer the the riddle. Finally, Yudhishthira went to the water and saw his dead brothers. The pool once again asked for his riddles to be answered, and revealed himself to be a yaksha. Yudhishthira  answered each riddle, one by one, until the pool of water was satisfied. Five riddles were mentioned in my version of the story, but it is implied that he answered many more. The yaksha revealed hismelf ot be Dharma, Yudhishthira's celestial father. In exchange for answering each riddle, Dharma granted two boons. Yudhishthira asked for his brothers to be revived and that they would be unrecognizable for an entire year (because they have to spend a year in hiding). 

Statue of Yama/Dharma

    I thought that this story was really interesting, and I could see myself writing my own version of this story. I think I would take the riddle portion and sort-of modernize it into a game-show. I think that could be really fun. So it would be a very similar plot but with a modern setting. 

Bibliography. PDE Mahabarata "Riddles at the Lake" by Donald A. Mackenzie. Web Source.