Yudhisthira Eldest of Pandava Brothers

Yudhisthira was the eldest son of King Pandu and his first wife Kunti, as per the Hindu epic Mahabharata. He was initially the king of Indraprastha and later went on to become the king of Hastinapur. His righteousness and piety earned him the title of Dharmaraja. He was the eldest of the Pandava brothers in the Kurukshetra war and he has four other brothers namely Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahdeva. As per the description of Vyasa, Yudhisthira was fair and had eyes like that of a lotus flower He was tall and with a strong physique but was very humble.

Birth and Marriage of Yudhistira

Since his father Pandu had a curse upon him that he would die if he would consummate with his wife, his wife Kunti was requested by him to use his magical powers of evoking the gods in heaven and acquire a son out of them in her womb. Yudhisthira was the first son and was born out of the boon granted to Kunti by Dharma (the god of judgement) whom she invoked. After his birth, the deities and the sages predicted that he would be extremely honest, virtuous and truthful. Hence the name Yudhisthira. However, since Karna was born out of Kunti invocation of the sun god before her marriage, Yudhisthira was later revealed as the second son of Kunti. Although, he was the eldest of the brothers, Yudhisthira has poor fighting skills. He was good at spear-fighting and chariot racing, but his true qualities were his allegiance to truthfulness, honesty and justice at all situations.

Yudhisthira Eldest of Pandava Brothers in Mahabharatha


Yudhisthira was also well trained and knowledgeable at martial arts, administration, politics, science and religion by the famous gurus, Drona and Kripa. After he came back to Hastinapur, he was considered for the position of the crown prince by Bhishma. However, since Dritarashtra wanted his eldest son Duryodhana to be king, there was competition among the two. Later, Duryodhana along with his other brothers conspired and sent the Pandavas to exile. There they met and married the legendary Draupadi and struck a very fruitful alliance with the Panchals. Yudhisthira is also created for the building and development of his kingdom called Indraprastha with the help of his cousin brothers Krishna and Balarama. It was a mighty kingdom where justice ruled supreme.

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