Bhima

King Bhima of Vidarbha has everything a ruler could want — strength, virtue, wealth — but no children. When the brahmarshi Damana visits his court, Bhima and his wife serve him with such devotion that the sage grants them a boon: three sons and a daughter whose beauty will be spoken of among gods and men.

Damayanti, having heard the swan's words about King Nala, loses all control over herself — she sighs, weeps, and cannot eat or sleep. Her friends report her state to King Bhima, who recognizes that his daughter has come of age and decides to hold a svayamvara (a ceremony where a princess chooses her husband), inviting every king on earth.

Nala is losing everything to Pushkara at the gambling table, and the dice seem to obey only his brother. Damayanti watches her husband destroy himself and knows what she must do: send their children away before they are lost too.

When Sunanda cleans the dirt from Damayanti's forehead, the lotus-shaped mark emerges like the moon from behind clouds. The king's mother — Damayanti's own aunt — recognizes it instantly and embraces her, revealing that they are bound by blood as granddaughters of the same king.

A messenger searching the earth for the lost queen Damayanti finally finds her — living in obscurity, her face covered in dirt. But he recognizes her by the one thing grime cannot hide: the lotus-shaped mark between her eyebrows, placed there by the creator himself.

After a long separation, Damayanti arrives in Vidarbha to find her children, parents, and friends all well. Her father rewards the messenger who found her, and Damayanti rests at last in her father's house — but she has more to say to her mother.

Damayanti tells her mother plainly: if you want me alive, bring Nala here. The queen, choking with tears, brings the words to King Bhima, who sends brahmanas in every direction. Damayanti gives them a secret message — words only Nala would understand — and instructs them to report back without being discovered.

King Rituparna arrives in Vidarbha in the evening, his chariot roaring through the gates of Kundina. The sound reaches Nala's horses, who rejoice as if their master had returned. It reaches Damayanti, who is stirred with hope and grief. King Bhima welcomes Rituparna with honours, puzzled by the unexplained journey of over a hundred yojanas, while Bahuka — Nala in disguise — tends to the horses.

Keshini reports Bahuka's strange agitations to Damayanti, who suspects he is Nala but is uncertain because of his changed appearance. She sends word to her mother, requesting a meeting with Bahuka — and with her parents' sanction, has him brought to her chambers.

With his doubts dissolved, Nala dons the garment that does not decay, recalls the king of the serpents, and regains his original form. Damayanti embraces him and weeps — and in the fourth year of separation, they are finally reunited.

Brihadashva concludes the story of Nala, who lost everything to gambling and then regained it all. He draws a direct parallel to Yudhishthira's own exile, reminding him that prosperity is transient and that hearing Nala's tale brings blessings. Then he makes an unexpected offer: he will teach Yudhishthira the secrets of dice, to destroy his fear of ever being challenged again.