Damayanti and Brihadashva

Four gods — Indra, Agni, Varuna, and Yama — desire Damayanti and choose Nala to deliver their proposal. Nala has already promised to do their bidding, but when he learns the task, he protests: he himself desires Damayanti. The gods insist he keep his word.

Nala enters Damayanti's guarded palace unseen, by the gods' influence. When she asks how he entered unnoticed, he reveals his identity and delivers the gods' proposal — Indra, Agni, Varuna, and Yama all wish to marry her, and she must choose one.

Damayanti has assembled the kings of the world, but when Nala arrives among them, she bows to the gods and speaks directly to him — confessing that she has been tormented by a swan's words and has chosen him over every other man present, including the gods themselves.

When Damayanti enters the svayamvara arena, she finds five identical men — the four gods disguised as Nala and Nala himself — and cannot tell which is her chosen husband. She prays to the gods, asking them to reveal their true forms, and they grant her request, allowing her to see Nala's mortal signs and place the garland around his shoulders.

After the gods depart, Kali tells Dvapara he cannot control his anger and resolves to take possession of Nala and dislodge him from his kingdom. He asks Dvapara to help by entering the dice — enabling the cheating that will destroy Nala through gambling.

The gods, returning from Damayanti's svayamvara, encounter Kali and Dvapara on the road. When Indra tells Kali the svayamvara is over and Damayanti has chosen Nala, Kali's rage ignites — and the gods warn him that cursing Nala will only bring ruin upon himself.

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.

Nala has lost everything and sits like a man maddened, unable to speak. Damayanti, still clear-headed, tries one last thing — summoning the advisers as if on Nala's orders, hoping they can reverse what has been lost.

Hungry and desperate in the forest, Nala spots birds with plumage like gold and tries to catch them for food and riches, covering them with his only garment. The birds rise into the sky carrying his garment — and reveal themselves as the dice who robbed him of his kingdom, leaving him naked and alone.

Naked and desperate, Nala points out the roads to Vidarbha to Damayanti, implying she should go to her father's kingdom without him. She refuses, arguing that a wife is the best medicine for a suffering husband — but his repeated directions to the road home have already planted doubt in her heart.

After his charioteer abandons him, Nala gambles away everything — his kingdom, his riches, everything except Damayanti. When Pushkara mockingly suggests staking her next, Nala's rage finally breaks through his despair. He strips off his ornaments, leaves the city in a single garment with Damayanti following, and spends three nights outside, surviving on water alone.

A caravan of merchants, exhausted from their journey, stops to rest by a pond in a deep forest. At midnight, a herd of elephants arrives to drink and, finding the sleeping camp in their path, tramples everything. Damayanti survives the slaughter and, standing among the dead, wonders what sin she committed to bring such destruction upon those who helped her.

Every evening, while living in disguise in Rituparna's palace, Nala recites a shloka lamenting a woman lost in the forest. Jivala, his companion, hears the words and asks who this woman is. Nala answers — but only in the third person, speaking of himself as though he were someone else.

Damayanti has heard Parnada's report and knows what she must do — but she cannot let her father Bhima know. She goes to her mother in secret and reveals her plan: send the brahmana Sudeva to Ayodhya to bring Nala back, while keeping the king in the dark.

Parnada returns from Ayodhya with nothing from King Rituparna — but a deformed charioteer named Bahuka spoke to him in private, words that made no sense to the brahmana but strike Damayanti like a message from the dead.

Damayanti has heard Bahuka's words and knows Nala is alive — but she needs to force him to reveal himself. She summons Sudeva and gives him a message for King Rituparna: Damayanti will hold a second svayamvara tomorrow morning, because Nala's fate is unknown.

King Rituparna tells his charioteer Bahuka that he wishes to reach Vidarbha in a single day for Damayanti's svayamvara. Bahuka's mind is torn apart by grief and suspicion — is Damayanti truly choosing another husband, or is this a ruse for his sake? Tormented, he resolves to go and discover the truth.

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.

Damayanti, now certain that Bahuka is Nala, weeps — but needs one final confirmation. She sends Keshini to steal meat from Bahuka's kitchen. When she tastes it, she recognizes the cooking of her husband from years before, and knows beyond doubt.

Damayanti, hearing Brihadashva's account, suspects the charioteer Bahuka is her lost husband Nala. She sends her maid Keshini to secretly observe him — and Keshini returns with reports of impossible things: narrow passages widening before him, vessels filling with water at his glance, fire refusing to burn him, and flowers growing fresher in his hands.

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.

After the night passes, Nala adorns himself and goes with Damayanti to meet her father, King Bhima. The reunion is formal and joyful — Nala pays his respects, Bhima welcomes him like a son — and the entire city of Kundina erupts in celebration, decorated with flags, garlands, and flowers, as the gods are worshipped in every temple.

Pushkara, his eyes red with anger, demands that Nala stake everything. Nala smiles and accepts. In a single throw, Pushkara loses his entire kingdom, his treasures, and his life. But Nala does not kill him — he embraces him as a brother and sends him away in peace.

With Bhima’s permission and a small army, Nala returns to Nishadha and confronts his brother Pushkara. He offers a single stake: all his new wealth, Damayanti, and his life — against the kingdom. Pushkara, certain of victory, laughs and accepts the dice game.

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.