Divakara Grants Yudhishthira a Boon
Yudhishthira stands in the water, performing his devotions to the Sun. Divakara appears before him in his own blazing form — radiant as fire — and declares that the king will receive everything he wishes for: food for twelve years, no shortage of the four kinds of fare, and inexhaustible riches. Then he vanishes.
Yudhishthira stood in the water and prayed. He had led his brothers and Draupadi into the forest of exile, stripped of everything — kingdom, wealth, the life they had known. Now, in the wilderness, he turned to the one source he still had: the Sun.
He performed his devotions with concentration, fixing his mind on Divakara, the maker of light. And Divakara was pleased.
The Sun showed himself to the Pandava in his own body — radiant, blazing like fire, impossible to look at directly. He spoke directly to Yudhishthira: "O king! You will get everything that you wish for. I will provide you food for the twelve years. There will be no shortage of the four kinds of food in your kitchen — fruit, roots, meat and vegetables. There will be no shortage of many riches too."
Then he vanished.
Yudhishthira had asked for nothing more than what his people needed. The Sun had answered with a promise that would sustain them through every season of the forest — not just survival, but provision. The kitchen would never run empty. The brahmanas who followed them into exile would never go hungry. The twelve years would pass, and the Pandavas would not starve. Aranyaka Parva, Chapter 301