Yudhishthira Feeds Brahmanas and Departs for Kamyaka
Having received the Sun's boon, Yudhishthira arises from the water and returns to his family. He cooks the forest fare himself — and it multiplies, becoming inexhaustible. He feeds the brahmanas first, then his brothers, then eats the remainder with Draupadi. Blessed and provisioned, the Pandavas set out for Kamyaka forest.
Yudhishthira arose from the water, the Sun's words still burning in his mind. He was Kounteya — son of Kunti — and he knew the ways of dharma. The boon had been given. Now it was time to act on it.
He went first to Dhoumya, his priest, and grasped his feet in reverence. He embraced his brothers — Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, Sahadeva — one by one. Then he went to Draupadi, who watched him approach.
While she watched, Yudhishthira himself cooked the food in the kitchen.
It was forest fare — the four kinds: fruit, roots, meat, vegetables. But as he cooked, something shifted. The food increased. It became inexhaustible. What should have been a single meal stretched into abundance, as if the Sun's promise had entered every grain and every piece of wood on the fire.
Yudhishthira fed the brahmanas first. When they had eaten their fill, his younger brothers ate. Only then did Yudhishthira himself eat the remainder — what was left after everyone else had been satisfied. This was called vighasa, the food of the remnant, and it was considered the purest meal a householder could eat. After Yudhishthira finished, Draupadi — Parshati, daughter of the king of Panchala — ate what he had left behind.
The lord, radiant as Divakara himself, had obtained a boon from the Sun and now gave the brahmanas all that they desired. On the appointed tithis (lunar days) and nakshatras (constellations), with Dhoumya at the forefront, he performed sacrifices according to the mantras and the rituals.
Then the Pandavas prepared to move. With their departure blessed, with Dhoumya leading them, surrounded by a mass of brahmanas who had chosen to share their exile, they left for the forest of Kamyaka. Aranyaka Parva, Chapter 301