Pandavas Travel to and Settle in Kamyaka Forest

The Pandavas left the banks of the Jahnavi and began to move westward. They were five brothers — Yudhishthira, Bhimasena, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva — with Draupadi, their shared wife, and a company of brahmanas who had chosen exile alongside them. They had lost everything in a rigged game of dice: their kingdom, their wealth, their freedom. Now they walked through Kurukshetra, the ancient battlefield plain, and stopped at every sacred river they crossed. They worshipped at the Sarasvati, the river of wisdom. They worshipped at the Dhrishadvati, the river of the northern lands. They worshipped at the Yamuna, dark and deep, flowing south toward the Ganga. Each river received their homage — a bow, a prayer, a handful of water offered to the ancestors and the gods. They travelled from forest to forest, heading west. At last, on the banks of the Sarasvati, they saw it: the Kamyaka forest. It was located on a desert plain, but the forest itself was lush — teeming with many animals and birds, beloved by sages who had made it their home for generations. The trees stood thick and the air was cool. It was a place where a man could think, could wait, could gather himself. The Pandavas settled there, consoled by the presence of the sages who had come with them. They built shelters. They established a routine. They were exiles, but they were not alone. And in Hastinapura, Vidura — their uncle, the wise counselor of the blind king Dhritarashtra — made a decision. He would go to them. He climbed into a single chariot drawn by swift horses and drove toward the Kamyaka forest. From a distance, Yudhishthira saw the chariot approaching. He recognized the horses, the bearing of the man driving them. He turned to Bhimasena and spoke — not with hope, but with wariness. "What will Kshatta say when he meets us? Is it possible that he comes again at Soubala's words, to challenge me once more to a gamble with dice? Does the mean Shakuni wish to win our weapons by playing once again with dice? O Bhimasena! If challenged by anyone, I am unable to refuse. Yet if the Gandiva is uncertain, our winning back the kingdom is uncertain." The Gandiva — Arjuna's divine bow, the one weapon that could turn any battle. If Shakuni wanted it, and if Yudhishthira could not refuse a challenge, then everything they still possessed could be lost in another roll of the dice. But Vidura had not come to gamble. The Pandavas stood up and welcomed him. They offered him due homage — water for his feet, a seat, the respect due to an elder. When the formalities were done, Ajamidha — another name for Vidura, tracing his lineage to the ancient king — sat down among the sons of Pandu and made the usual enquiries about their health and welfare.