Nakula's Military Campaign and Conquest of the Western Regions
Nakula marches west from Khandavaprastha with a thundering army, tasked with subjugating the entire region for his brother's imperial sacrifice. He defeats a catalog of tribes and kings in battle, secures the submission of Vasudeva's kingdoms, and turns his own uncle into an ally through diplomacy. He returns to Indraprastha with a wealth so vast it strains ten thousand camels to carry it.
The earth trembled. Nakula, the son of Madri, left Khandavaprastha at the head of a large army, his chariot wheels roaring, his warriors shouting like lions. His brother Yudhishthira had tasked him with a clear objective: conquer the western direction, the region protected by the god Varuna, to secure the tribute and submission necessary for the Rajasuya, the imperial sacrifice.
His campaign was a relentless march of subjugation. He first struck the beautiful and prosperous land of Rohitaka, a place rich in cattle, horses, and grain, beloved of the war-god Kartikeya. There, he fought a great battle against the fierce Mattamayuraka warriors and won. The conquests that followed read like a roll call of western peoples: the desert region, the grain-rich Sairishaka, the Mahecchas, the Shibis, the Trigartas, the Ambashthas, the Malavas, and the five groups of Karpatas. He defeated brahmana clans like the Madhyamikayas and Vatadhanas. Circling back, he vanquished the forest-dwelling Utsavasamketas of Pushkara, the powerful Gramaneyas on the banks of the Sindhu river, and the shudra and abhira clans living along the Sarasvati. His authority extended over mountain-dwellers, fisherfolk, the land of the five rivers, the western Paryatas, the northern Jyotikas, and the cities of Vrindataka and Dvarapala. The Harhunas and every king dwelling to the west fell before him.
With military dominance established, Nakula turned to politics. He sent messengers to the great Vasudeva. Without a fight, Vasudeva and his ten kingdoms accepted Nakula's rule. The campaign then took a personal turn. Nakula marched to Shakala, the city of the Madras — the kingdom of his maternal uncle, Shalya. Here, he did not draw his bow. Using conciliation, he made an ally of his uncle. King Shalya honoured his nephew as a deserving guest and gave him a large quantity of riches from his own treasury.
The final phase of the conquest pushed to the edges of the known world. Nakula defeated the extremely fearful mlecchas (foreign tribes) who lived along the ocean shores, the Pahlavas, and the Barbaras. Having conquered every king and extracted tribute from all, Nakula, supreme among men, turned his army homeward.
The scale of his success was measured in weight. The riches he collected were so immense that ten thousand camels carried it with difficulty. Returning to Indraprastha, Madri's brave and fortunate son went directly to Yudhishthira and laid the staggering wealth at his feet. Thus did Nakula conquer the western regions, a domain once conquered by Vasudeva and now subdued for the Pandava king.