YUDISHTHRA, a prince of great celebrity, who, according to Indian authoi\ reigned about the beginning of the Kaliyug ; some, however, fix the epoch of his reign 653 years later, or in the year 2448 before Christ. He is also said to have been contemporary with the astronomers Parasara and Garga. As the commencement of the Kaliyug was me. 3101, the true date seems to have been about B.C. 1400. Yudishthra was the eldest of the five Pandu princes. Fie was educated by Drona, at the court of his uncle Dhrita Rashtra, and his uncle declared him Yuva raja or heir-apparent ; but the jealousy that the Paurava felt from this drove the Pandava into exile to the city of Varanavata. Virhen there Duryodhana set fire to their house in the hope of destroying them ; and as the bodies of a woman and her five sons were found in the ruins, the Pandava were believed to have perished.
They, however, returned, and settled at Indra prastha, where Yudishthra ruled wisely, and the people prospered; but, gambling with the Kaurava, he lost his all, kingdoms, brothers, himself, and wife. Dhrita Rashtra ordered the Pandava to be released and sent away, but they again gambled, and by the terms of the play they had to go into exile for 13 years. At its close, Yudishthra sent a messenger to Hastinapura to obtain restoration ; but this beino. refused, the great battle recorded as the 141ahabbbarata was fought, in which the Kaurava were all slain. Yudishthra became king, but he abdicated in favour of Arjuna's grandson. Yudishthra and Baladeva, after the Mahabharata, returned to Saurashtra, and after the death of ICrishna they went northwards, and are supposed to have reached Greece.