the ability or willingness to tolerate the existence of opinions or behaviour that one dislikes or disagrees with.
The word Yudhishthira means "the one who is steady in the war", from the words, yuddha (युद्ध) meaning 'war', and sthira (स्थिर) meaning 'steady'.[2] His other names are-
- Bharata Vanshi (भारत वंशी) – descendant of Bharata[3]
- Ajatashatru (अजातशत्रु) – one who is born without enemies[4]
- Dharmanandana (धर्म नंदन) or Dharmaputra - The son of Dharma (Righteousness) or Yamraj
- Dharmaraja or Dharmaraya or Dharmaja (धर्मराज) - Lord of Dharma.
- Panduputra (पांडुपुत्र) - Son of Pandu.
- Pandavagrajah - Eldest of Pandavas.
- Jyesthakaunteya - Eldest son of Kunti.
- Sarvabhouma/Samrat Chakravarthi - Emperor of the complete planet Earth.
- Kanka - another name for Yudhisthira given by Draupadi for the 13th year in exile.
During their schooling under Drona, he showed more skills and interest in learning administration, religion, philosophy and history. Contrary to many of the other kuru princes who specialized in martial arts. Yudhishthira also gained good skills in fighting with spear. He gained the confidence and love of all his elders that they saw him as the most qualified person to become the heir to the Kuru Kingdom.
Even the king Dhritharashtra could not reason with the elders in the kingdom to choose his own son ahead of Yudhisthira. Such was the good will that Yudhisthira earned.
While the tales of all his brothers, who went around conquering kingdoms to make him an emperor, are sung by storytellers across generations, the administrative and management skills of Yudhisthira are often forgotten.
During their 12 year exile period as well, Yudhisthira was the one who more easily adjusted to the new life style, because he brought this upon himself and others. He was more than willing to avoid a war if Duryodhana was willing to spare just 5 villages for him and his brothers.
The Mahabharata war also presents a handful of heroics that Yudhisthira performed during the 18 day war – including the killing of the mighty Shalya on the last day of the war – all this despite being the weaker link among the Pandavas when it comes to combat skills.
He stood tall to hold his family together upon the unexpected demise of their father (and mother Madri). His brothers blindly followed his orders, and he tried to avoid conflict with the Kauravas whenever possible.
He easily forgave Duryodhana for the plot to kill his family in the House of lac at Varanavat. He even settled down for the barren land and forest of Khandavaprastha to avoid a conflict within the family.
Despite being deprived of all his wealth and humiliated during the game of dice, he ordered his brothers to fight for and save Duryodhana when he was made captive by Chitrasena.
And during the incognito period as well, he accepted his destiny and worked literally as a jester at Virata’s court. Before the battle, he was willing to take any form of compromise to avoid a battle with his brothers and his elders. All of these show the resilience and tolerance of Yudhisthira, the Emperor.
he had taken an oath not to say no nor to refuse anything, hoping in this way to avoid conflict with others, and keep the Kuru clan in peace.
When the invitation came from Dhritharashtra for a game of dice, he could not refuse. Secondly, it was the accepted norm for the royals(Kshatriya dharma) to accept the invitation to a game of dice/ gambling, and any refusal would be construed either as being rude, or a sign of cowardice.
Yudhishthira vacillated a good deal before finally accepting the invitation to gamble. But, Shakuni, the master schemer as he was, knowingly exploited Yudhishthira’s weakness and also taunted him as a coward when he initially hesitated to respond.
Though these factors may explain why Yudhishthira chose to play the game of dice, these do not explain why a person of his character and caliber should become so obsessive to pledge all his wealth, kingdom, his own brothers and even his queen. It’s here that his addiction to the game becomes a bit evident.
In a nutshell, It was a combination of his weakness for gambling, the tenets of Kshatriya dharma and, his hesitation to deny Dhritharashtra’s invitation which forced Yudhishthira to accept the challenge to play the game of dice, even though he was fully aware of underlying traps and deceitful schemes.
This changed the destiny of the Kuru kingdom and was the trigger behind the creation of such a magnificent epic – Mahabharata.
No better example than Yudhishthira for the nature of Tolerance.
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