Yudhishthir and Karna

Yudhishthir was the eldest son of King Pandu and he and his brothers were collectively known as the Pandavas. Pandu had been rendered impotent by a curse and his wives gave birth to the children by invoking the blessings of various demi-Gods. Kunti gave birth to Yudhishthir, Bhim and Arjun by invoking Dharma the God of Universal Law, Pavana the Wind God and Indra the King of Gods respectively. His second wife Madri gave birth to Nakula and Sahadeva by invoking the twin suns of the Sun God.

Yudhishthir was the paragon of righteousness and always put others before himself and his brothers. Though the other Pandavas had suffered greatly because of this in the past, they revered Yudhishthir and were not prepared to hear a word said against their elder brother. Lord Vishnu in his eighth incarnation as Krishna was the ally of the Pandavas in the epic war of Mahabharata against their cousins, the Kauravas. He was especially close to Arjun. Karna was a highly respected general of the Kaurava army and a close friend of Yudhishthir's cousin Duryodhan. He was known for his philanthropy and it was said that no one had gone empty handed from his door.

Once Krishna told Arjun that Karna was a greater philanthropist than Yudhishthir. Arjun was annoyed that Krishna spoke so highly of an enemy and asked Krishna to prove his statement. Sandalwood was in short supply at that time and it was decided that Krishna and Arjun should disguise themselves as merchants and approach both Yudhishthir and Karna for sandalwood and judge their responses.

They first went to Yudhishthir and introduced themselves as merchants from a neighbouring town. They said that they were building a marriage hall and had run out of sandalwood. They needed a certain quantity of sandalwood to complete their task. Since they were not familiar with this city and they had heard a lot about Yudhishthir's generosity they were approaching him for assistance. Yudhishthir ordered a servant to collect the sandalwood from the timber merchants and invited the disguised Krishna and Arjun to have dinner with him. Dinner was soon over but there was no news from the servant. Instead of retiring at his usual time Yudhishthir stayed awake with his two guests attending to their every comfort. It was late when the servant returned. He had manages to procure a small quantity of sandalwood, but because of the untimely rains large stocks had become wet and hence unusable. Yudhishthir promised to have the procured quantity delivered the next day and requested the merchants to restart work. The remainder would be sent as soon as it dried and became usable.

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