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The Yakhsa Prashna (Also known as the Dharma Baka Upakhyan: Story of the Righteous Crane) appears in the Vana Parva or Aranyaka-parva or Aranya-parva Mahabharata, Aranya Parva, 311–12 (Meaning: The Book of the Forest) of the great Hindu epic, the Mahabharat. The story is set up at the end of twelve years of exile of the Pandavas in the forest. ==Vana Parva== At the end of their 12 years of exile in the forests, time had come for the pandavas to live in Ajnata Vasa(living In-cognito). As they were discussing upon their course of action the Pandava princes came across a Brahmin who complained that a deer has taken his Arani() (The pair of wooden blocks to generate fire by friction) on its antlers and therefore he was not able to light the fire for the performance of Vedic rituals. The valorous Pandava princes set out to retrieve the Brahmin's Arani and followed the hoof-marks of the deer. In the quest of the mysterious deer, Yudhishthira, became exhausted and thirsty. His brother Nakula thus ventured out to fetch water and found a beautiful lake. The lake was devoid of any living creature except a crane (Baka). When he attempted to take water from the lake, the crane spoke, "O Nakula! The water of this lake will turn into poison if you take it without satisfactorily answering my questions." Nakula, in arrogance, did not pay heed and hurriedly took water from the lake. Upon drinking the crystal clear water, Nakula instantly died of poisoning. Nakula's twin Sahadeva, coming in search of brother, also found the same lake, saw Nakula dead, and was also warned by the crane. But Sahadeva again ignored the crane and died after drinking the water. In the same manner, both valiant Arjuna, and powerful Bhima met the same fate. Since none of the brothers returned with water, Yudhishthira embarked in search of them. Upon following the same path, Yudhishthira again came across the lake and found his brothers lying dead. Before searching for the killer of his brothers, Yudhishthira decided to drink some water from the lake. But when the crane warned him, Yudhishthira realized that the crane held the answer to the turn of events. The virtuous Yudhishthira proceeded to answer the questions put forth by the crane. Before putting the questions to Yudhishthira, the crane revealed itself as a Yaksha. The Yaksha asked 18 questions with philosophical and meta-physical ramifications. This dialogue between the Yaksha and Yudhishthira is embodied in the Madhya Parva of the Mahabharata, and is also known as the Dharma-Baka Upakhyan (Legend of the Virtous Crane). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Yaksha Prashna」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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