Sages & Others
Nala
नल
King of the Nishadhas
Who was Nala?
Nala (नल): King of the Nishadhas, one of the sages and supporting figures in the Mahabharata. Son of Virasena and ruler of the Nishadhas, truthful, unmatched with horses, and fond of dice.
Quick Facts
| Sanskrit name | नल |
|---|---|
| Title / Epithet | King of the Nishadhas |
| Faction | Sages & Others |
| Key traits | Truthful, Gambler, Horseman, Repentant |
| Notable relationships | Wife: Damayanti, Divine Rival Suitor: Indra, Divine Rival Suitor: Agni, Divine Rival Suitor: Yama |
| Featured in | 8 stories |
About Nala
Son of Virasena and ruler of the Nishadhas, truthful, unmatched with horses, and fond of dice. He carried the gods' own suit to Damayanti and was chosen by her over Indra, Agni, Varuna and Yama; then Kali entered him, and he gambled away his kingdom to his brother Pushkara, abandoned his sleeping wife in the forest with half her garment cut away, and was made a dwarf named Vahuka by the snake Karkotaka. As Rituparna's charioteer he traded his skill with horses for skill with dice, and won back both wife and kingdom.
In Their Words
I came here as their messenger. How then shall I speak for myself?
Nala
Traits
- Truthful
- Gambler
- Horseman
- Repentant
Story Appearances
Stories Featuring Nala
6 further tales on this site name Nala, in canonical reading order.
- The Weighing of the BharataThe gods put the epic in a balance against the four Vedas, and Sauti recites the eighteen books
- Kunti's BlessingA mother-in-law names seven wives, a throne nobody owns yet, and a son not yet born
- The Mole and the CharioteerHow Damayanti Was Found in Chedi and Nala in Ayodhya
- Nala's BridgeThe Ocean refuses to part and names a workman instead, and the monkey army walks to Lanka
- The Names That Cleanse SinAsked what destroys sin, Bhishma answers with a litany of gods, rivers, mountains, sages and kings
- The Fourfold Religion of CompassionBhishma on abstaining from meat, and the kings who kept the vow
Character Arc
- The ErrandCarries the gods' suit to the woman he loves
- The ThrowLoses the Nishadhas to his brother at dice
- VahukaServes as a deformed charioteer in another king's stable
Key Relationships
Places in Nala's Story
Drawn from the stories Nala appears in.
Related Characters
Others counted among the Sages & Others.