662
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 1, Ch. 13]
bikā, mother of Mahārāja Pāṇḍu. He is the incarnation of Yamarāja. Being cursed by Maṇḍuka Muni, he was to become a  śūdra . The story is narrated as follows. Once upon a time the state police caught some thieves who concealed themselves in the hermitage of Maṇḍuka Muni. The police constables, as usual, arrested all the thieves and Maṇḍuka Muni along with them. The Magistrate specifically punished the  muni  to death by being pierced with a lance. When he was just to be pierced, the news reached the king, and he at once stopped the act on consideration of his being a great  muni . The king personally begged the  muni 's pardon for the mistake of his men, and the saint at once went to Yamarāja, who prescribes the destiny of living beings. Yamarāja, being questioned by the  muni , replied that the  muni  in his childhood pierced an ant with a sharpened straw, and for that reason he was put into difficulty. The  muni  thought it unwise on the part of Yamarāja that he was punished for his childish innocence, and thus the  muni  cursed Yamarāja to become a  śūdra , and this  śūdra  incarnation of Yamarāja was known as Vidura, the  śūdra  brother of Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Mahārāja Pāṇḍu. But this  śūdra  son of the Kuru dynasty was equally treated by Bhīṣmadeva, along with his other nephews, and in due course Vidura was married with a girl who was also born in the womb of a  śūdrāṇī  by a  brāhmaṇa . Although Vidura did not inherit the property of his father (the brother of Bhīṣmadeva), still he was given sufficient state property by Dhṛtarāṣṭra, the elder brother of Vidura. Vidura was very much attached to his elder brother, and all along he tried to guide him in the right path. During the fratricidal war of Kurukṣetra, Vidura repeatedly implored his elder brother to do justice to the sons of Pāṇḍu, but Duryodhana did not like such interference by his uncle, and thus he practically insulted Vidura. This resulted in Vidura's leaving home for pilgrimage and taking instructions from Maitreya.
TEXT 2
यावतः कृतवान् प्रश्नान् क्षत्ता कौषारवाग्रतः । 
  जातैकयक्तिर्गोविन्दे तेभ्यश्चोपरराम ह ॥ २ ॥
yāvataḥ kṛtavān praśnān 
  kṣattā kauṣāravāgrataḥ 
  jātaika-bhaktir govinde 
  ṭebhyaś copararāma ha
yāvataḥ—all that; kṛtavān—did he put; praśnān—questions; kṣattā—a name of Vidura; kauṣārava—a name of Maitreya; agrataḥ—in the presence