Bhagavad Gita · Mahabharata Codex

Virata

विराट · virāṭa

King of Matsya, who sheltered the Pandavas in their year of hiding

For a year the five most wanted men in the land worked in his palace, and he never knew.

In the thirteenth year of exile the Pandavas had to live unrecognised. They took service with King Virata: Yudhishthira as a courtier, Bhima as a cook, Arjuna as a dance teacher. When their identity came out, Virata gave his daughter Uttara in marriage to Arjuna's son Abhimanyu and brought his whole army to their side. He and his sons died in the war.