Question from Mahabharata: Who was vidur (minister of dhritarashtra) in his previous life?

Question

Who was vidur (minister of dhritarashtra) in his previous life ?
and how come he got the body of vidura?

Answer 1

vidur was dharma in his previous life. as dharma, he had once enraged a sage. hence, the sage cursed him that he wud be born as a human in a lower caste. thus, he was born as vidur, the son of a maid.

Answer 2

Vidura was a son of a maid-servant who served the Queens of Hastinapura, Queen Ambika and Ambalika. In some accounts, he was an incarnation of Yama or Dharma Raj, who was cursed by the sage, Mandavya, for imposing punishment on him that exceed the sin.

How Vidhura was born -

There was a great sage by name Mandavya, He was performing askesis and was in trance. A number of soldiers, who were chasing a thief that had run away with the jewels which belonged to the king, came that way and enquired Mandavya about the thief, who was seen moving that side. The thief had actually entered the hermitage of Mandavya and dropped the jewels there before vanishing from that place. Mandavya was not aware of anything since he was in blissful trance.’

‘Mandavya did not answer the soldiers, as he did not hear that question in the first place, since he was in trance. The soldiers were annoyed and mistook his silence. They moved about in the hermitage and found the missing jewels there and took Mandavya to the Court of the King. The king, going by circumstantial evidence, quickly decreed that he be impaled on the stake. Known as aani or kazhu maram, the stake was something similar to a giant nail, buried in the ground with the sharp edge projecting out, some five or six feet above ground level. The person who was to suffer the punishment would be made to sit on the stake. The sharp edge of the stake that had entered his body through the anus would emerge from somewhere close to the nape of the neck, thus killing the person. But that is a very slow process and would take even a day or two.

Mandavya found himself impaled on the stake when he came out of the trance. He could not understand as to why this had happened to him. By that time a large crowd had gathered around him and he was soon recognised by the wise in the crowd. They immediately rushed to the king and informed him about the person who was impaled on the stake. The king realised his mistake, released Mandavya from the stake - who was subsequently came to be known as Ani Mandavya - and begged for his forgiveness.

Mandavya was not at all annoyed at the king. He wanted to know the reason why this happened to him and therefore went to Dharma Raja. ‘Sage, you played cruel games when you were a boy,’ replied Dharma. ‘You used to catch dragonflies, cut the edge of their tails, insert sharp twigs attached to strings and used to hold the string in your hand while the poor insects tried to fly away; but were stopped by the tether by which they were held. The punishment you suffered was a direct result of your cruel games, when you were a boy,’ he said.

‘Your sense of proportion is off-balance,’ said Mandavya. ‘The quantum of an error, or a mistake or crime should be measured with due respect to other factors like age and intelligence. What I did was something when I was ignorant and was not trained. You should have taken cognisance of this fact. You failed in your duty. I curse you to suffer what I underwent this day. You would be born to a maidservant and would go through humiliation a thousand times greater than that I suffered.’

And thus was Vidura born to the maid servant fathered by Vyasa.-

Answer 3

He was Yamaraj in his previous life, being cursed by Manduk Muni he became Vidura in his next life.

He is the incarnation of Yamaraj and being cursed by Manduk Muni was to become a Sudra the less intelligent class of men in the society. The story is narrated as follows. Once upon a time the state police caught hold of some thieves who kept concealed themselves in the hermitage of Manduk Muni. The police constables as usual arrested all the thieves as also Manduk Muni along with them. The Magistrate specifically punished the Muni to death being pierced by the lance. When he was just to be pierced the news reached the king and he at once stopped the act on consideration of his becoming a great Muni. The king personally, begged his pardon for the mistake of his men and the saint at once went to Yamaraj who prescribes the destiny of the living being. Yamaraj being enquired by the Muni replied that the Muni in his childhood pierced an ant by sharpen straw and for that reason he was put into difficulty. The Muni thought it unwise on the part of Yamaraja that he punished the Muni for his childish innocence and thus the Muni cursed Yamaraj to become a Sudra and this Sudra incarnation of Yamraj was known as Vidura the Sudra brother of Dhritarastra and Maharaj Pandu. But this Sudra son of the Kuru dynasty was equally treated by Bhismadeva along with his other nephews and in due course Vidura was married with a girl who was also born in the womb of a Sudrani by a Brahmin. Although Vidura did not inherit the property of his father (the brother of Bhismadeva) still he was given sufficient state property by Dhritarstra 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 fratricidal war of Kuruksherta, Vidura repeatedly implored his elder brother to do justice to the sons of Pandu but Duryodhone did not like such interference by his uncle and thus Vidura was practically insulted by his nephew Duryodhone which incidence resulted in Vidura's leaving the home for pilgrimage and taking instructions from Maitreya.

Answer 4

Vidur was Lord Yamraja in his previous life. He was given curse for delying his justice to holy sage. Read 3rd Canto of Srimad Bhagwatam for reference.

Answer 5

I don't know, nor does it matter in today's world.
How did he get into the body of Vidura??
..... thru the back-door!