Mahabharata: Volume 8 (14 page)

Vaishampayana said, ‘When the supreme among the Kuru lineage heard the words that Vidura had spoken, he was tormented by
grief on account of his sons. He lost his senses and fell down on the ground. His relatives, Krishna Dvaipayana and Kshatta Vidura, saw that he had fallen down on the ground, unconscious. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! Sanjaya, other well-wishers and trusted gate keepers sprinkled him with cold and pleasant water and fanned him with palm leaves. They carefully rubbed his body with their hands. Dhritarashtra remained in this state for a very long period of time. After a long period of time, the lord of the earth regained his senses. Overcome by thoughts of his sons, he lamented for a very long period of time. “Indeed, shame on being a man and on everything that man receives. The roots of perennial unhappiness result from this. O lord! This great misery that one obtains from the destruction of one’s sons and from the destruction of prosperity, kin and relatives is like poison, or the fire. It is scorching my limbs and destroying my wisdom. O supreme among brahmanas! Overcome by this, a man thinks that death is superior. Confronted by this calamity and faced with this misfortune, this is what I will do now.”
³⁷
Having spoken these words to his great-souled father, supreme among those who know about the brahman, Dhritarashtra was overcome by great grief and was stupefied. O lord of the earth! The king was silent and was immersed in thought.

‘On hearing his words, the lord Krishna Dvaipayana, spoke these words to his son, who was tormented by misery on account of his sons. “O Dhritarashtra! O mighty-armed one! Listen to what I am telling you. You are learned. You are intelligent. You are skilled about dharma and artha. O scorcher of enemies! There is nothing that should be known that is not known to you. There is no doubt that you know that everything mortal is temporary. Everything in the world of the living is temporary and there is no state that is eternal. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! Since life ends in death, why are you grieving? O Indra among kings! You were a witness to the creation of this enmity. Your son was the cause, but the working of destiny made him act in that way. O king! It is certain that the
destruction of the Kurus was destined. Why are you sorrowing over brave ones who have headed towards the ultimate objective? O mighty-armed one! The great-souled Vidura knew about this. O lord of men! That is the reason he made every effort towards peace. But it is my view that even if one tries for a long period of time, no being is capable of deviating from a path that destiny has laid down. I have myself heard what the gods wanted done. I will tell you about this. How will you regain your composure?
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In the past, I had swiftly gone to Indra’s assembly hall. Having recovered from exhaustion, I saw the assembled residents of heaven there. The foremost of devarshis, with Narada at their head, were there. O lord of the earth! I saw the Earth there too. She had gone before the gods because she wanted a task to be accomplished. Having approached the assembled gods, the Earth said, ‘In Brahma’s abode, you had promised to accomplish a task for me.
³⁹
O immensely fortunate ones! You should quickly act accordingly.’ On hearing her words, Vishnu, revered by the worlds, laughed and in that assembly of the gods, spoke these words to the Earth. ‘The eldest of Dhritarashtra’s one hundred sons is known by the name of Duryodhana. He will accomplish your task. Once he becomes the king, your task will be done. Because of him, all the lords of the earth will assemble in Kurukshetra. Wielding firm weapons, those strikers will kill each other. O goddess! Your burden will be destroyed in that clash. O beautiful one! Swiftly go to your own place and bear up the world.’ O king! This was your son, born in Gandhari’s womb as a part of
kali
,
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to become the cause of the destruction of the worlds. He was intolerant, fickle, wrathful and difficult to control. Because of the work of destiny, his brothers were created and they were similar. His maternal uncle, Shakuni, his beloved friend, Karna, and all the
kings who allied with him were also generated on earth to ensure destruction. O mighty-armed one! Narada knew the true reason behind all this. O lord of the earth! Your sons were destroyed because of their own crimes. O Indra among kings! You should not sorrow. There is no reason to grieve. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! The Pandavas have not committed the smallest of crimes. Your evil-minded sons brought injury to earth. O fortunate one! There is no doubt that Narada recounted all this earlier, in Yudhishthira’s assembly at the time of the rajasuya sacrifice.
⁴¹
‘The Pandavas and the Kouravas will clash against each other. O Kounteya! Since that will happen, do what you must.’
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On hearing Narada’s words then, the Pandavas sorrowed. This is the entire truth and eternal mystery about the gods. O lord! How can your sorrow be dispelled? How can you be compassionate towards your own life?
⁴³
Knowing what has been ordained by fate, you should be affectionate towards the sons of Pandu. O mighty-armed one! This is what I had heard earlier. It was recounted at Dharmaraja’s rajasuya, supreme among sacrifices. When I told Dharma’s son this secret, he tried to avoid the battle with the Kouravas. However, destiny was stronger. O king! Destiny can never be crossed and no being, mobile or stationary, can cross Yama. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! You are devoted to tasks and possess the best of intelligence. You know that beings come and go. Nevertheless, you are confounded. You are tormented by grief and are repeatedly losing your senses. If King Yudhishthira knows about this, he will cast aside his life. The brave one is always compassionate, even towards inferior species. O Indra among kings! How will he not feel compassionate towards you? O descendant of the Bharata lineage! Retain your life out of compassion towards the Pandavas. I am instructing you to refrain from your proposed course of action. If you act in this way, you will attain fame in this world.
O son! The dharma that you will gain will be like what can be got by tormenting with austerities for a long time. Because of sorrow on account of your sons, the flames are blazing. O great king! Every time they do so, use the water of your wisdom to quench them.” Hearing these words of the infinitely energetic Vyasa, Dhritarashtra thought for some time.

‘He then replied, “O supreme among brahmanas! I am overcome by a great net of grief. I no longer know myself and am repeatedly losing my senses. Having heard your words about this being ordained by destiny, I will retain my life and no longer sorrow.” O Indra among kings! On hearing Dhritarashtra’s words, Vyasa, Satyavati’s son, instantly disappeared.’

Janamejaya asked, ‘After the illustrious Vyasa had departed, what did King Dhritarashtra do? O brahmana rishi! You should tell me that in detail.’

Vaishampayana replied, ‘O best among men! After he
¹
heard this, for a long time, he was conscious and thought. He then asked Sanjaya to yoke
²
and told Vidura, “Quickly bring Gandhari and all the women of the Bharata lineage here. Bring my sister-in-law, Kunti, and all the other women here.” Thus did the one with dharma in his soul speak to Vidura, who was knowledgeable about dharma. With his intelligence clouded by sorrow, he
³
climbed onto the chariot.

‘Gandhari was stricken by grief, but was goaded by the words of her husband.
⁴
With Kunti and the other women, she rushed to where the king was. Approaching the king, they were overcome with great sorrow. They greeted each other and cried grievously. Kshatta,
⁵
who was himself suffering even more, comforted them. The voices of the women were choking with tears. He made them ascend their vehicles and left the city. In all the houses of the Kurus, loud lamentations were heard. The entire city, including the children, was afflicted by grief. Those women had earlier not been seen, not even by the large numbers of the gods. With their lords slain, they were now seen by ordinary men. Their beautiful hair was dishevelled and they cast aside their ornaments. Clad in single garments, those women ran around hither and thither, without protectors. The houses were as beautiful as white mountains and they emerged from these. They were like those leaving homes in mountains, when leaders of the herds had been slain. Large numbers of women emerged. O king! They ran around in sorrow, like young girls in an arena. They held onto each other’s arms and wept, lamenting their sons, brothers and fathers. They were seen there, as if the world was being destroyed at the end of a yuga. They lamented and wept and ran around here and there. They were senseless because of sorrow and did not know what they should do. Earlier, the women used to be bashful, even before their friends. They were shameless now and appeared in single garments
before their mothers-in-law. Earlier, they used to console each other in times of grief, even if it was of a mild kind. O king! Distracted by sorrow now, they ignored each other.

‘The king was surrounded by thousands of such lamenting ones. He left the city in distress and quickly headed towards the field of battle. With the king at their head, artisans, traders, vaishyas and those who earned a living from all kinds of work emerged outside the city. At the destruction of the Kurus, the women cried and lamented in piteous tones. A loud noise arose and oppressed the world. It was as if beings were being scorched when the time for the end of a yuga has arrived. The beings thought that they were being destroyed. At the destruction of the Kurus, all the citizens became extremely anxious. O great king! They were devoted to them and cried in severe grief.’

Vaishampayana said, ‘When they had only gone a distance of one
krosha
,
⁶
they saw the maharathas—Sharadvata Kripa, Drona’s son and Kritavarma. They saw the king, the lord who possessed the sight of wisdom. With voices choking with tears, sighing and weeping, they said, “O great king! Your son has performed an extremely difficult deed. O king! With his followers, the lord of the earth has gone to Shakra’s world. Out of Duryodhana’s army, the three of us are the only rathas who have escaped. O bull among the Bharata lineage! All the other soldiers have perished.” Having addressed the king in this way, Kripa Sharadvata spoke these words to Gandhari, who was afflicted by sorrow on account of her son. “He fought without any fear. He slew large numbers of the enemy. Your son has been killed after performing heroic deeds. It is certain that they have obtained the worlds that can be conquered through
sparkling weapons. They are roaming around with radiant bodies there, like immortals. Not a single one of them retreated from fighting with the brave ones. They never joined their hands in salutation. They were slain through weapons. This is said to be the ancient and supreme objective of kshatriyas. Since they have been slain through weapons in a battle, you should not sorrow. O queen! Their enemies, the Pandavas, have nothing to be delighted about. With Ashvatthama at the forefront, listen to what we have done. We heard that Bhimasena had killed your son through the use of adharma. We entered the camp of the sleeping Pandus and created a great carnage. With Dhrishtadyumna at their head, all the Panchalas have been killed. Drupada’s sons and Droupadi’s sons have been brought down. We massacred large numbers of your son’s enemies. Then the three of us fled from the battle, because we were incapable of remaining there. The Pandavas are great archers and will come here quickly.
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They will be full of intolerance and enmity and will seek to exact vengeance. On hearing that their sons were killed while they were distracted, those illustrious and brave bulls among men will swiftly search out our footsteps. Since we have acted injuriously against them, we are not interested in remaining here. O queen! We seek your permission. Do not sorrow unnecessarily. O king! We seek your permission. Resort to supreme fortitude. You must ensure that the dharma of kshatriyas alone remains established.” O descendant of the Bharata lineage! Having said this, Kripa, Kritavarma and Drona’s son circumambulated the king. They glanced towards the intelligent king Dhritarashtra. Those great-souled ones swiftly urged their horses towards the Ganga.

‘O king! All those maharathas took each other’s leave and anxiously left in three different directions. Kripa Sharadvata went to Hastinapura. Hardikya went to his own kingdom and Drona’s son went to Vyasa’s hermitage. Those brave ones departed, glancing towards each other. Those great-souled ones were frightened at having injured the sons of Pandu. O great king! Having met the king
before the sun had risen, those brave ones, the scorchers of enemies, departed in different directions, as they willed.’