Dhṛtarāshṭra’s Śrāddha and Mahādāna

In the days before he left for the forest, Dhṛtarāshṭra decided to perform śrāddha (the rite of giving for the departed) for the great men of the Kuru host who had died. He wished to do it for Bhīshma, Droṇa, Somadatta and Bāhlīka. With Yudhishṭhira’s consent he wished to do it even for Jayadratha, the king of Sindhu, who had been the Pāṇḍavas’ enemy. Bhīma alone objected. Yudhishṭhira opened the whole Pāṇḍava treasury to Dhṛtarāshṭra, and Dhṛtarāshṭra gave for ten days. The Āśramavāsika Parva of the Mahābhārata tells this in Chapters 11 to 14.

Vidura’s message (Chapter 11)

On the morning after Dhṛtarāshṭra took leave of the people of Kurujāṅgala, he sent Vidura to Yudhishṭhira’s house. The request was this. Before he went to the forest that Kārtika, he wished to perform śrāddha for the great dead of the Kuru host. Bhīshma came first, then Droṇa, Somadatta and Bāhlīka. If Yudhishṭhira agreed, he wished to do it for Jayadratha, the Saindhava, as well. This was a delicate request, because Jayadratha had a part in the death of Abhimanyu and was the avowed enemy of the Pāṇḍavas.

Yudhishṭhira and Arjuna heard the message gladly. Bhīma could not agree. The “sharp arrow” of Duryodhana’s cruelty was still in his heart, and he refused Vidura’s request.

Arjuna saw Bhīma’s mood and spoke to him gently. He said that Dhṛtarāshṭra was old and had taken the vānaprastha vows (the life of the forest-dweller). He wished only to do the rites for his kin for the paraloka (the next world). The wealth that Bhīma himself had won in battle was rightly Dhṛtarāshṭra’s to use for this. Arjuna said it would be a stain on his own dharma and good name to turn away a man who asked for help. Dhṛtarāshṭra had once been the supreme lord of the earth, and now he was reduced to asking his own former subjects for alms. Yudhishṭhira praised Arjuna’s words.

Bhīma was not moved. He answered in anger. He and Arjuna would gladly perform the śrāddha themselves, for Bhīshma, for Somadatta, for Bhūriśravas, for Bāhlīka and for Droṇa. Kuntī would perform it for Karṇa. “But this Kaurava king need not give” anything of his own. Bhīma demanded to know where this affection had been during the twelve years of exile and at the humiliation of Draupadī at the dice game. He recalled the deerskin garments, the years of hardship in the forest, and Dhṛtarāshṭra’s own silence on that day. Yudhishṭhira rebuked him sharply and told him to be silent.

Arjuna spoke once more. He reminded Bhīma that Dhṛtarāshṭra was his elder, and that noble men do not dwell on the faults of others but remember their good qualities. Dhṛtarāshṭra, he said, was a rājarshi (a royal seer) and deserved honour in every way.

Yudhishṭhira was pleased with Arjuna. He told Vidura directly: let the Kaurava king take as much as he wishes for the śrāddha of his sons. Whatever help Bhīshma and the others need will be given from Yudhishṭhira’s own treasury. Bhīma need not trouble himself over it. Yudhishṭhira added that Bhīma should not be blamed. Bhīma had borne the greatest bodily hardship of the exile, in sun, cold and rain. His anger should not stand in the way, but it was not without cause. Yudhishṭhira’s last word to Vidura had no condition: “This body, and this wealth, are yours.” He meant that they were Dhṛtarāshṭra’s, to command as he saw fit.

Vidura’s report and the arrangements (Chapter 13)

Vidura went back to Dhṛtarāshṭra and gave him the whole exchange. Yudhishṭhira had heard the request with a bright face and had praised it. Arjuna had offered his houses, his wealth and even his life. Yudhishṭhira himself was ready to give away kingdom and treasury without holding anything back. Bhīma had sighed and resisted at first, but in the end he agreed to give, brought round by Yudhishṭhira and Arjuna together.

Vidura passed on Yudhishṭhira’s request. Dhṛtarāshṭra should take, without any restraint, agrahāras (grants of land), jewels, cattle, and men and women servants for the brāhmaṇas. Gifts should also go to the blind, the poor and those who have no protector, as the king himself commanded. Yudhishṭhira also asked Vidura to arrange, on his own authority, rest-houses stocked with plenty of food and drink, water troughs for cattle, and every other holy provision that so great a gift would need.

Dhṛtarāshṭra heard this report with joy. He turned his whole mind to the mahādāna (great giving) that he would perform that Kārtika.

The dāna-yajña (Chapter 14)

Dhṛtarāshṭra had thousands of worthy brāhmaṇas, who were like ṛshis, examined and brought to Hastināpura. He performed śrāddha for Bhīshma, for his own sons and for his friends. He gave without limit: fine food and drink, vehicles, garments, gold coins, gems and jewels, men and women servants, flocks of goats and sheep, jewelled blankets, villages, farmland and other wealth, richly adorned elephants and horses, and maidens of good family. As each gift was given, he named the departed one it was given for. Droṇa, Bhīshma, Somadatta, Bāhlīka, Bhūriśravas and King Duryodhana were named one by one. After them came each of Dhṛtarāshṭra’s own hundred sons by name, and then Jayadratha and the rest of his kinsmen and friends.

The śrāddha-yajña went on as Yudhishṭhira wished, with rich dakshiṇās (gifts to the priests) and an overflowing abundance of wealth and jewels. Day and night, without a pause, the accountants and scribes whom Vidura had appointed asked Dhṛtarāshṭra, at Yudhishṭhira’s direction, what should be given and how much for each person. Whatever the king named was given at once. When Dhṛtarāshṭra named a hundred, Yudhishṭhira’s officers gave a thousand. When he named a thousand, they gave ten thousand. Dhṛtarāshṭra showered the brāhmaṇas with gifts that never stopped, like a rain cloud of royal wealth, as a monsoon cloud feeds the crops. Every varṇa was flooded with food, drink and treasure.

The Mahābhārata compares the whole event to a great ocean. Garments, wealth and jewels were its waters. The sound of the mṛdaṅgas (drums) was its roar. Elephants and horses were its crocodiles and whirlpools. Villages and agrahāras were its islands. Gold and gems were its depths. Dhṛtarāshṭra himself was a raft, swaying with joy, and he flooded the world with his giving.

In this way Dhṛtarāshṭra performed the great gift for the paraloka for his sons, his grandsons, his own pitṛs and the pitṛs of Gāndhārī. After ten days of giving without a break, he was completely spent, and he brought the dāna-yajña to its close. His debt to his sons and grandsons was fully paid. Actors (naṭas) and dancers (nartakas) were there throughout, and the full ceremony of feeding (anna-santarpaṇa) and dakshiṇā fit for a great yajña was carried out.

Sources

  • Mahābhārata, Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapters 11–14 (the Vidura-Sandeśa, Yudhishṭhirāmoda, Vidura-Vākya and Dāna-Yajña adhyāyas)