Nārada’s Prophecy at the Tapovana

In the Āśramavāsika Parva of the Mahābhārata, King Dhṛtarāshṭra, Gāndhārī and Kuntī live in the forest as vānaprasthas (people who have left home for the forest). They stay at the āśrama of the rājarshi Śatayūpa near Kurukshetra. Nārada, the devarshi (divine ṛshi), comes there with Parvata, Devala, Vyāsa and other siddhas. He tells of ancient kings who reached svarga (heaven) by tapas (austerity) in this same forest. When Śatayūpa asks, he then tells what lies ahead for Dhṛtarāshṭra himself. The account is in Chapter 20.

The ṛshis arrive

Some time after Dhṛtarāshṭra had settled into tapas at Śatayūpa’s āśrama near Kurukshetra, the devarshi Nārada came to see him. With Nārada came Parvata Muni and the great tapasvin (one who practises tapas) Devala Muni. With them also came Śrī Kṛshṇa Dvaipāyana (Vyāsa) and his disciples, other siddhas with jñāna (knowledge), and the old and very dharmic rājarshi Śatayūpa himself.

Kuntī did pūjā for all of them as the śāstras direct. The ṛshis were very pleased with her service. They spent their days giving Dhṛtarāshṭra joy with words full of dharma. (Mahābhārata, Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapter 20)

Nārada’s account of ancient kings

One day, in conversation, the all-seeing Nārada told an itihāsa (history) of ancient kings who reached svarga through tapas in this very forest.

  • Sahasracitya, king of Kekaya and grandfather of Śatayūpa, gave his kingdom to his eldest son and went into the forest. By his blazing tapas he reached the abode of Devendra (Indra). Nārada himself, on his visits to Indra’s mansion, had seen this king there many times, his pāpa (sin) burnt away by tapas.
  • Śailālaya, grandfather of Bhagadatta, went into the abode of Mahendra by the power of his own tapas alone.
  • Pṛshadhra, a king equal to Devendra, also left from this forest and reached svarga through tapas.
  • Purukutsa, son of Māndhātā, whose wife was Narmadā, the most famous of rivers, gained great siddhi (perfection) through tapas in this same forest and went to svarga.
  • Śaśaloma, a very righteous king, also did tapas here and reached svarga.

Nārada then spoke to Dhṛtarāshṭra directly. By the grace of Bhagavān Vyāsa, he said, the king too had reached this tapovana (forest of tapas). When his tapas was complete, shining with great tejas (radiance), he would go with Gāndhārī to the same end as these great souls.

Nārada added that Pāṇḍu Mahārāja was near Balasūdana (Indra, the slayer of Bala). Pāṇḍu thought of Dhṛtarāshṭra every day, and in time he would surely be united with him.

Kuntī, the mother of Yudhishṭhira, would go to the world of her husband, because of her service to Dhṛtarāshṭra and Gāndhārī. For a wife to go to her husband’s loka is sanātana dharma (the eternal dharma). Nārada said: “We see all this clearly with our divine eye.”

He also foretold that the great-souled Vidura would enter into Yudhishṭhira. And Sañjaya, meditating without a break on Yudhishṭhira, would reach svarga from this very place.

Hearing this, Dhṛtarāshṭra and Gāndhārī were filled with great joy. They honoured Nārada with boundless devotion. The brāhmaṇas present also did pūjā to Nārada, and all rejoiced again and again at the king’s happiness. (Mahābhārata, Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapter 20)

Śatayūpa’s question

The brāhmaṇas praised Nārada’s account, but the rājarshi Śatayūpa asked for more. He told Nārada that his words had increased the śraddhā (faith) of the Kuru king, of the whole assembly and of Śatayūpa himself. But Nārada had named the ends of several ancient kings and had not yet said which world Dhṛtarāshṭra himself would reach.

Nārada sees all things with his divine sight. So Śatayūpa asked him to tell, in full truth, what Dhṛtarāshṭra’s end would be and when it would come. (Mahābhārata, Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapter 20)

Nārada’s answer: Indra and Pāṇḍu in svarga

Nārada knew what was in every mind, and he answered before the whole assembly. He said that he had once gone unexpectedly to Indra’s mansion. There he saw Devendra, husband of Śacī, together with the excellent king Pāṇḍu. Dhṛtarāshṭra, then doing severe tapas in the forest, came up in their talk, and Nārada heard Indra himself speak of him.

Indra said that Dhṛtarāshṭra had three more years of life. After that he would go with Gāndhārī to the mansion of Kubera, where he would be received with honour. Then, wearing divine ornaments, this “son of the ṛshi” (his father is Vyāsa), his faults burnt away by tapas, would roam at will among the lokas of the devas, gandharvas and rākshasas. He would travel in the kāmagamana vimāna, the celestial vehicle that goes wherever one wishes.

Nārada told the assembly that he had gladly told them this divine secret because they had asked. They were people whose true wealth was knowledge, and they had themselves burnt away pāpa by tapas.

All who heard Nārada’s sweet words were filled with joy and peace of mind. The text says that it came to pass exactly as foretold. The great ṛshis, having delighted Dhṛtarāshṭra, went each to his own abode by siddha-gamana (travel by the power of a siddha). (Mahābhārata, Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapter 20)

The Bhāgavata account of Dhṛtarāshṭra’s end

The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa tells of Dhṛtarāshṭra’s leaving this way. On Vidura’s urging, he leaves Hastināpura silently at night, with no yajña (fire ritual) and no procession. He reaches moksha (liberation) at Saptasrotas by burning his own body in an inner yoga-fire. Gāndhārī follows him into the same fire by anugamana (following a husband in death). (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapters 13 and 15)

Sources

  • Mahābhārata, Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapter 20
  • Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapters 13 and 15