Yudhishṭhira Ascends to Svarga

This is the closing narrative of the Mahābhārata. Yudhishṭhira reaches Svarga (heaven) in his mortal body and is tested one last time. He sees Duryodhana seated in glory, while his own brothers and Draupadī are nowhere to be seen. Grief and anger rise in him. He is led down into a terrible Naraka (hell), hears the cries of those he loves, and will not leave them even for Svarga.

At that choice the vision lifts. Indra, the devas and Dharma himself show that the whole ordeal was the third and last test of his righteousness. Yudhishṭhira bathes in the divine Ākāśagaṅgā, puts off his human nature, and sees every hero of the great war in his true, divine place.

Yudhishṭhira in Svarga and the sight of Duryodhana

Janamejaya asked how his forefathers, the Pāṇḍavas and the sons of Dhṛtarāshṭra, fared when they reached Trivishṭapa, the world of the devas. Vaiśampāyana told him what happened.

Yudhishṭhira shone with dharma, like the sun, with the majesty of a hero. He entered Svarga in the company of shining devas and the Sādhyas, who are of great puṇya (merit). There, seated on a throne and glowing with royal fortune among the devas, he saw Duryodhana.

Yudhishṭhira could not bear to see his old enemy crowned in glory, and he turned away at once. He told those present that he did not want these worlds if he had to share them with a man he held to be greedy and short-sighted. This man, he said, was the cause of the Pāṇḍavas’ terrible sufferings in the forest, of the loss of their kingdom, of the slaughter of kinsmen and friends, and of the shame of the blameless Draupadī, daughter of the Pāñcāla king, before the elders. He wished only to go where his brothers were.

Nārada laughed gently and corrected him. In Svarga, he said, the enmities of the mortal world melt away. The devas and the righteous kings who live there honour Duryodhana. That king had stayed fearless in the hour of greatest danger, and by doing his kshatriya-dharma (duty of a warrior) on the battlefield he had reached the eternal worlds of heroes. Nārada told Yudhishṭhira to let go of the memory of the dice game, of Draupadī’s suffering, and of all the harm his cousins had done, and to live in peace, for in Svarga there are no feuds.

Yudhishṭhira was not persuaded in his heart. He asked instead for his own people. He longed to see his brave, truthful brothers, and Karṇa, son of Kuntī, whom he had unknowingly caused to be killed. He asked for the mahārathas (great chariot-warriors) Dhṛshṭadyumna and Sātyaki, and the sons of Dhṛshṭadyumna. He asked for the kings Virāṭa, Drupada and Dhṛshṭaketu, for Śikhaṇḍī, the Draupadeyas (the sons of Draupadī), and the mighty Abhimanyu. None of them was to be seen in that assembly.

The descent into Naraka

Yudhishṭhira told the devas plainly that a Svarga without his brothers gave him no joy. Where his kin were, he said, there alone was his Svarga. At Indra’s command the devas decided to show him what he asked for. They appointed a divine messenger, a devadūta, to lead him to his companions.

The messenger went ahead and the king followed. They went down an ill-omened road, walked by the wicked. It lay in thick darkness, tangled with weeds like hair, and foul with the smell of mud, flesh and blood. Stinging flies, gnats and fierce beasts filled it. Corpses lay everywhere. Scattered bones and hair, crawling worms and blazing fire met the eye on every side. Iron-beaked crows, vultures and needle-mouthed birds gathered there, with ghostly shapes as tall as the Vindhya mountains. Severed arms, thighs, hands, bellies and heads lay all around. The king, whose soul was in dharma, walked on in deep sorrow through the foul darkness.

He came to the scalding Vaitaraṇī river, whose boiling waters no foot could cross. He came to a grove whose leaves were sharp as swords, and to the thorny Kūṭaśālmalī tree, whose spines no one could touch. He saw heated white sand and glowing iron slabs, and iron cauldrons in which oil boiled. The smell overcame Yudhishṭhira. He asked the devadūta how much farther the road ran, where his brothers were, whose realm this was, and to which deva it belonged.

The voices of the beloved

The messenger answered that the king’s journey ended there. He himself had been told to return, and Yudhishṭhira could turn back with him if he was tired. Sickened and grieving, Yudhishṭhira made up his mind to go back. Then voices called out to him from every side, full of pain. “O Rājarshi! O Dharmaja, of holy fame! Stay a moment and show us your grace.” They said that the scent of his body and the breeze that came after him gave them relief from their torment. His presence alone eased their suffering.

Moved with pity, the king stood still. He asked who they were and why they lived in such a place. The voices called out their names: “I am Karṇa.” “I am Bhīmasena.” “I am Arjuna.” “I am Nakula.” “I am Dhṛshṭadyumna.” “I am Draupadī.” “We are the sons of Draupadī.” Yudhishṭhira was horrified. He wondered what pāpa (sin) these great, righteous and truthful souls could have done to be thrown into so dreadful a place, while the wicked Duryodhana sat on a throne in splendour. He asked whether he was awake or dreaming, and whether his mind was sound or unhinged.

His grief turned to anger. Yudhishṭhira rebuked the devas and Dharma. He told the devadūta to go back to those who had sent him. He would not go on to Svarga, he said, but would stay there, because his brothers had fallen into misery by taking refuge in him. The messenger carried the king’s words and his resolve back to Indra.

The dispelling of the illusion

Yudhishṭhira stood firm. Indra and the devas came to him, and Dharma too took a visible form. When those shining beings, born of puṇya, arrived, the darkness lifted in an instant. The tortures were gone. The Vaitaraṇī and the Kūṭaśālmalī vanished. The dreadful cauldrons and iron rocks were gone, and every mutilated body disappeared. A cool, fragrant, holy breeze blew from the presence of the devas.

Indra, shining and speaking words of comfort, told Yudhishṭhira that the worlds that never perish were his, and asked him to let go of anger. Every king, he said, must without fail see Naraka. There are two stores, one of good deeds and one of evil. One who first enjoys his puṇya afterwards goes through Naraka. One who first suffers Naraka afterwards reaches Svarga. Wishing Yudhishṭhira well, Indra had shown him Naraka by a device (cala). In the same way, Yudhishṭhira himself had once deceived Droṇa by a pretext in the matter of Aśvatthāman.

By that same device, Indra said, Bhīma, Arjuna, the twins and Draupadī had passed briefly through Naraka. All the allies of Yudhishṭhira who were slain for his sake had gone to Svarga. Karṇa, the great archer, foremost of those who bear weapons, had reached the highest perfection.

The third test and the bath in the Ākāśagaṅgā

Then Dharma, in bodily form, spoke to his son. He was pleased with Yudhishṭhira’s devotion, truthfulness, forbearance and mastery of the senses. This, he said, was the third test he had set him.

• The first was at Dvaitavana, in the questions asked over the araṇi (the fire-sticks), when the brothers were looking for them.
• The second was on the Mahāprasthāna, the great journey. Dharma took the form of a dog, and Yudhishṭhira would not leave it, even as his brothers and Draupadī fell.
• The third was this one, when he chose to stay in Naraka for the sake of his kin.

In every trial Yudhishṭhira had proved unshaken. Dharma said that his brothers were never meant for Naraka. The vision was a māyā (illusion) made by Indra, because all kings must glimpse that realm. Now Yudhishṭhira was purified, free of fault and blessed.

Dharma told him to cast off sorrow. Dharma and Indra led him to the divine Ākāśagaṅgā, the pure river that makes the three worlds holy. Yudhishṭhira plunged into her waters, gave up his human body, and rose in a divine form, free of grief, weariness and all enmity. Bathing once more, he went on with Dharma, the devas and the ṛshis to the place where the heroes of both houses lived.

The heroes in their divine places

Yudhishṭhira came first upon Kṛshṇa, Govinda, blazing with his own splendour and honoured as before by Brahmā. Kṛshṇa held the divine and dreadful cakra and other weapons, which had taken human-like forms to serve him. Beside him was the brave Arjuna, of great tejas (radiance), in worship of him. The two received Yudhishṭhira with love and honour.

In another place he saw Karṇa, foremost of the bearers of weapons, shining among twelve suns. Elsewhere he saw Bhīma, mighty and glorious, seated beside the form of Vāyu among the hosts of the Maruts, restored to his own shape and made perfect. In the place of the Aśvins he saw Nakula and Sahadeva, blazing with their own light.

Then he saw Draupadī, garlanded with lotuses and lilies, bright as the sun, filling Svarga with her radiance. Yudhishṭhira wished to ask about her, and Indra told him that she was Śrī, the devī Lakshmī. She was born of no womb. Bhagavān Śiva, the bearer of the trident, Maheśvara, had made her for the joy of the Pāṇḍavas. She had taken birth in Drupada’s line and lived among them. The five great beings shining like fire, Indra said, were Gandharvas. They were the sons of the Pāṇḍavas and Draupadī, the Draupadeyas.

Indra then pointed out the others.

• Dhṛtarāshṭra, a wise king of the Gandharvas.
• Karṇa, the eldest-born of Kuntī, honoured in his own place.
• The Vṛshṇi and Andhaka mahārathas, Sātyaki and the mighty men of the Bhoja line, among the Sādhyas, the Viśvedevas and the Maruts.
• Abhimanyu, son of Subhadrā, unbeaten and bright as the moon, living with Candra.
• Pāṇḍu, joined again with Kuntī and Mādrī, who comes to Indra again and again by a divine chariot.
• Bhīshma, son of Śantanu, among the Vasus.
• Droṇa, at the side of Bṛhaspati.

So Yudhishṭhira saw all the kings and warriors gathered with the Gandharvas, Yakshas and Guhyakas. Each had reached, by his words, his mind and his deeds, the world he had won.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Svargārohaṇa Parva, Chapter 1
• Mahābhārata, Svargārohaṇa Parva, Chapter 2
• Mahābhārata, Svargārohaṇa Parva, Chapter 3
• Mahābhārata, Svargārohaṇa Parva, Chapter 4