Exodus from Dvārakā

After the Vṛshṇis had slain one another, Arjuna decided to lead the surviving Vṛshṇi women, children and elders to Indraprastha and to make Vajra their king. He named the seventh day for the departure. At dawn Vāsudeva died by yoga, and his wives Devakī, Bhadrā, Rohiṇī and Madirā mounted the pyre in sahagamana (going with the husband in death). Arjuna performed the funeral rites with the honours of an aśvamedha, had the bodies of Balarāma and Kṛshṇa cremated, and led the great host out. As they left, the sea flooded Dvārakā.

At Pañcanada, Ābhīra robbers armed with staves attacked. Arjuna could hardly string his Gāṇḍīva, his divine astras failed, and his strength left him. The mlecchas carried off many Vṛshṇi women. Ashamed, Arjuna settled the survivors in several places and crowned Vajra.

Arjuna’s resolve

When Vāsudeva had spoken, Arjuna answered. His mind was shaken and his face heavy with sorrow. He said he could no longer bear to look on this earth without Kṛshṇa, the great hero of the Vṛshṇis, and without his kinsmen. He said that the five brothers, Yudhishṭhira, Bhīmasena, Sahadeva, Nakula and himself, with Draupadī, daughter of Yajñasena, were of one mind, and that for King Yudhishṭhira the hour of the great passing was now near. He resolved to bring the women, children and elders of the Vṛshṇis to Indraprastha by every means.

Arjuna went into the Sudharmā assembly hall of the Yādavas, grieving for the great warriors. There the ministers, the citizens and the brāhmaṇas learned in the Vedas gathered around him. He told them he would himself lead the Vṛshṇi and Andhaka people to Indraprastha, for the sea would swallow this whole city. Vajra would be their king there, as he was here. On the seventh day, when the Sun rose clear, they should all go out of the city. Then everyone began their preparations in haste.

The death of Vāsudeva and the sahagamana of his wives

That night Arjuna, the son of Kuntī, stayed in Kṛshṇa’s mansion, overcome with grief and weeping. At dawn Vāsudeva, son of Śūra, joined himself to yoga and, blazing with great splendour, went to the highest goal. A great wail of the women rose in his house. His wives, Devakī, Bhadrā, Rohiṇī and Madirā, the jewels among women, mounted the bier to go with him in sahagamana.

Arjuna had Vāsudeva carried out of his house on a great and costly litter borne by men. The grieving citizens and country people who loved him followed. The umbrella of his aśvamedha and the blazing sacred fires were carried before the bier, and the priests walked ahead. His lawful wives, richly dressed, followed with thousands of holy women and maidens.

The bier was set down at a place that had been dear to the great-souled Vāsudeva in life. His funeral was done with full rites. His four noble wives, longing to reach their husband’s world, climbed the pyre. Arjuna gave Vāsudeva and the four women to the flames among fragrant sandalwood. The roar of the blazing fire, the Vedic chant of the singers of the Sāman and the wailing of the people rose together. Then Vajra, the other Vṛshṇi and Andhaka youths and all the women offered the water.

The last rites and the sinking of Dvārakā

Leaving nothing undone in dharma, Arjuna did the water-rites for Vāsudeva. Then he went to the place where the Vṛshṇis had slain one another. He sorrowed at the sight of the fallen and carried out the fitting rites. For those killed with the pestles born of the brāhmaṇa śāpa (curse), he had the funeral offerings made according to rank. Then he sought out and found the bodies of Balarāma and Vāsudeva Kṛshṇa and had them cremated by trusted men. On the seventh day he mounted his chariot and set out.

The wives of the Vṛshṇi heroes, crushed with grief, followed Dhanañjaya in carts drawn by horses, oxen, asses and camels. The servants of the elders, the horsemen, the charioteers and the citizens set out. The fort was left with only the aged and the children, who had no warriors left. The sons of the Andhakas and Vṛshṇis, brāhmaṇa, kshatriya, vaiśya and śūdra alike, rich and devoted to Pārtha, went forth. The sixteen thousand women of Kṛshṇa’s household travelled with Vajra, Kṛshṇa’s grandson, at their head. A vast crowd of the widowed women of the Bhojas, Vṛshṇis and Andhakas poured out of the city. Pārtha, the best of chariot-warriors, led that host, wide as an ocean, away.

The moment the great host had gone out, the crocodile-filled sea flooded Dvārakā, jewelled as she was, and swallowed her under its waters. Whatever of that land Arjuna left behind, the sea covered completely. Seeing this wonder, the people of Dvārakā cried, “Alas! O destiny!” and hurried on.

The attack at Pañcanada

Dhanañjaya led the Vṛshṇi women on. They halted in fair forests, on hills and on river islands. At last he reached the rich land of Pañcanada, full of wealth, cattle and grain, and camped them there.

Robber bands saw the women without protectors, brought along by Arjuna alone, and were seized by greed. These wicked cowherds, the Ābhīras, who looked fair on the outside, took counsel together. They said that a single archer, Arjuna, was leading this crowd of old and young, paying them no heed, and that what warriors there were had lost their strength. In their thousands, armed with staves, they fell upon the Vṛshṇi people to plunder the folk and their wealth. They raised a great lion-roar to frighten them.

Arjuna turned back with his few attendants. He smiled and warned the fools to turn away if they wished to live, or his arrows would shatter them. But they paid no heed. They pressed on and surrounded the crowd.

Then Arjuna tried to string his mighty divine bow, the Gāṇḍīva. Only with great effort could he bend and string it. However hard he tried, his weapons would not come to his mind. He saw this dreadful change. He knew that the strength of his arm had failed in battle and that his great divine astras had become useless. He was overcome with shame.

The failure of the Gāṇḍīva

The Vṛshṇi warriors, fighting from elephants, horses and chariots, could not turn the plundering bands back. The women to be guarded were so many, and the robbers came in such numbers. Pārtha strove hard to guard the people. Even so, the mlecchas gathered together and seized the noblest women, while some women ran away of their own will.

With great effort Arjuna and his thousands of Vṛshṇi servants struck at the robbers with shafts from the Gāṇḍīva. But the arrows that had once never run out were spent in a moment, and the quivers were empty. Then the son of Indra, weeping with grief, beat at the robbers with the tip of his bow. Yet, O Janamejaya, before Arjuna’s very eyes the mlecchas carried off the chief women of the Vṛshṇis and Andhakas.

His astras were gone, his arrows spent, his bow would not obey him, and the strength of his arms had melted away. Arjuna’s mind was broken. He cried, “Alas, destiny! This is not as it was!” and turned back.

The resettlement and the crowning of Vajra

Arjuna took the crowd that was left after the finest jewels were lost, and came to Kurukshetra. He settled the surviving women of the Vṛshṇis in various places. The remaining retinue of the Bhoja king and the son of Kṛtavarma he brought to the city of Mārtikāvata. The remaining elders, children and women, the folk without warriors, he settled at Indraprastha. The young son of Sātyaki, with the elders and children, he camped on the bank of the Sarasvatī. Then Arjuna, scourge of his foes, gave the kingdom of Indraprastha to Vajra.

Vajra tried to stop them, but the wives of Akrūra left their home and went forth. Rukmiṇī, Gāndhārī, Śaibyā, Haimavatī and Queen Jāmbavatī entered the fire. Satyabhāmā and the other beloved wives of Kṛshṇa fixed their minds on tapas and withdrew to the forests.

To the men of Dvārakā who had followed him, Arjuna gave wealth according to their worth and settled them with Vajra. When he had set everything in order as the time required, he went, his eyes full of tears, to see the great ṛshi Vyāsa, seated in his āśrama.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Mausala Parva, Chapter 7