The Death of Dhritarashtra, Gandhari and Kunti

We are now into the new chapter, “the arrival of Narada (naaradaagamana parvam)”.

Two years passed after the Pandavas returned to Hastinapura, taking leave of their parents in the forest. One day sage Narada arrived quite unexpectedly in the palace. Yudhishthira received him with all reverence and asked. “It is a long time since we last saw you. Hope, you are keeping well. To which places you have been recently? What can I do for you?”

Narada replied. “I came here just because of that, thinking that I have not met you for a long time. I have been roaming through various holy places, including river Ganga.”

Yudhishthira prompted the sage further. “Some of my subjects living close to the Ganga told me that my uncle has been engaged in severe penances. Did you happen to meet him, my aunt Gandhari and mother Kunti? Have you any news of Sanjaya?”

Narada replied. “Listen to what I have to say with a composed mind. I am going to repeat what I have directly seen or reliably heard from others, exactly as they happened. Your uncle gradually got into the life of a Yati, sustaining life just by breathing. His queen lived merely by drinking water. Your mother ate only once a month. Sanjaya was also engaged in similar austerities.”

“Once the king bathed in the waters of Ganga and started walking towards his hermitage. His queen, your mother and Sanjaya were with him for support. At that time there was a strong wind that blew and wild fire engulfed the place all of a sudden. Birds and animals started burning down in large numbers. Your uncle, sensing the danger asked Sanjaya to escape. He said that the three of them gladly would embrace death in the fire. Sanjaya, though desperate, could not suggest a way of saving the aged king and queens from the fire that was fast approaching. There was only one thing for them to do. He asked them to get into a yogic trance and take full control of all bodily senses so that they would not feel any pain. Sanjaya, after prostrating before the king and queens, quickly got out of the fire. The king and the queens perished in the fire soon after. Sanjaya narrated the incident to the ascetics outside and went to the Himalayas for further penance. Do not grieve for your parents. They all have been waiting eagerly for the end of their lives and have welcomed the fire with open arms.”

The Pandavas were immersed in sorrow hearing the tragic end to the aged king and the queens. So was the entire kingdom of Kurus. Yudhishthira wailed, addressing the heavenly sage. “How sad is the plight of human beings! My uncle, though blind, was as strong as thousand elephants. My aunt gave birth to a hundred sons. Yet, they died helplessly, caught in forest fire. They used to enjoy the breeze from the Vyajana (a fan made of peacock feathers), fanned by beautiful women of the palace. Yet, the flapping of wings by eagles would have blown the wind on their faces at the time of death.”

“I think of my own mother who, instead of enjoying all the wealth earned by her sons, chose go to the forest and meet her end this way. In vain was the help Arjuna offered to the god of fire by helping Him to consume the entire Khandava forest. Look at the way Arjuna was repaid, by engulfing his own mother in flames. Did she cry caught in the danger, calling the name of each of us in turn?” Yudhishthira let out his intense sorrow by speaking in this way for a while.

Narada heard him with compassion to the end and then said. “What I heard is that their end was not that accidental. The three of them were waiting, as though, for death with open arms. Then, on the day the tragedy took place, the sages who have been performing the rituals left the fire in the forest unattended. Remember that it was the same fire the king used for worship from the day of his wedding and which he carried with him into the forest. So, we must take it that he has cremated his own body and that of the queens. (Note: The fire from the wedding ritual or Homa is carried home, worshipped every day, morning and evening, and kept going until death. It is the same fire that is used to light the funeral pyre). In that sense they have met natural deaths. Instead of spending time mourning, get down to the task of performing their last rites.”

Yudhishthira, accordingly, went to the shores of Ganga with his brothers and queens, keeping Yuyulsu in the front, all wearing single piece of cloths (as is customary for all rituals, especially, at funerals). Then, they offered ritual water (udaka kriya) for their parents. During the period of mourning (aaSaouca) they all stayed outside the palace (as per the custom). On the twelfth day, at the end of the period of mourning, the king gave liberal gifts (Sraaddha) to Brahmins and to others by way of charity. He also got the final ritual of burying the ashes (asthi sancayana) performed for his parents.

We come to the end of the present chapter, “the arrival of Narada (naaradaagamana parvam)” and of the book of “life in hermitage (aaSrama vaasa parvam)”.