The sorrow of Gandhari

Gandhari visited, as we have seen in the last episode, the places where her sons lay lifeless as victims of the recent war. Her sorrow grew in leaps and bounds as she went from one body to the other. It reached the peak when she saw the body of Duryodhana. Seeing the wasted life of the young and valorous Abhimanyu was also too much for the good Gandhara queen to endure.

Gandhatri, next, proceeded to the various places where Karna, Salya, Drona and other veteran Kauravas and Pandavas had fallen. She also paid a visit to Bhishma who was mortally wounded by the arrows of Arjuna. The grandsire was still waiting for the auspicious time of the summer solstice (uttaraayaNa) for his death. He had such a boon that his end was at his command.

A curse on Krishna

The gentle queen of the Kauravas had already undergone undue sufferings during the past thirteen months. Things had gone out of her control one after the other. Heinous crimes were committed by her own sons against their cousins. The war was still to be avoided at all costs. She had failed even there to impose her will. The war in turn caused great tragedies culminating in the virtual destruction of the entire race of the Kurus. The pious lady lived through all that. Now, finally on the battle field, the good Gandhari saw with her own eyes the trail of destruction, of all her children and of so many other great heroes.

The pious lady turned to her companion and saw in him the man who could have prevented the disaster. Krishna, certainly, could have found a way out, if he so wished. Did he try hard enough? Or did he want events to turn this way for some reason?

The Kaurava queen was overwhelmed with sorrow and anger. She turned to Krishna and said. “Krishna, you were quite capable of preventing this tragedy. Why did you abandon the Kauravas and the Pandavas who were your kinsmen? You surely will have to suffer for this. With all the power I must have acquired through my single minded devotion to my husband I put this curse on you. At the end of thirty six years from now the Yadava women will be in the same situation as the ladies in Hastinapura are currently in. Yes, the Yadavas will perish by fighting among themselves. You, after the death of all your own people, shall also meet your death at the hands of a hunter!”

Krishna did not lose his composure even when he heard the hard hitting words of Gandhari. He replied. “I already have anticipated this. In a way I do not entirely resent this. No other human race, not even the gods will be capable of bringing down the Yadava race. They will destroy themselves by mutual fighting.”

The Pandavas were shocked to hear the curse and Krishna’s response to it. The death of so many of their dear and near ones had already saddened the hearts of the Pandavas. It is said that they felt even more dejected with life as a result.

The chapter of the wailing women ends here.

The next chapter, on “performing the last rites (Sraaddha parvam)”, starts with Krishna’s words. He asks Gandhari not to lose heart from grief. Krishna said. “Get up, Gandhari, reign in your grief. You have to blame yourself for the death of all these great warriors, because you failed to control your own son who was jealous towards the Pandavas. Why do you blame me for your failure? You end up with a second tragedy when you unduly grieve on account of the dead or what is lost”. Krishna’s words had the desired effect on the Kaurava queen and she controlled her emotions with great effort.

We get an insight into the profundity of Krishna’s character from the above. Let us remember that these words came from him immediately after Gandhari put a devastating curse on Krishna and his clan.

To the question of Dhritarashtra, Yudhishthira gave an account of the dead and those who went missing. The Pandava, further, described the fate of the dead. All had reached heaven. But, the type of heaven (the abode of Brahma, Indra, Gandharavas, etc.) depended on the courage shown on the battle field. Yudhishthira had acquired this knowledge from sage Lomasa (“lomaSa”) during the thirteen years of stay in forest.

Then, as asked by the blind king, Yudhishthira got the last rites performed for the dead.

In the next episode we enter the twelfth and the biggest book of Mahabharatam called the “Book of Peace”. It contains the codes of conduct for kings as instructed by sage Vyasa, and Bhishma from his death bed, to Yudhishthira.