SECTION 26
"The holy one said, Arise, arise, O Gandhari, do not set thy heart on
grief! Through thy fault, this vast carnage has taken place! Thy son
Duryodhana was wicked-souled, envious, and exceedingly arrogant.
Applauding his wicked acts, thou regardest them to be good. Exceedingly
cruel, he was the embodiment of hostilities, and disobedient to the
injunctions of the old. Why dost thou wish to ascribe thy own faults to
me? Dead or lost, the person that grieves for what has already occurred,
obtaineth more grief. By indulging in grief, one increases it two-fold. A
woman of the regenerate class bears children for the practice of
austerities; the cow brings forth offspring for bearing burdens; the mare
brings forth her young for acquiring speed of motion; the Shudra woman
bears a child for adding to the number of servitors; the Vaishya woman
for adding to the number of keepers of cattle. A princess, however, like
thee, brings forth sons for being slaughtered!"
Vaishampayana said, "Hearing these words of Vasudeva that were
disagreeable to her, Gandhari, with heart exceedingly agitated by grief,
remained silent. The royal sage Dhritarashtra, however, restraining the
grief that arises from folly, enquired of Yudhishthira the just, saying,
If, O son of Pandu, thou knowest it, tell me the number of those that
have fallen in this battle, as also of those that have escaped with life!
"Yudhishthira answered, One billion 660 million and 20,000 men have
fallen in this battle. Of the heroes that have escaped, the number is
240,165.
"Dhritarashtra said, Tell me, O mighty-armed one, for thou art conversant
with everything, what ends have those foremost of men attained.
"Yudhishthira said, Those warriors of true prowess that have cheerfully
cast off their bodies in fierce battle have all attained regions like
those of Indra. Knowing death to be inevitable, they that have
encountered it cheerlessly have attained the companionship of the
gandharvas. Those warriors that have fallen at the edge of weapons, while
turning away from the field or begging for quarter, have attained the
world of the guhyakas. Those high-souled warriors who, observant of the
duties of kshatriya-hood and regarding flight from battle to be shameful,
have fallen, mangled with keen weapons, while advancing unarmed against
fighting foes, have all assumed bright forms and attained the regions of
Brahman. The remaining warriors, that have in anyhow met with death on
the precincts of the field of battle, have attained the region of the
Uttara-Kurus."
"Dhritarashtra said, By the power of what knowledge, O son, thou seest
these things like one crowned with ascetic success? Tell me this, O
mighty-armed one, if thou thinkest that I can listen to it without
impropriety!
"Yudhishthira said, While at thy command I wandered in the forest, I
obtained this boon on the occasion of sojourning to the sacred places. I
met with the celestial rishi Lomasa and obtained from him the boon of
spiritual vision. Thus on a former occasion I obtained second sight
through the power of knowledge!
"Dhritarashtra said, It is necessary that our people should burn, with
due rites, the bodies of both the friendless and the friended slain. What
shall we do with those that have none to look after them and that have no
sacred fires? The duties that await us are many. Who are those whose
(last) rites we should perform? O Yudhishthira, will they obtain regions
of blessedness by the merit of their acts, they whose bodies are now
being torn and dragged by vultures and other birds?"
Vaishampayana continued, "Thus addressed, Kuntis son Yudhishthira of
great wisdom commanded Sudharma (the priest of the Kauravas) and Dhaumya,
and Sanjaya of the suta order, and Vidura of great wisdom, and Yuyutsu of
Kurus race, and all his servants headed by Indrasena, and all the other
sutas that were with him, saying, Cause the funeral rites of the slain,
numbering by thousands, to be duly performed, so that nobody may perish
for want of persons to take care of them! At this command of king
Yudhishthira the just, Vidura and Sanjaya and Sudharma and Dhaumya and
Indrasena and others, procuring sandal, aloe and other kinds of wood used
on such occasions, as also clarified butter and oil and perfumes and
costly silken robes and other kinds of cloth, and large heaps of dry
wood, and broken cars and diverse kinds of weapons, caused funeral pyres
to be duly made and lighted and then without haste burnt, with due rites
the slain kings in proper order. They properly burned upon those fires
that blazed forth with libations of clarified butter in torrents over
them, the bodies of Duryodhana and his hundred brothers, of Shalya, and
king Bhurishrava; of king Jayadratha and Abhimanyu, O Bharata; of
Duhshasanas son and Lakshmana and king Dhrishtaketu; of Vrihanta and
Somadatta and the hundreds of Srinjayas; of king Kshemadhanva and Virata
and Drupada; of Shikhandi the prince of Pancalas, and Dhrishtadyumna of
Prishatas race; of the valiant Yudhamanyu and Uttamauja; of the ruler of
the Kosalas, the sons of Draupadi, and Shakuni the son of Subala; of
Acala and Vrishaka, and king Bhagadatta; of Karna and his son of great
wrath; of those great bowmen, the Kekaya princes, and those mighty
car-warriors, the Trigartas; of Ghatotkaca the prince of rakshasas, and
the brother of Vaka, of Alambusha, the foremost of rakshasas, and king
Jalasandha; and of hundreds and thousands of other kings. The pitri-medha
rites in honour of some of the illustrious dead were performed there,
while some sang Samas, and some uttered lamentations for the dead. With
the loud noise of Samas and Riks, and the lamentations of the women, all
creatures became stupefied that night. The funeral fires, smokeless and
blazing brightly (amid the surrounding darkness), looked like luminous
planets in the firmament enveloped by clouds. Those among the dead that
had come from diverse realms and were utterly friendless were piled
together in thousands of heaps and, at the command of Yudhishthira, were
caused to be burnt by Vidura through a large number of persons acting
coolly and influenced by good-will and affection, on pyres made of dry
wood. Having caused their last rites to be performed, the Kuru king
Yudhishthira, placing Dhritarashtra at his head, proceeded towards the
river Ganga."
