SECTION XXXVII
(Naradagamana Parva)
"Vaisampayana said, 'After two years had elapsed from the date of the
return of the Pandavas (from the retreat of their sire), the celestial
Rishi, Narada, O king, came to Yudhishthira. The mighty-armed Kuru king,
that foremost of speakers, viz., Yudhishthira, having duly worshipped
him, caused him to take a seat. After the Rishi had rested awhile, the
king asked him, saying,--'It is after a long time that I behold thy holy
self arrived at my court. Art thou in peace and happiness, O learned
Brahmana? What are those countries which thou hast passed through? What
shall I do to thee? Do thou tell me. Thou art the foremost of regenerate
ones, and thou art our highest refuge.'
"Narada said, 'I have not seen thee for a long while. Hence it is that I
have come to thee from my ascetic retreat. I have seen many sacred
waters, and the sacred stream Ganga also, O king.'
"Yudhishthira said, 'People dwelling on the banks of Ganga report that
the high-souled Dhritarashtra is practising the austerest of penances.
Hast thou seen him there? Is that perpetuator of Kuru's race in peace?
Are Gandhari and Pritha, and the Suta's son Sanjaya also, in peace? How,
indeed, is it faring with that royal sire of mine? I desire to hear this,
O holy one, if thou hast seen the king (and knowest of his condition).'
"Narada said, 'Listen, O king, with calmness to me as I tell thee what I
have heard and seen in that ascetic retreat. After thy return from
Kurukshetra, O delighter of the Kurus, thy sire, O king, proceeded
towards Gangadwara. That intelligent monarch took with him his (sacred)
fire, Gandhari and his daughter-in-law Kunti, as also Sanjaya of the Suta
caste, and all the Yajakas. Possessed of wealth of penances, thy sire set
himself to the practice of severe austerities. He held pebbles of stone
in his mouth and had air alone for his subsistence, and abstained
altogether from speech. Engaged in severe penances, he was worshipped by
all the ascetics in the woods. In six months the king was reduced only to
a skeleton. Gandhari subsisted on water alone, while Kunti took a little
every sixth day. The sacred fire, O monarch, (belonging to the Kuru king)
was duly worshipped by the sacrificing assistants that were with him,
with libations of clarified butter poured on it. They did this whether
the king saw the rite or not. The king had no fixed habitation. He became
a wanderer through those woods. The two queens, as also Sanjaya, followed
him. Sanjaya acted as the guide on even and uneven land. The faultless
Pritha, O king, became the eye of Gandhari. One day, that best of kings
proceeded to a spot on the margin of Ganga. He then bathed in the sacred
stream and finishing his ablutions turned his face towards his retreat.
The wind rose high. A fierce forest-conflagration set in. It began to
burn that forest all around. When the herds of animals were being burnt
all around, as also the snakes that inhabited that region, herds of wild
boars began to take themselves to the nearest marshes and waters. When
that forest was thus afflicted on all sides and such distress came upon
all the living creatures residing there, the king, who had taken no food,
was incapable of moving or exerting himself at all. Thy two mothers also,
exceedingly emaciated, were unable to move. The king, seeing the
conflagration approach him from all sides, addressed the Suta Sanjaya,
that foremost of skilful charioteers, saying,--'Go, O Sanjaya, to such a
place where the fire may not burn thee. As regards ourselves, we shall
suffer our bodies to be destroyed by this fire and attain to the highest
goal.' Unto him, Sanjaya, that foremost of speakers, said,--'O king, this
death, brought on by a fire that is not sacred, will prove calamitous to
thee. I do not, however, see any means by which thou canst escape from
this conflagration. That which should next be done should be indicated by
thee.' Thus addressed by Sanjaya the king once more said,--'This death
cannot be calamitous to us, for we have left our home of our own accord.
Water, fire, wind, and abstention from food,[61] (as means of death), are
laudable for ascetics. Do thou, therefore, leave us, O Sanjaya, without
any delay. Having said these words to Sanjaya, the king concentrated his
mind. Facing the east, he sat down, with Gandhari and Kunti. Beholding
him in that attitude, Sanjaya walked round him. Endued with intelligence,
Sanjaya said,--'Do thou concentrate thy soul, O puissant one.' The son of
a Rishi, and himself possessed of great wisdom, the king acted as he was
told. Restraining all the senses, he remained like a post of wood. The
highly blessed Gandhari, and thy mother Pritha too, remained in the same
attitude. Then thy royal sire was overtaken by the forest-conflagration.
Sanjaya, his minister, succeeded in escaping from that conflagration. I
saw him on the banks of Ganga in the midst of ascetics. Endued with great
energy and great intelligence, he bade them farewell and then started for
the mountains of Himavat. Even thus the high-souled Kuru king met with
his death, and it was even thus that Gandhari and Kunti, thy two mothers,
also met with death, O monarch. In course of my wanderings at will, I saw
the bodies of that king and those two queens, O Bharata. Many ascetics
came to that retreat, having heard of the end of king Dhritarashtra. They
did not at all grieve for that end of theirs. There, O best of men, I
heard all the details of how the king and the two queens, O son of Pandu,
had been burnt. O king of kings, thou shouldst not grieve for him. The
monarch, of his own will, as also Gandhari and thy mother, obtained that
contact with fire.'
"Vaisampayana continued,--'Hearing of the exit of Dhritarashtra from this
world, the high-souled Pandavas all gave way to great grief. Loud sounds
or wailing were heard within the inner apartments of the palace. The
citizens also, hearing of the end of the old king, uttered loud
lamentations. 'O fie! cried king Yudhishthira in great agony, raising his
arms aloft. Thinking of his mother, he wept like a child. All his
brothers too, headed by Bhimasena, did the same. Hearing that Pritha had
met with such a fate, the ladies of the royal household tittered loud
lamentations of grief. All the people grieved upon hearing that the old
king, who had become childless, had been burnt to death and that the
helpless Gandhari too had shared his fate. When those sounds of wailing
ceased for a while, king Yudhishthira the just, stopping his tears by
summoning all his patience, said these words."'
