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THE DEATH OF “THE PANDAVAS, OR FIVE PIOUS HEROES.”
Conclusion of the Mahabharata. (Translated from the French.)
Then turning to his god-like brethren spakeThe wise Yudhishthira—“The world grows old:
Enough our eyes have seen, our hands have striven,
Our hearts endured enough, the time has come.”
The brave Arjuna said—“The time has come;”
Then the five brethren and the faithful wife
Set forth upon their journey to the shore
Of life eternal; to this world they said
Farewell, and gave their wealth among their friends.
With oil anointed, rudely clad with bark,
And followed by their dog, so fared they on:
And still Arjuna held his jewelled bow
Brake forth, and stayed their passage; they must part
With all; Arjuna flung his mighty bow,
God-loved, God-given, aside; and northward now
They moved, now southward, till their footsteps reached
The mighty Himalaya; climbing it
Draupadi sunk, the first to pass away,
Found weakest as a woman, weak through love
Of her Arjuna; then those brethren fell,
Fleet-footed, fair, and lithe Sahadeva,
Too proud of wisdom, and of beauty vain
Nakula; then at last Arjuna sank,
Too dear to him the strife, the loud acclaim
Of victory; then rude Bhimasena
Sunk, turning to his brother—“See, I fall,
Thy favoured, tell me wherefore?” “Feasts by thee
Were too much loved, too boastful thou of strength,
Disdaining others.” So at length the wise
Yudhishthira ascends the mount alone,
None following save
This dog, it seems, was his own father Dharma in disguise; but on this point Mr. Monier Williams (see his “Indian Epic Poetry”) says the original is somewhat obscure. On entering heaven, Yudhishthira, to his surprise, sees nothing of his brothers or Draupadi, whom he imagined had gone there before him. As he refuses to remain in heaven without them, an angel is sent to conduct him across the Indian Styx (Vaitarini) to the hell where they are supposed to be. This is found to be a dense wood, whose leaves are sharp swords. The way to it is strewed with mutilated corpses, hideous shapes flit round, there is a horror of thick darkness; the wicked are burning in blazing fire. Suddenly he hears the voices of his brothers and companions imploring him to assuage their torments and not to desert them. His resolution is taken. Deeply affected, he bids the angel leave him to share their miseries. This is his last trial. The whole scene vanishes, it having been a mere chimera planned to test his constancy to the uttermost. He is now directed to bathe in the heavenly Ganges, and, having plunged into the sacred stream, he enters the real heaven, where, in company with Draupadi and his brothers, he finds that rest and happiness which were unattainable on earth.
Indra comes forth to lift him on his car.
I enter not without them into heaven.”
So spake the steadfast prince; but Indra said,
“Grieve not for them, they too shall follow when
Their earthly vesture, falling to decay,
Hath left their spirits naked, left them pure;
Unchanged thou only unto Heaven mayst pass,
As mortal harvesting immortal joys.”
“And must my dog be left to perish here?”
The hero asked, and Indra answered—“Heaven
Thou mayst not enter, entering not alone.
And wilt thou then resign it for a dog,
Thou who hast left thy brethren, left thy wife
Already?” “Nay,” Yudhishthira replied,
“They left me, parted from my side by death
I left not, leave not any one behind.”
Then sudden, 'twixt them while they spake appeared
Dharma, of Justice bright unwavering lord:
“Come to my heart, my son, indeed my son,
Proved worthy of thy sire in speaking thus
Of this thy poor companion; for a dog
A place in Heaven where none shall equal thee;
Where hast thou not been loving not been true?
By thee were none oppressed, forsaken none;
And when the moment met thee, testing all,
It found thee, left thee upright, left thee strong;
Above the weakness of a mortal lot,
Upborne by greatness of a human heart.
Now are the worlds imperishable thine,
The way is thine, the path supreme, unknown,
Untrodden save by steps of Deity.
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