Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Mahabharata, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Dharma
Pursuing Enlightenment
Heroism and Warfare
Grief, Loss, and Mourning
Stories and Storytelling
Summary
Analysis
THE HORSE SACRIFICE. Still at the banks of the Ganga, Yudhishthira grieves, but Dhritarashtra tells him not to grieve since he himself has been even more foolish and suffered more loss. Krishna similarly advises Yudhishthira to put aside his grief, since he will soon have to fight a new battle—with himself—but Yudhishthira finds this hard to do. At last, Yudhishthira agrees to put aside his grief and rule as king, and Dhritarashtra performs last rites on all of the fallen warriors.
The fact that Dhritarashtra offers the same advice as the wise Krishna—to avoid grieving too much—suggests how much Dhritarashtra has learned over the course of the poem after witnessing the outcome of his bad decisions. Ultimately, this passage represents the culmination of everything Yudhishthira learned from his conversation with Bhishma, showing how he puts philosophy into practice—in this case, the philosophy that a king’s dharma involves ignoring grief to focus on leadership.
Themes
Later, Krishna spends some time with Arjuna discussing matters of dharma. Krishna tells Arjuna stories about Brahmins who lived wisely, acting nonviolently and showing reverence to the gods. He then goes on to explain the teachings of Brahma. According to Brahma, to be free of sin, a person must free themselves from the concept of “I.” A person who removes all doubts can reach a state of brahman.
In this discussion of dharma, Krishna explains how introspection nevertheless involves getting away from the concept of “I.” “I” represents something different from the “Self” introduced earlier—“I” constitutes an exaggerated focus on a person’s current mortal condition, and this is why it stops people from understanding the broader, more universal concept of brahman.
Themes
Krishna and Arjuna go to Hastinapura in Krishna’s chariot. They make it there, and then Krishna asks to go off to Dvaraka see his father (Vasudeva)—Yudhishthira grants this request but makes Krishna promise to come back for the upcoming horse sacrifice.
Without the Kurukshetra War to bind them together, the major figures in the poem begin to split up, as their dharma begins to take them in different directions.
Themes
Krishna goes off on his journey accompanied by Satyaki. They meet a seer named Uttanka in the desert. Krishna offers Uttanka a boon and then leaves. Since it’s dry in the desert, Uttanka decides to use his boon to wish for drinking water. He soon sees a dirty naked man urinating, and the naked man offers him the urine to drink, which Uttanka refuses. Uttanka gets mad at Krishna when he sees him again, but Krishna reveals that the dirty man was Indra in disguise and his urine was the nectar of immortality. As a consolation, Krishna gives Uttanka rain clouds, and now rain in the desert is called Clouds of Uttanka.
This passage illustrates the dangers of failing to see beyond the surface level as well as perhaps the benefits of showing gratitude. Although Uttanka’s decision not to drink the dirty man’s urine may seem reasonable, in fact, Uttanka shows ingratitude by not accepting Krishna’s boon. Perhaps the greater issue is that Uttanka didn’t trust the wisdom and generosity of Krishna. Krishna’s consolation gift to Uttanka at the end of this story shows how he can be merciful even to those who fail to pass his tests.
Themes
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Krishna and Satyaki make it to Dvaraka. He meets up with Vasudeva and tells him the story of the war between the Kauravas and the Pandavas. Initially, he leaves out the part about Abhimanyu dying (since he is Vasudeva’s grandson), but eventually Vasudeva finds out and asks to hear this part in detail. They perform śraddha for Abhimanyu.
This section is yet another one that looks at the impact of storytelling, showing how Krishna tries to lessen Vasudeva’s grief about Abhimanyu’s death by telling the story in a certain way. The śraddha ceremony shows that Vasudeva accepts the death, honoring the dead Abhimanyu but not getting consumed by grief.
Themes
Meanwhile, the Pandavas are grieving in Hastinapura. Yudhishthira and some of the others decide to travel to find a treasure that Vyasa told them about. When they reach their destination, they make offerings to Śiva, then they come back with cartloads full of riches. Krishna comes back for the horse sacrifice. The wife of the late Abhimanyu gives birth to a son called Parikshit who dies right away (due to Aśvatthaman’s use of the celestial weapon Brahma’s Head). But to everyone’s delight, Krishna offers to revive Parikshit.
The horse sacrifice serves a similar purpose to the consecration ceremony that Yudhishthira held long ago, well before the Kurukshetra War. Like that ceremony, the purpose is to legitimize Yudhishthira’s rule, showing how ritual plays a role in acquiring and maintaining power. While Krishna lets many noble characters die, choosing not to offer a boon of resurrection, he revives Parikshit because it fulfills a prophecy and because Aśvatthaman acted foolishly in passion when he drew Brahma’s Head in battle, and so Krishna wants to partially counteract this rash choice.
Themes
Krishna gives a short speech, and Parikshit begins to stir. Parikshit goes on to become the father of Janamejaya (who is still listening to Vaiśampayana tell this story). Eventually, it comes to be time for the horse ceremony.
Parikshit’s birth, death, and resurrection allow the Pandava line to continue, with Krishna himself giving approval to the lineage by ensuring Parikshit’s survival.
Themes
On the day of the horse ceremony, even Krishna pays homage to Yudhishthira, who oversees the ceremony. He will release a horse into the wild, where it will be Arjuna’s responsibility to protect it with his bow. Yudhishthira lets the horse free, and it roams the entire earth. Sometimes the remaining enemies of the Pandavas try to attack the horse, but Arjuna bravely fends them off. During a fight with the king Babhruvahana, Arjuna briefly dies but gets revived by a special jewel. This helps him atone for the breach of dharma he committed by killing Bhishma.
Like a standard in battle, the horse draws the potential attention of enemies, even though it is more important for its symbolic value than for any practical value. The horse symbolizes Yudhishthira’s influence—if the horse is able to walk the Yudhishthira’s kingdom freely, it will prove that Yudhishthira has total control within his domain. This is why Arjuna must fight so valiantly to protect the horse, even (temporarily) giving up his own life to defend it.
Themes
Arjuna fights off more enemies until finally the horse heads back toward Hastinapura. Yudhishthira gets word of him coming and orders the other brothers to prepare. Bhima summons all the other kings in the area. Yudhishthira begins praising Arjuna for his many successful battles. Not long after, Arjuna himself arrives with the horse in the city. Many others who have gathered in the city give Arjuna praise as he enters. A couple days later, Krishna advises Yudhishthira that the time for the ceremony is at hand.
The successful journey of the horse proves once and for all that no one in Yudhishthira’s kingdom has the power to take down Arjuna, and so this means that Yudhishthira has the ability to enforce his own rule. But the horse’s journey is only the first part of the ceremony. The next section’s ceremony gathers the public in one place, in order to have many witnesses and maximize the event’s impact.
Themes
Yudhishthira and the sacrificial priests carry out the horse ceremony exactly as the Vedas prescribe. They tie many animals to stakes to be sacrificed. Eventually, they kill the horse and cook its intestines according to ritual, then split its limbs into 16 parts to throw in a fire. At the ceremony’s conclusion, Yudhishthira offers vast amounts of wealth to the priests who participated, then offers the earth to Vyasa. Vyasa thanks Yudhishthira but tells him to keep the earth and just pay him money. Yudhishthira says he’s going into the forest, and so instead he’ll divide the earth up among the four highest-ranking sacrificial priests.
Yudhishthira’s conduct during the sacrifice demonstrates how he has accepted his role as king and begun to fulfill it honorably. He pays close attention to the many steps of the ritual, showing a respect for tradition. He also takes the occasion to show off his generosity, offering large sums of money as a way of showing hospitality to the priests who help legitimize Yudhishthira’s reign by participating in his ceremony.
Themes
Vyasa insists that Yudhishthira keep the earth, and Krishna advises him that Vyasa is correct. Eventually, they agree to have Yudhishthira’s gold divided up among the four sacrificial priests, who distribute it to the rest of the kingdom. He showers all his subjects in wealth and nourishment.
Vyasa and Yudhishthira show their mutual respect for each other by both offering hospitality to each other and also by accepting the other’s hospitality with gratitude. They ultimately arrive at a solution that benefits Yudhishthira’s subjects more than Yudhishthira himself, showing his selflessness and why he deserves to be a leader.
Themes
When the horse sacrifice is over, a huge mongoose appears. Its body is half gold. The mongoose proclaims angrily that the sacrifice was not correct, because if it had been correct, he would now be all gold instead of just half gold. Janamejaya interrupts the story, since he is surprised—he thought the sacrifice sounded sufficient. Vaiśampayana explains that the mongoose was actually Anger, who was imprisoned in the form of a mongoose and who could only become free by judging the dharma of others, as he did at the horse sacrifice.
This strange ending to the 14th book shows how even the most fitting sacrifice might nevertheless draw criticism. Rather than condemning this criticism, Vaiśampayana notes that Anger in the form of a mongoose was merely following its own dharma. And so, the final passage of the section moves beyond Yudhishthira’s own dharma as a king and shows once again how different individuals must act according to their own dharma.
Themes
