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Chapter 14. The Horse Sacrifice
Themes
and Colors
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 HERMITAGE. The Pandavas rule over the earth for 15 years. Yudhishthira tries to make sure that Dhritarashtra doesn’t suffer any more grief than he already has. Bhima, however, remains defiant, and Dhritarashtra, Vidura, and Gandhari all dislike Bhima’s manner.
Although Yudhishthira’s respect for his former enemies seems to be more honorable than Bhima’s lingering grudge, this passage again hints at how individuals have different dharma, perhaps suggesting that Bhima is only living up to his role to have the most violent personality of his brothers.
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After 15 years, Dhritarashtra asks Yudhishthira if he and Gandhari can go retire into the woods and lead a life of asceticism (with Vidura, Samjaya, and a couple others). Yudhishthira is upset, believing Dhritarashtra is unhappy about something. He tries to talk Dhritarashtra out of the idea but is unable to. Eventually, Vyasa comes and persuades Yudhishthira to grant Dhritarashtra’s wish.
Although Vidura advised Yudhishthira against living an ascetic life earlier, now Vidura joins Dhritarashtra to go retire in the forest. This may seem hypocritical, but in fact, it’s perfectly consistent with the idea that dharma differs depending on a person’s stage of life. With the Kaurava lineage mostly exterminated, all that’s left for Dhritarashtra to do is to reflect on the mistakes that led him to his current situation, and so by turning to an ascetic lifestyle, he actually does act according to his dharma (even though he used to have the dharma of a king in an earlier phase of his life).
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Before he goes, Dhritarashtra gives Yudhishthira advice on running a kingdom, with the biggest piece of advice being to trust wise and educated advisors. Dhritarashtra then offers gifts to Yudhishthira’s subjects in honor of Dhritarashtra’s many dead sons. Dhritarashtra takes responsibility for the destructive war in a speech, but a wise Brahmin interrupts him and says that the real cause to blame for the war is fate.
Dhritarashtra sets a date to go live in the forest. Before he goes, he asks the Pandavas to perform a śraddha for his many family members and allies who died in the war. While Yudhishthira, Arjuna, and some of the others are willing to do so, Bhima refuses. Yudhishthira apologizes for his brother, and they go ahead with the śraddha anyway. Dhritarashtra gives away so much wealth that it seems to flood the whole world.
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At last, the time comes for Dhritarashtra and Gandhari to leave for the woods, and many residents of Hastinapura come out of their homes to grieve their departure. Kunti insists on going into the forest with them. They thus part ways with the Pandavas at last and go to a hermitage in the forest, where they learn a new way of life. The Pandavas are so sad to see them all go that they neglect some of their daily tasks.
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Eventually, the Pandavas decide to go into the forest for a visit. They happily reunite with Kunti, then they pay respects to Dhritarashtra and Gandhari. There, they also meet up with Vidura, who is very thin and who has been taking asceticism to the extreme, eating nothing but air. Vidura uses his yogic power to enter the body of Yudhishthira, leaving his own body behind as a corpse. A voice tells Yudhishthira not to cremate Vidura’s body, since Vidura’s body is now linked with his own body. Everyone else is astonished when Yudhishthira tells them this.
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THE VISION OF THE SONS. Vyasa comes to the hermitage and tells Dhritarashtra he knows the grief he must be suffering still. Dhritarashtra and Gandhari say that what really pains them is not knowing about the brave men who died due to Duryodhana’s foolishness. Vyasa tells them not to worry, that what happened was fate and that those who died were mortal incarnations of heavenly or demonic beings, and after a brief time on earth, now they have returned to their rightful realm.
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That night, Vyasa plunges into the Ganga and comes back with all the dead warriors from the war, who are now living together in harmony. Although they appear lifelike, Vyasa makes them all disappear again in an instant. Vyasa says that any women who want to be reunited with their dead husbands should plunge into the Ganga, and many of them do so, taking on heavenly forms. Vaiśampayana interrupts the story to say that whoever hears this part of the story will prosper in this world and the next.
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Vaiśampayana continues the story. Although Dhritarashtra remains blind, Vyasa gives him sight of his dead sons’ true forms. Now Ugraśravas, who has been narrating the story of Vaiśampayana and Janamejaya this whole time, tells about how king Parikshit came down from heaven to see Vaiśampayana and Janamejaya at this point in the story. Janamejaya is in the middle of his last ritual bath as part of the snake ceremony. Astika, who is there to stop the snake ceremony, also comes and praises Janamejaya.
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Honored by Astika’s words, Janamejaya now asks to hear more from Vaiśampayana about Dhritarashtra’s life in the forest. Back at the hermitage, Dhritarashtra sends the Pandavas away. Yudhishthira doesn’t want to go, particularly not without Kunti, but Dhritarashtra insists that he has to get back to his people. The Pandavas head back to Hastinapura.
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THE ARRIVAL OF NARADA. Two years later, Narada visits Yudhishthira. He reports on what he saw when he recently visited Dhritarashtra and the others in the forest. They increased their austerities, going without a proper home to live in. In the process they became so weak that, when a fire ripped through the forest, only Samjaya was strong enough to outrun it—the others perished in the fire. Narada tells Yudhishthira not to be sad, but he and the other Pandavas can’t help grieving, particularly for their mother, Kunti, who is one of those that died. Yudhishthira sends someone to gather the bones and perform a purification ritual.
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