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 GREAT JOURNEY. After hearing of the slaughter with clubs, Yudhishthira decides to go on a great journey. Before leaving, he consecrates Parikshit as king. He also holds śraddha ceremonies for Krishna and Balarama. Then Yudhishthira leaves the city of Hastinapura, accompanied by his four brothers, Draupadi, and a dog.
By consecrating Parikshit as the new king, Yudhishthira seems to be finally getting his wish to become an ascetic in the forest, having finally reached the stage in his life where this is an appropriate choice rather than a refusal to do his duties as king.
Themes
The Pandavas live ascetic lives as they travel, performing Yoga and trying to act according to dharma. The meet the god Fire, and Arjuna offers up his formidable bow that he used in the war. They continue traveling north until Draupadi’s Yoga fails, and she falls down. Bhima feels that her fall isn’t dharma, but Yudhishthira says they must press on, and so they leave her behind.
Yoga in the Mahabharata is more about meditation and is not necessarily connected to physical exercise or poses in the way that the word “yoga” is often used today. Nevertheless, this passage illustrates a connection between mind and body, showing how Draupadi’s physical deterioration comes after her spiritual meditation fails.
Themes
Soon after, Sahadeva falls. Then Nakula falls, Arjuna falls, and Bhima falls, leaving Yudhishthira to walk forward alone with the dog. Indra comes down to Yudhishthira and asks him to mount a chariot. Yudhishthira is apprehensive, saying he doesn’t want to go to heaven without his brothers and Draupadi. Indra tells him to stop grieving and also that he must leave behind the dog. Yudhishthira refuses to leave the dog.
This scene was foreshadowed in a much earlier passage, in which the four youngest brothers all drank from a pool of water and dropped dead for a brief period of time, and Yudhishthira alone had the wisdom not to drink. Yudhishthira’s refusal to leave his dog shows that he values loyalty so much that he’ll refuse to go to heaven even for the sake of an animal in order to remain loyal.
Themes
When Yudhishthira keeps refusing to abandon the dog, it eventually reveals itself as the god Dharma in disguise. He praises Yudhishthira for his loyalty, even to a dog. Several other gods gather to watch as Yudhishthira mounts the chariot, becoming the first to reach Indra’s heaven in his mortal body. But despite the splendor of the place, Yudhishthira says he would rather be wherever his brothers and Draupadi are.
Dogs are often associated with loyalty, and by returning the favor, Yudhishthira demonstrates harmony with nature—he honors Dharma, even when he doesn’t realize that Dharma has disguised himself. Indra allows Yudhishthira to enter heaven in his mortal body, perhaps suggesting how Yudhishthira lived a life so full of dharma that he is already ready to go to heaven in his current form.
Themes
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