Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Gāndhārī and Kuntī Retire to the Forest

Classical

For fifteen years after the war Yudhiṣṭhira rules by the old king's counsel. Vidura, Sañjaya, Yuyutsu and Kṛpa wait on Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Vyāsa visits him with ancient tales, and the Pāṇḍavas bring him fine clothes, food and gifts. Draupadī and Subhadrā treat Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Gāndhārī as their own parents-in-law. Kuntī serves Gāndhārī as an elder.

Only Bhīma cannot hide his old resentment, which comes out in jibes at the king. In time Dhṛtarāṣṭra decides to retire. He sends Vidura to tell Yudhiṣṭhira that he wants to give gifts for the funeral rites of his sons, and Yudhiṣṭhira and Arjuna willingly offer him all the wealth and the kingdom itself. Vidura brings back the message that Bhīma, after his anger, has agreed with difficulty to give his consent, breathing heavily.

The king makes large gifts for the dead, and then sets out with Gāndhārī and Vidura for the forest. The Pāṇḍavas, in tears, follow until Dhṛtarāṣṭra tells them to turn back. Kuntī, however, goes on. Yudhiṣṭhira pleads with her to return and Draupadī joins him, but she answers that she acted as she did in the past so that her sons should not be lost, citing the words of Vidulā she once recited.

She says that she has already enjoyed the fruits of her husband's kingship, and does not want her sons' fortune. She wants to waste her body in penance and to serve her husband's father and mother in the forest, so as to win the same worlds as her husband. She tells the Pāṇḍavas to stop following her and to let their minds stay on righteousness.

The Pāṇḍavas, ashamed, stop. Dhṛtarāṣṭra himself tells Gāndhārī to send Kuntī back, since she could be living in comfort, but Kuntī holds to her course. The women of the palace wail as the three go. Dhṛtarāṣṭra takes with him his sacrificial fire, Sañjaya and his priests, and moves up towards Gaṅgādvāra to a life of penance.

Told by Vaiśampāyana → Janamejaya

Who: Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Gāndhārī, Kuntī, Yudhiṣṭhira, Vidura, Sañjaya, Bhīma

Bound to

Vidulā mirror

Death in the Forest Fire origin

Vidura-nīti mirror

Gandhari's curse: 36 years and the Yadavas die geneal

Places: Hastināpura, Gaṅgādvāra

Where this comes from

read for this telling · Mahabharata, Ganguli translation (text as scanned on archive.org; mahabharataonline.com section pages could not be opened from the working environment) Ashramavasika Parva, Sections I, XIII, XVII-XVIII, XXXVII

See it on the tree · All stories

← Dharma, Yama, Vidura and Yudhishthira: one essence · Death in the Forest Fire →