01Duryodhana in svarga
The first thing Yudhishthira saw in heaven was Duryodhana, seated in glory, shining like the sun among the devas and the Sadhyas. He turned away. He would not share a world with the man who had dragged Draupadi into the assembly. Narada smiled and corrected him. In svarga old enmities are dropped. Duryodhana had fallen fighting as a kshatriya on a holy field and had not flinched, and this was his reward. Yudhishthira answered that he did not care for this world. Where were his brothers, where was Karna, where were Draupadi and Drupada and Virata? He would go wherever they were.
02The road of torment
The devas gave him a messenger to lead the way. The road grew dark and foul, slippery with blood and flesh, thick with the smell of corpses, flies and biting insects. He saw a boiling river, a forest of sword-leaves, hot sand, iron pots of seething oil, the thorned shalmali tree, and the sufferings of the wicked. How much farther? he asked. The messenger said he had been told to turn back here if Yudhishthira grew tired. Yudhishthira turned. Then voices rose around him in the dark, begging him to stay a moment longer, because while he stood there a cool breeze came and their pain eased.
03I stay here
Who are you? he asked. I am Karna, said one voice. I am Bhimasena. I am Arjuna. Nakula, Sahadeva, Dhrishtadyumna, Draupadi, the sons of Draupadi. Yudhishthira stood still. What wrong had these done, that they suffer here while Duryodhana sits in heaven? Was this the dharma of the devas? He was filled with anger at the gods and at Dharma himself. Go back to those who sent you, he told the messenger, and tell them I will not return. I stay here, for my brothers are comforted by my being here. The messenger went to Indra with the word.
04The maya lifts
In a moment Indra and the devas came, and Dharma with them, and the darkness was gone. The river, the sword-trees and the cries had vanished. Indra explained: every king must see naraka. Yudhishthira had once deceived Drona with a half-truth about Ashvatthama, and so he too was shown hell by a deception. His brothers had been shown it for their faults in the same way, and all of it was over. Dharma told him this was the third time he had tested his son: at Dvaitavana as the Yaksha, on the mountain as the dog, and now here. Each time Yudhishthira had held to dharma.
05Each to his own
Yudhishthira bathed in the heavenly Ganga, the river that flows through the three worlds, and his human body fell away with its grief and enmity. Then he saw Govinda in his Brahma form, the chakra and his divine weapons beside him, and Arjuna attending him; Karna shining among the twelve Adityas; Bhima among the Maruts; Nakula and Sahadeva with the Ashvins; and Draupadi, who Indra told him was Shri herself. Vaishampayana then told Janamejaya where each had gone. Bhishma entered the Vasus. Drona entered Brihaspati. Karna returned to Surya, his father. Abhimanyu, who was Varchas, Soma’s son, born on earth, entered Soma. Vidura and Yudhishthira entered Dharma. Ananta, who had been Balarama, went down to Rasatala to bear the earth.
06The Bharata Savitri
With that the snake sacrifice of Janamejaya came to an end, and the brahmins were honoured and sent home. Ugrashravas, who has been telling all this to the rishis at Naimisharanya, finishes with a few verses called the Bharata Savitri, which the text says should be recited on rising in the morning. Vyasa lifts up his arms and cries out, and no one listens: from dharma come wealth and desire both, so why is dharma not followed? Never give up dharma, not for desire, fear or greed, not even to save your life. Dharma is eternal; pleasure and pain are not.
Famous verses
ऊर्ध्वबाहुर्विरौम्येष न च कश्चिच्छृणोति मे । धर्मादर्थश्च कामश्च स किमर्थं न सेव्यते ॥
With arms raised I cry out, and no one hears me: from dharma come wealth and desire too. Why then is dharma not followed?Mahabharata 18.5.49 (BORI CE), Bharata Savitri
न जातु कामान्न भयान्न लोभाद्धर्मं त्यजेज्जीवितस्यापि हेतोः । नित्यो धर्मः सुखदुःखे त्वनित्ये जीवो नित्यो हेतुरस्य त्वनित्यः ॥
Never give up dharma, not from desire, nor fear, nor greed, nor even to save your life. Dharma is eternal, pleasure and pain are passing; the jiva is eternal, its cause in this life is passing.Mahabharata 18.5.50 (BORI CE), Bharata Savitri