Mahabharata 18.1: atha prathamo'dhyāyaḥ

18.1.1

janamejaya uvāca |
svargaṃ triviṣṭapaṃ prāpya mama pūrvapitāmahāḥ |
pāṇḍavā dhārtarāṣṭrāśca kāni sthānāni bhejire || 1 ||

Janamejaya said, "Having attained to Heaven, what regions were respectively attained by my grandsires of old, viz., the Pandavas and the sons of Dhritarashtra? I desire to hear this. I think that thou art conversant with everything, having been taught by the great Rishi Vyasa of wonderful feats.

18.1.2

etadicchāmyahaṃ śrotuṃ sarvaviccāsi me mataḥ |
maharṣiṇābhyanujñāto vyāsenādbhutakarmaṇā || 2 ||

18.1.3

vaiśaṃpāyana uvāca |
svargaṃ triviṣṭapaṃ prāpya tava pūrvapitāmahāḥ |
yudhiṣṭhiraprabhṛtayo yadakurvata tacchṛṇu || 3 ||

Vaishampayana said, "Listen now to what thy grandsires, Yudhishthira and others, did after having attained to Heaven, that place of the deities. Arrived at Heaven, king Yudhishthira the just, beheld Duryodhana endued with prosperity and seated on an excellent seat. He blazed with effulgence like the sun and wore all those signs of glory which belong to heroes. And he was in the company of many deities of blazing effulgence and of Sadhyas of righteous deeds. Yudhishthira, beholding Duryodhana and his prosperity, became suddenly filled with rage and turned back from the sight.

18.1.4

svargaṃ triviṣṭapaṃ prāpya dharmarājo yudhiṣṭhiraḥ |
duryodhanaṃ śriyā juṣṭaṃ dadarśāsīnamāsane || 4 ||

18.1.5

bhrājamānamivādityaṃ vīralakṣmyābhisaṃvṛtam |
devairbhrājiṣṇubhiḥ sādhyaiḥ sahitaṃ puṇyakarmabhiḥ || 5 ||

18.1.6

tato yudhiṣṭhiro dṛṣṭvā duryodhanamamarṣitaḥ |
sahasā saṃnivṛtto'bhūcchriyaṃ dṛṣṭvā suyodhane || 6 ||

18.1.7

bruvannuccairvacastānvai nāhaṃ duryodhanena vai |
sahitaḥ kāmaye lokām̐llubdhenādīrghadarśinā || 7 ||

"He loudly addressed his companions, saying, ‘I do not desire to share regions of felicity with Duryodhana who was stained by cupidity and possessed of little foresight. It was for him that friends, and kinsmen, over the whole Earth were slaughtered by us whom he had afflicted greatly in the deep forest. It was for him that the virtuous princess of Pancala, Draupadi of faultless features, our wife, was dragged into the midst of the assembly before all our seniors. Ye gods, I have no desire to even behold Suyodhana. I wish to go there where my brothers are.’

18.1.8

yatkṛte pṛthivī sarvā suhṛdo bāndhavāstathā |
hatāsmābhiḥ prasahyājau kliṣṭaiḥ pūrvaṃ mahāvane || 8 ||

18.1.9

draupadī ca sabhāmadhye pāñcālī dharmacāriṇī |
parikliṣṭānavadyāṅgī patnī no gurusaṃnidhau || 9 ||

18.1.10

svasti devā na me kāmaḥ suyodhanamudīkṣitum |
tatrāhaṃ gantumicchāmi yatra te bhrātaro mama || 10 ||

18.1.11

maivamityabravīttaṃ tu nāradaḥ prahasanniva |
svarge nivāso rājendra viruddhaṃ cāpi naśyati || 11 ||

"Narada, smiling, told him, ‘It should not be so, O king of kings. While residing in Heaven, all enmities cease. O mighty-armed Yudhishthira, do not say so about king Duryodhana. Hear my words. Here is king Duryodhana. He is worshipped with the gods by those righteous men and those foremost of kings who are now denizens of Heaven. By causing his body to be poured as a libation on the fire of battle, he has obtained the end that consists in attainment of the region for heroes. You and your brothers, who were veritable gods on Earth, were always persecuted by this one. Yet through his observance of Kshatriya practices he has attained to this region. This lord of Earth was not terrified in a situation fraught with terror.

18.1.12

yudhiṣṭhira mahābāho maivaṃ vocaḥ kathaṃcana |
duryodhanaṃ prati nṛpaṃ śṛṇu cedaṃ vaco mama || 12 ||

18.1.13

eṣa duryodhano rājā pūjyate tridaśaiḥ saha |
sadbhiśca rājapravarairya ime svargavāsinaḥ || 13 ||

18.1.14

vīralokagatiṃ prāpto yuddhe hutvātmanastanum |
yūyaṃ sarve surasamā yena yuddhe samāsitāḥ || 14 ||

18.1.15

sa eṣa kṣatradharmeṇa sthānametadavāptavān |
bhaye mahati yo'bhīto babhūva pṛthivīpatiḥ || 15 ||

18.1.16

na tanmanasi kartavyaṃ putra yaddyūtakāritam |
draupadyāśca parikleśaṃ na cintayitumarhasi || 16 ||

"‘O son, thou shouldst not bear in mind the woes inflicted on thee on account of the match at dice. It behoveth thee not to remember the afflictions of Draupadi. It behoveth thee not to remember the other woes which were yours in consequence of the acts of your kinsmen,—the woes, viz., that were due to battle or to other situations. Do thou meet Duryodhana now according to the ordinances of polite intercourse. This is Heaven, O lord of men. There can be no enmities here.’

18.1.17

ye cānye'pi parikleśā yuṣmākaṃ dyūtakāritāḥ |
saṃgrāmeṣvatha vānyatra na tānsaṃsmartumarhasi || 17 ||

18.1.18

samāgaccha yathānyāyaṃ rājñā duryodhanena vai |
svargo'yaṃ neha vairāṇi bhavanti manujādhipa || 18 ||

18.1.19

nāradenaivamuktastu kururājo yudhiṣṭhiraḥ |
bhrātṝnpapraccha medhāvī vākyametaduvāca ha || 19 ||

"Though thus addressed by Narada, the Kuru king Yudhishthira, endued with great intelligence, enquired about his brothers and said, ‘If these eternal regions reserved for heroes be Duryodhana’s, that unrighteous and sinful wight, that man who was the destroyer of friends and of the whole world, that man for whose sake the entire Earth was devastated with all her horses and elephants and human beings, that wight for whose sake we were burnt with wrath in thinking of how best we might remedy our wrongs, I desire to see what regions have been attained by those high-souled heroes, my brothers of high vows, steady achievers of promises, truthful in speech, and distinguished for courage. The high-souled Karna, the son of Kunti, incapable of being baffled in battle, Dhrishtadyumna, Satyaki, the sons of Dhrishtadyumna and those other Kshatriyas who met with death in the observance of Kshatriya practices, where are those lords of Earth, O Brahmana? I do not see them here, O Narada. I desire to see, O Narada, Virata and Drupada and the other great Kshatriyas headed by Dhrishtaketu, as also Shikhandi, the Pancala prince, the sons of Draupadi, and Abhimanyu, irresistible in battle.’

18.1.20

yadi duryodhanasyaite vīralokāḥ sanātanāḥ |
adharmajñasya pāpasya pṛthivīsuhṛdadruhaḥ || 20 ||

18.1.21

yatkṛte pṛthivī naṣṭā sahayā sarathadvipā |
vayaṃ ca manyunā dagdhā vairaṃ praticikīrṣavaḥ || 21 ||

18.1.22

ye te vīrā mahātmāno bhrātaro me mahāvratāḥ |
satyapratijñā lokasya śūrā vai satyavādinaḥ || 22 ||

18.1.23

teṣāmidānīṃ ke lokā draṣṭumicchāmi tānaham |
karṇaṃ caiva mahātmānaṃ kaunteyaṃ satyasaṃgaram || 23 ||

18.1.24

dhṛṣṭadyumnaṃ sātyakiṃ ca dhṛṣṭadyumnasya cātmajān |
ye ca śastrairvadhaṃ prāptāḥ kṣatradharmeṇa pārthivāḥ || 24 ||

18.1.25

kva nu te pārthivā brahmannaitānpaśyāmi nārada |
virāṭadrupadau caiva dhṛṣṭaketumukhāṃśca tān || 25 ||

18.1.26

śikhaṇḍinaṃ ca pāñcālyaṃ draupadeyāṃśca sarvaśaḥ |
abhimanyuṃ ca durdharṣaṃ draṣṭumicchāmi nārada || 26 ||