Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c7.3076

c7.3076

Then Kuntī went to Gāndhārī, who stood there bathed in tears. Grief-stricken, Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Gāndhārī started for the forest. Holding Gāndhārī’s hand in hers Kuntī led the way. The Pāṇḍavas prevented their mother from going, but she did not yield. She advised Dharmaputra to have a special eye on Sahadeva, not to forget Karṇa’s name and not to show any displeasure towards Bhīma and Pāñcālī. But, the Pāṇḍavas wanted to follow their beloved mother into the forest. Pāñcālī and Subhadrā stationed themselves behind Kuntī, who shed copious tears at the sight. Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Gāndhārī, who also felt deeply pained at the sight tried their best to dissuade Kuntī from following them to the forest. But, Kuntī consoled her sons and daughters-in-law by means of sympathetic words and followed Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Gāndhārī to the banks of the Gaṅgā, where all of them lived together. The Pāṇḍavas felt acutely the absence of their mother at home. They went to the forest and paid their respects to Kuntī on the banks of the Gaṅgā. Kuntī embraced Sahadeva with tears in her eyes. Though Yudhiṣṭhira and Sahadeva wanted to stay with Kuntī in her service she did not allow that. Kuntī, Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Gāndhārī performed penance in the forest near the Gaṅgā, taking food only once in a month. The three of them died there in a wild fire. (Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapter 37, Verse 31). Their relations inmersed their bones in the Gaṅgā and performed the necessary obsequies. (Strī, Śānti, Āśramavāsika and Āśvamedhika Parvans).