Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c6.s3.4

c6.s3.4

Immediately after the great war, Yudhiṣṭhira suffers from a moral dilemma. He is appalled at the devastation the war has caused and bitten with remorse and a persisting sense of guilt; he even declines to accept the throne and expresses his desire to retire to the forest and lead the life of an ascetic.⁶⁰ This puts him in bitter debate with Draupadī and Bhīma, who go to the extent of calling Yudhiṣṭhira a mentally deranged person; Draupadī even suggesting that her husband has gone insane and needs to be treated or be sent behind the bars along with the heretics (*nāstikas* or *Ājīvakas*).⁶¹