Hindu Religious Studies 75
(17) Mahaprasthanika-parva:
The Jadavas dynasty was destroyed. Krishna also died. This
discouraged Yudhishthira to live any more in the land of the living
ones. Then Parikshita, son of Abhimanyu was made king. The
Panchpandavas along with Draupadi left the kingdom for good. This
was what they called the Mahaprasthan of the Pandavas. The citizens
followed them with tears in the eyes for quite a long distance and
then came back. The Pandavas and Draupadi advanced towards the
Himalayas. A dog followed them. They became tired of walking.
Draupadi, Shahadeva, Nakula, Arjuna and Bhima died one after
another. Yudhishthira kept on going and the dog also followed him.
After some time Devaraj Indra came to Yudhishthira in his chariot.
He wanted to take Yudhishthira to heaven. But Yudhishthira refused
to go to heaven leaving Draupadi and his dear brothers behind. Indra
assured him that he would meet his wife and brothers in heaven.Now the question of taking the dog to heaven arose. Dogs were not
allowed to enter heaven. So Yudhishthira had to go to heaven
without the dog. Yudhishthira did not agree to that because the dog
followed him so long though he suffered much. So he could not
leave it behind. Then the dog disappeared. Dharma stood before
Yudhishthira. He said with affection to Yudhishthira, "Dear child,
you have been ready to sacrifice the heaven for the sake of the dog.
This shows that you are a very pious man. You would go to heaven
with this very body."Yudhishthira went to the heaven physically in the chariot of Indra. But
he did not find peace even in the heaven. He did not want to stay in
the heaven without Draupadi and his brothers with him. Yudhishthira
expressed his desire to go to the place where they were staying.