I was greatly surprised to see all of Yudhishthira's brothers and wife to fall. At first I did not know what this meant. I thought they just died and now entered heaven but in reality it was that they died and were in hell. Yudhishthira is so noble that when Indra greets him and welcomes him to heaven he said he will not go without his brethren nor the hound. To my surprise the hound was Dhrama his dad. I keep forgetting that all of them had dad gods. His dad promises him that there is no equal to him in heaven which is pretty amazing. But in reality I would think that in heaven no one is equal but unique in special way.
Bibliography:
Source. Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913). The Pandavas Depart.
http://ouocblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/pde-mahabharata-heroes-fall.html
The Afterlife
This is by far one of my favorite stories. Probably because it has some of the more religious themes and explores them. Most of this epic has been a war or battle or fight. But now at the end it gets interesting. I was really shocked when the Kauravas were all in heaven and ruling. It made no sense to me since they had been the ill ones. Not that they could not make it but that they were ruling. Then Yudhishthira entered hell. This was really cool just because of the perspective. In the epics it has always talked about heaven or the abodes of the gods but never the torment of hell. In my religion, I have read about visions of hell and I can see some similarities between the two. It would have been interesting if they were more elaborate but the author did a great job of characterizing it and making it seem terrible. This story just keeps getting better because it turns out that was all an illusion so make sure Yudhishthira was true and just and wanted to be with his brethren. what is different in their belief was that his body is left behind and only is a celestial spirit now. Mine believes that they are united and in heaven you will have your body and your spirit. In the end it is a great and marvelous ending to such an eventful epic.
(Journey to hell. Source: Wikimedia)
Bibliography:
Source. Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913). The Afterlife. http://ouocblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/pde-mahabharata-yudhishthira-in-heaven.html
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