11.015
Core and Pancharatra: Pandavas, Kunti, Draupadi, Gandhari, and Dhritarashta reconcile and mourn their dear ones.
Vaiśampāyana said:
Having spoken thus, Gāndhārī, afflicted by the slaughter of her sons and grandsons, angrily asked Yudhiṣṭhira: "Where is that king?"
Trembling and with joined palms, King Yudhishthira approached her and addressed her with these sweet words.
O goddess, I, Yudhiṣṭhira, your son, am a cruel slayer of sons, deserving of a curse, having become the cause of the earth's destruction; therefore, curse me.
Truly, I have no desire for life, kingdom, or wealth; for, having slain such friends for the sake of this deluded enemy of friends, I find no purpose in them.
Then Gandhari, deeply sighing, did not say anything to him, though he was frightened, had come near, and was speaking thus.
As he, with his body bent, was falling at the feet of King Yudhishthira, the knower and perceiver of dharma, the goddess saw the tips of his fingers through the edge of the cloth.
Then, the king, whose nails had become deformed and who was worthy of being seen, was seen by Arjuna, who then went behind Vāsudeva.
O Bhārata, seeing them moving about here and there in such a manner, Gāndhārī, her anger gone, consoled them as a mother would.
Having been permitted by her, the broad-chested ones together approached their mother, Pṛthā, the mother of heroes.
After a long time, upon seeing her sons, she, overwhelmed with grief for them, covered her face with a cloth and shed tears.
Then, after shedding tears together with her sons, Kuntī saw her sons wounded in many ways by showers of weapons.
She touched her sons one by one, again and again, lamenting in her grief. Draupadī, whose sons had been slain, was weeping; then she saw Pāñcālī fallen on the ground.
Draupadī said:
O noble lady, where have all your grandsons, including Saubhadra, gone? Today, they do not come to you, who have long been unseen and are devoted to austerity. What use is the kingdom to me, now that I am bereft of my sons?
Vaiśampāyana said:
Pṛthā, the large-eyed, comforted her. She raised Yājñasenī, who was weeping and emaciated by grief.
Pṛthā, accompanied and followed by her sons, herself even more afflicted, approached Gāndhārī who was in deep distress.
Then Gandhari, together with the illustrious bride, said to her: "Do not be like this, my daughter; see, I too am sorrowful."
I believe this destruction of the world, driven by the course of time, is inevitable; it has come, terrifying by its very nature.
This is that great speech of Vidura, which was delivered by the wise one of the Yadu race to Kṛṣṇa when the conciliation had failed.
In that inevitable situation, especially after it has passed, do not grieve; for those who have met death in battle are not to be mourned.
Just as you are, so am I; who then will console me? For it is by my own fault that the noble family has been destroyed.
