Reading Notes: Mahabharata D

The Forest and its Ghosts

• The kingdom is thriving under Yudhishthira's reign
• Dhritarashtra moves to the forest because he is still mourning Duryodhana's death
• Gandhari, Kunti, and Vidura went with him
• Yudhishthira, the Pandavas, and Draupadi went to visit Dhritarashtra, but Vidura had gone to the Ganges to await death
• They found Vidura, weak and malnourished, and waited with him until he died
• As they were mourning Vidura and all the others they had lost, Vyasa appeared and instructed them to bathe in the Ganges, then he would return all of their loved ones
• They all bathed in the Ganges at sunset, as they were instructed, and Vyasa summoned the dead
• All of the slain warriors rose with much fanfare, "like a mighty tempest"
• All of the great heroes and loved ones reappeared, and those who waited by the water rejoiced 
• The ghosts did not fight each other; peace had been achieved in death
• A night of joyous celebration and reunions followed
• In the morning, the dead returned to their sleep
• Some of the widows chose to join their loved ones in death
• Two years later, the Pandavas learn that a fire had killed Dhritarashtra, Gandhari, Kunti, and everyone with them

Vyasa Summons Dead Warriors

Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)