Svargarohana Parva

Heaven was not what Yudhishthira expected, and one test was left

Duryodhana in heaven

Yudhishthira arrived in heaven. And the first thing he saw there was Duryodhana, seated on a throne, honored. Yudhishthira asked how he came to be there. He was told that Duryodhana had died fighting on the field, and the heaven of heroes belongs to every kshatriya who falls in battle, whichever side he fought on. Yudhishthira said he did not want such a heaven. He asked where his brothers were, where Draupadi was.

The vision of hell

He was led away. The path went downward, and grew darker. A stench rose. Voices came from every side. The messenger said, enough, let us turn back now. Then voices called out of the darkness, wait, do not go, your presence gives us some relief. Yudhishthira asked who they were. The answer came, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, Sahadeva, Draupadi, Karna. Yudhishthira stood still. He told the messenger he would not go back. He said that if his staying here brought these people even a little relief, then this was his heaven.

The lifting of the dark

At that very instant the darkness lifted. The stench, the voices, the entire scene, all of it vanished. The gods stood before him. Indra explained that what he had just seen was divine illusion, a scene shown for a moment, and a final test. He said every king must witness hell once, whoever enjoys the fruit of his good deeds first must settle the rest of the account later, and whoever endures suffering first lives afterward in comfort. Yudhishthira had to see it also because, once during the war, he had spoken a half-truth, the words about Ashwatthama's death, which had made Drona lay down his weapons. It was the only lie of his entire life, and its account was settled here.

Everyone meets

Then they all met, in their true forms. The brothers returned each to the god from whom they had been born. Draupadi was there. Karna was with the Sun. Abhimanyu, Draupadi's five sons, Bhishma, Drona, all of them were there. Those who had stood facing each other on the battlefield did not stand facing each other here.

The end of the story

And the story returns to where it began. Janamejaya's sacrifice is still burning. The fire is still lit. Vaishampayana has finished the telling. Janamejaya listens on, knowing that what he has heard is the story of his own ancestors, and that Parikshit, his father, was born in the final part of this very tale. But there is one more circle around it. In the forest of Naimisha the sages sit, and Sauti is telling them all of this, Janamejaya's sacrifice, Vaishampayana's telling, and the whole story within it. It is there that he brings the story to a close. This is the very shape of the Mahabharata itself, someone telling it to someone, and the listener standing inside the same story.

Note: Duryodhana appearing in heaven, the vision of hell, Yudhishthira's decision to stay and the lifting of the dark are all in the Svargarohana Parva of Vyasa's Mahabharata. The hell he was shown was a divine illusion and a test — the text says so itself, and Indra explains the reason for it there. The story returns to the same snake sacrifice of Janamejaya where it began, and outside that lies one more frame: Sauti telling the same story to the sages in the Naimisha forest. A story inside a story, and the listener a descendant of the same story.

Source: Mahabharata (ascribed by tradition to Vyasa), Svargarohana Parva