Yudhishthira Takes Leave and Returns to Indraprastha
After the humiliation of the gambling hall and the exile, Yudhishthira stands before the blind king Dhritarashtra and asks for his command. Dhritarashtra gives him permission to depart, blessing him to rule his own kingdom righteously and advising him to ignore Duryodhana's harshness and pursue peace.
Yudhishthira stood before the blind king Dhritarashtra in the assembly. The hall still echoed with the memory of the dice game, the loss of everything, and the thirteen years of exile that had followed. Now, having returned and fulfilled the terms of their agreement, Yudhishthira placed the decision back in the hands of the patriarch.
“You are our lord,” Yudhishthira said. “Command us as to what we should do. We have always desired to be established under your rule.”
Dhritarashtra’s reply was a formal blessing and a release. “O Ajatashatru! Be fortunate. Go in peace and safety. On my instructions, rule your kingdom with your riches.” He then offered counsel, framing it as the advice of an old man who had reflected deeply on the matter. He called it the supreme medication for welfare.
He praised Yudhishthira’s knowledge of the subtle path of dharma, his humility, his wisdom, and his service to superiors. “Where there is intelligence, there is peace,” Dhritarashtra said. “Therefore, tread the path of serenity.” He laid out a philosophy of non-retaliation. A weapon only cuts wood, not what is not wood. Supreme men do not indulge in hostilities; they see good qualities and leave out bad ones. Only the worst among men use harsh words in a quarrel. Average men reply to such words, but the supreme never respond. They do not even converse about ill words spoken by inferior men. They remember only good deeds, not deeds born of enmity.
Then he addressed the heart of the conflict. “O son! Do not take to your heart Duryodhana’s harshness.” He appealed to family bonds, asking Yudhishthira to look upon his mother Gandhari and himself, who craved his good qualities. He acknowledged his own blindness and his earlier failing. “I wished to see my friends and judge the strengths and weaknesses of my sons. It was from this desire that I had earlier allowed the gambling match to take place.”
He assured Yudhishthira there was no reason to feel sorry for the Kurus he would leave behind, for the intelligent Vidura — knowledgeable in all the sacred texts — would remain as an adviser. And he cataloged the Pandavas’ own strengths: dharma in Yudhishthira, valour in Arjuna, strength in Bhimasena, and respect for superiors in the twins, Nakula and Sahadeva.
His final blessing was clear. “O Ajatashatru! Be fortunate. Return to Khandavaprastha. Let there be fraternal love with your brothers. May your mind always be established in dharma.”
Hearing these words, Dharmaraja Yudhishthira performed all the appropriate farewell rituals. Then, with his brothers and with Krishna, he left. They departed in chariots that were like clouds, their minds in a happy frame, heading for Indraprastha, the supreme city, to resume the rule of their own kingdom.