The epic of a great war ends with its heroes walking away from everything they fought for, one by one
Where it is argued
Bhishma and the thousand names — Asked which single dharma stands highest, the grandsire who once called dharma too subtle to judge answers without hedging
The death of Bhishma — After fifty-eight nights on arrows Bhishma waits for the northern sun, takes leave of Krishna and rises out of his own body
The elders go to the forest — Fifteen years after the war the blind king walks out of Hastinapura with his hand on Gandhari's shoulder, and Kunti leads them both
The night the dead came back — Vyasa calls the dead of Kurukshetra out of the Ganga for a single night, and they come without anger, Karna and the Pandavas among them
The great journey — Six walk toward Meru and five fall, and at heaven's door Yudhishthira refuses Indra's chariot unless the dog that followed him may come
The death of Krishna — A hunter named Old Age mistakes Krishna for a deer, and soon after Arjuna can barely string Gandiva against herdsmen with sticks
Yudhishthira's grief — The victor wants to give the kingdom away and live in the forest, and his brothers, his wife, Vyasa and Krishna argue him onto the throne.
The teaching on release — A courtesan who stops hoping, a farmer whose last bullocks hang from a camel, and Vyasa's son who answers his father as an echo.
Yudhishthira in heaven — Yudhishthira finds Duryodhana enthroned in heaven and his own brothers crying out in hell, and he chooses to stay with them
Who embodies it
Gandhari — The queen who covered her eyes for life to share her husband's blindness, lost a hundred sons, and cursed the god who let it happen.
