Shloka 137
भरद्वाजपुत्रवधः
The Slaying of Bharadvāja’s Son and the Sage’s Lament
लोमशजी कहते हैं--युधिष्ठि!! इस तरह भाँति-भाँतिके विलाप करके भरद्वाजने अपने पुत्रका दाह-संस्कार किया। तत्पश्चात् स्वयं भी वे जलती आगमें प्रवेश कर गये ।। इति श्रीमहाभारते वनपर्वणि तीर्थयात्रापर्वणि लोमशतीर्थयात्रायां यवक्रीतोपाख्याने सप्तत्रिंशदधिकशततमो<ध्याय:
Lomaśa uvāca—Yudhiṣṭhira! evaṃ nānāvidhaṃ vilapya Bharadvājaḥ svaputrasya dāha-saṃskāraṃ cakāra. tataḥ paścāt svayam api sa jvalitām agniṃ praviśya jagāma.
Lomaśa said: “Yudhiṣṭhira, after lamenting in many ways, Bharadvāja performed the cremation rites for his son. Thereafter, he himself entered the blazing fire.”
लोगमश उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage underscores the gravity of loss and the dharmic completion of last rites, while also portraying an extreme response to grief—self-immolation—inviting reflection on restraint, duty, and the consequences that culminate in tragedy within the Yavakrīta episode.
After mourning intensely, the sage Bharadvāja performs his son’s cremation rites; then, overwhelmed, he enters the blazing fire himself. Lomasha narrates this to Yudhiṣṭhira as part of the Yavakrīta-upākhyāna within the pilgrimage discourse.