Mahabharata — Mahaprasthanika Parva, Shloka 15
Adhyāya 3: Indra’s Invitation and Yudhiṣṭhira’s Refusal to Abandon the Dog
Svargārohaṇa Test
युधिछिर उवाच न विद्यते संधिरथापि विग्रहो मृतैर्मत्यैरिति लोकेषु निष्ठा । न ते मया जीवयितुं हि शक््या- स्ततस्त्यागस्तेषु कृतो न जीवताम्
Yudhiṣṭhira uvāca: na vidyate sandhir athāpi vigraho mṛtair martyair iti lokeṣu niṣṭhā | na te mayā jīvitum hi śakyās tatas tyāgas teṣu kṛto na jīvatām ||
郁提希提罗说道：“大德啊，世间早有定论：与亡者之间，既无和解，亦无仇怨。我无力使德罗帕蒂与诸兄弟复生；故我是在他们死后才放下他们，并非在他们尚生之时。”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Yudhiṣṭhira articulates a dharmic realism: once death has occurred, ordinary social categories like alliance and enmity lose their meaning. Since he cannot reverse death, his ‘abandonment’ is not callousness but acceptance of the irreversible, marking the ethical shift from worldly bonds to renunciation.
During the great departure (mahāprasthāna), after Draupadī and the brothers have fallen, Yudhiṣṭhira continues onward. He explains that he did not forsake them while alive; rather, because they are dead and cannot be revived, he must proceed, embodying the ascetic resolve of the final journey.