Page:Hindu Mythology, Vedic and Purānic.djvu/468

 have abandoned your brothers; why not forsake the dog?" Yudhishthira replies, “I had no power to bring them back to life : how can there be abandonment of those who no longer live ?” It now appears that the dog was no other than his father Dharma in disguise ; who, assuming his proper form, enters with him.

On reaching heaven, though Duryodhana and his cousins are already in bliss, as he does not see Arjuna and the rest, Yudhishthira declines to remain there without them. An angel accompanies him to hell, where he hears their voices calling upon him for help. He therefore bids the angel depart, as he prefers to suffer in hell with his brethren rather than to remain in heaven without them. As soon as his resolution is taken, the scene suddenly changes, and it appears that this was simply a trial of his faith. He bathes in the heavenly Ganges, and in heaven, with “Draupadi and his brothers, finds the rest and happiness that were unattainable on earth.”