What happened to Dushala, Kauravas’ sister, after the Mahabharata?

Dushala was daughter of Dhritarashtra and Gandhari and she was sister of Duryodhana and Kauravas and cousin of Karna and Pandavas. She was married to Jaydrath, King of Sindh. Due to this relationship, Draupadi and Pandavas didn't take his life when he unsuccessfully tried to abduct Draupadi. Her brothers and husband died in Mahabharata war. She remained Queen of Sindh and her son became the new King. Dushala was extremely grieved by the death of her husband and later during Ashwamedha Yajna, Arjuna reached Sindh and almost won it when Dushala presented her grandson and asked him to spare her family. Yuddhisthir anointed her grandson as the new King.

Although Jaydrath did some unacceptable things yet Dushala was in love with her husband and very loyal to him.

Epics of India: At the end of Mahabharata, Kauravas went to heaven while Pandavas were sent to hell, isn't it unfair?

 This answer is as per the Mahabharata Tatparya Nirnaya of SriMadhvacharya. He read all the Mahabharata recensions found across India, which he writes about in the Tatparya Nirnaya, and clearly explains what constitutes an interpolation and which parts are authentic, along with the correct interpretation.

First of all, the Pandavas never went to hell. Because what Yudhishthira saw there was an illusory hell. So, let me briefly tell you the story. When the Pandavas were going to Svarga, the youngest one would first perform dehatyaga, and then the eldest. So, in the end, Yudhishthira was remaining. He, along with a dog, was going. Suddenly, a chariot came down for him and asked him to come in the chariot. The charioteer asked Yudhishthira not to bring the dog with him. But Yudhishthira said, “I won’t come to heaven without this dog.” And then, the dog turned into Yama Dharmaraja. That dog was actually Yama Dharmaraja. He, along with Yudhishthira, went to heaven. On going to heaven, Yudhishthira saw that Duryodhana was sitting on the throne.

Yudhishthira was astonished and asked the devatas, “Why is this evil Duryodhana in heaven? He hasn’t performed anything good in his life. So, why did he who didn’t listen to Krishna’s words reach heaven? Where are my brothers? Bheemasena, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva, Karna, Draupadi?” At this, the devatas sent a messenger with Yudhishthira, who took him to Naraka. That place was very ugly and unclean. It smelled very bad there. He went there with the messenger and heard familiar sounds: ‘I am Bheemasena!’ ‘I am Arjuna!’ and like this. Yudhishthira was shocked upon hearing this. He said, “If my brothers and my wife are in hell, how can I go to heaven? I won’t go to heaven. I accept hell if my brothers and wife are here.”

Then Yama and Indra came there and said, “What you saw now was an illusory hell. It is not real. It was shown to you because you had committed Adharma by not believing the words of Krishna Himself.” Actually, in the Mahabharata war, Krishna asked Yudhishthira to say, ‘Ashvatthama hatah’, because Dronacharya would put down his weapons only when his son died. So, Yudhishthira doubted Krishna’s words and thought it would be Adharma. So, that’s why he is shown the illusory hell. Yama and Indra further said, “Your brothers are in heaven. Duryodhana, due to his punya prarabdha, is present in heaven. After his punya prarabdha ends, we will push him to the eternal hell, where he will experience endless sorrow and will never come out of it.”

So, when Yudhishthira went to heaven, he saw his brothers sitting in their divine forms. Draupadi was sitting along with Bheemasena. Out of love for his wife, Yudhishthira went to touch Draupadi, but Indra came and stopped him. He said, “Draupadi is actually Bharati Devi, the consort of SriMukhyaprana Vayudeva, who is your brother, Bheemasena. Draupadi was your wife because she had Shyamala, the wife of Dharmaraja, within her. And that Dharmaraja is you. So, Shyamala within her was interacting with you, and the rest slept. Similarly, she had Shachi’s presence within her. So, Arjuna, being Indra, interacted with her, and the rest slept. Nakula and Sahadeva, being Ashvini devatas, interacted with their wife Ushadevi, who was present in Draupadi. So, Draupadi is mainly Bharati Devi.”

Note: This is the presence of 5 souls in Draupadi, namely Uma, Shyamala, Shachi, Ushadevi, and mainly Bharati Devi, who is even mentioned in the Garuda Purana.

Indra and Yama further said, “You four brothers have the presence of Mukhyaprana Vayudeva, because He is present as breath within you. Plus, He is even present in different forms within you. So, the level of presence of Vayudeva was there in you; the attraction of Draupadi towards you was also that much. Bheemasena was Vayudeva Himself. After Him, Arjuna had the greatest presence of Mukhyaprana Vayudeva in Him. Now, that presence of Vayudeva’s form in you is not there. Hence, you cannot touch Her now.” Yudhishthira realized it and then went to Yama. Yama hugged Yudhishthira, due to which the remaining human traces in Yudhishthira went away, and he became equal to Yama Dharmaraja in qualities and merged with him (his moolaroopa).

Similarly, Bheemasena, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva went in their moolaroopas, like Mukhyaprana Vayudeva, Indra, and Ashvini Devatas, respectively. Draupadi entered Her moolaroopa, which is Bhaarati Devi. So, the Pandavas weren’t sent to hell literally, but it was just an illusory hell shown to Yudhishthira for his Adharma of not believing in Krishna’s words. So, you can notice how subtle Dharma is.

But why did Krishna tell Yudhishthira to say Ashvatthama Hatah?
It was because Dronacharya, Bhishmacharya, Krupacharya, etc., are Krishna’s devotees. And the Pandavas too were devotees of Krishna. Dronacharya was a Brahmin and used to follow Silouncha Vritti (which means he wouldn’t ask anyone anything, even if he is in trouble, or whatever happens to him). Then also, he participated in the yuddha.

Plus, Dronacharya had sinned by being on the opposite side of Krishna’s devotees, thus opposing them. Secondly, he was also sinning by attacking the devotees of Bhagavan. So, Krishna was like, ‘You are my devotee. You must not be allowed to commit so many sins.’ Thus saying so, Krishna asked Dharmaraja to say, ‘Ashvatthama Hatah,’ but when Yudhishthira added, ‘Kunjaraha’, meaning elephant, after ‘Ashvatthama hatah, ’ Krishna blew the conch shell so loudly that the Kunjaraha was not audible to Dronacharya, and he thought his son died. And thus Dronacharya left his weapons, and Drishtadyumna beheaded Dronacharya.

Hope this helps!
Jay SriRam!
ShriKrishnarpanamastu!

Why did Bhagadatta fight for Kauravas despite being a friend of Pandu?

 Bhagwan Sri Krishna had killed Narkasura , who was the father of Bhagadatta. So he was an enemy of Bhagwan Sri Krishna. Bhagwan Sri Krishna was the main guide, philosopher, friend and strategist of the Pandavas. They always seeked advice from him. So this alienated Bhagadatta from the Pandavas. I think this was the main reason why inspite of being the friend of Devraj Indra and Samrat Pandu , he fought for the Kauravas.

The second reason is contradicting itself , read ahead to see the contradiction.

KMG does’nt mention Arjuna’s victory over Bhagdatta but Bori does mention it.Arjuna had fought against Bhagadatta when he had gone to conquer the kingdoms in the Northern direction. They had fought against one another for eight days and finally Bhagadatta had accepted his defeat.

Now here comes the contradiction. At first BORI mentions that Bhagadatta was welcomed and treated with honour .

But then again Duryodhana tells Dhritrashtra that Bhagdatta was not allowed to enter the gate.

So if we take Duryodhana’s words to be true here , then this too maybe a reason but I feel the first to be the main reason. The second reason even contradicts itself, first it says that Bhagadatta was welcomed and then it says that Bhagadatta was stopped at the gates.

Anyways I believe the first to be the main one. If someone can clear the confusion about the second part , it would be great.

Why did Kauravas lose the Mahabharatha war despite having the best-in-class warriors and a larger army?

 Depending upon the maturity and understanding ability of the individual concerned in grasping the true purpose of the EPIC Mahabharata, one can draw conclusion as to why the Kauravas lost, despite having an overwhelming army with them, the war.

One can put forward arguments that

• Bhishma and Drona did not fight to their full capacity and with their heart in winning the war
• Bhishma was not protected properly
• Karna did not participate for the first 10 days of the war
• Karna was afflicted with curses in the nick of the moment

and so on and so forth.

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According to my understanding the above arguments or any other supplementary arguments cover only the peripheral part.

The main reason lies elsewhere.

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If we pay attention to what Sage Krishna Dwaipayana or Vyasa, who composed the EPIC Jaya Samhita - the original version of Mahabharata, said to Gandhari after the war, we can realise as to what was the cause of the defeat of the Kauravas.

After the war, when Gandhari was weeping, Sage Vyasa consoles her and advises to forgive Pandavas, as follows:

उक्तास्यष्टादशाहानि पुत्रेण जयमिच्छता । शिवमाशास्स्व मे मातर्युध्यमानस्य शत्रुभिः ॥

सा तथा याच्यमाना त्वं काले काले जयैषिणा । उक्तवत्यसि गान्धारि यतो धर्मस्ततो जयः ॥

न चाप्यतीतां गान्धारि वाचं ते वितथामहम् । स्मरामि भाषमाणायास्तथा प्रणिहिता ह्यसि ॥

सा त्वं धर्मं परिस्मृत्य वाचा चोक्त्वा मनस्विनि । कोपं संयच्छ गान्धारि मैवं भूः सत्यवादिनि ॥

For eighteen days, your son, eager for triumph, pleaded with you daily during the battle: "Mother, bless me as I fight my enemies." Every day, he sought your blessing with such words, and your constant reply was: "Victory lies where righteousness dwells!"

Gandhari, I recall no instance where your words proved false. Therefore, the words you spoke to Duryodhana at his urging must hold true. You always seek the welfare of all beings. Undoubtedly, the Pandavas have crossed the sea of battle and certainly won both victory and a greater measure of righteousness.

You once valued forgiveness; why abandon it now? Conquer unrighteousness, you who understand righteousness. Victory lies where righteousness prevails. Remember your righteousness and your own pronouncements; restrain your anger, Gandhari! Do not deviate from this path, you of fair speech.

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The above words of Sage Vyasa explains everything:

• Though Duryodhana deviated from the path of Dharma, his mother Gandhari never deviated from that.
• Duryodhana sought Gandhari’s blessing everyday and each day Gandhari’s blessing was “यतो धर्मस्ततो जयः - Victory lies where righteousness dwells!”

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Hence, Gandhari was physically on Kauravas side, but her blessings were given to the side, which stood for Dharma - Righteousness.

We have to remember that at the end of the war, when Kauravas lost everyone, even the Pandavas were not left with great army. The number of warriors survived on Pandavas side was 10,000 warriors, 2,000 Chariots, 700 Elephants,and 5,000 Horses out of 7 Akshauhinis .

रथानां द्वे सहस्रे तु सप्त नागशतानि च । पञ्च चाश्वसहस्राणि पत्तीनां च शतं शताः ॥

एतच्छेषमभूद्राजन्पाण्डवानां महद्बलम् ।

Even the above balance army was eliminated by Ashwatthama on the 18th day night.

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So, as per the blessings of Gandhari, Pandavas won the war, but lost everything.