Vidura Banished and Recalled

Classical

The Pāṇḍavas had settled at Kāmyaka on the Sarasvatī when Vidura arrived alone in a fast chariot. Yudhiṣṭhira saw him coming and was wary; he whispered to Bhīma that Śakuni might have sent him with a new invitation to dice, to win their weapons next. They rose to greet him, seated him among them, and only after he had rested did Yudhiṣṭhira ask why he had come. Their suspicion tells us how deeply the dice game had changed the way they looked at any messenger from Hastināpura.

Vidura's answer was bleak. Dhṛtarāṣṭra had asked him for advice that would be good for both houses, and Vidura had given it. The king rejected it, as a sick man refuses medicine or a young woman refuses an old husband. In anger he told Vidura to go wherever he pleased, saying he would never again ask his help in ruling the kingdom or the city. Vidura feared the Kuru line was lost and had come to see the sons of Pāṇḍu. He told them how a patient man who bears insults and builds his strength slowly can still rule the earth, like a small fire that grows large.

At Hastināpura the king's anger turned to regret. He remembered Vidura's wisdom in peace and war, thought of the Pāṇḍavas' growing strength, and in his grief fell unconscious at the door of the assembly hall before the waiting kings. When he woke he told Saṃjaya that Vidura was like Dharma himself, that Vidura had done no wrong and he himself had, and that if Vidura were not brought back he would give up his life. Saṃjaya was sent to the Kāmyaka forest. He found Yudhiṣṭhira in deerskin, sitting with Vidura among thousands of Brahmins, with his brothers guarding him. Saṃjaya explained that Dhṛtarāṣṭra had remembered Vidura and wanted him back to revive his spirits. Yudhiṣṭhira, who addressed Vidura as Kṣattā, gave him leave to go, and Vidura returned to the city.

Dhṛtarāṣṭra welcomed him with the words that it was his good fortune to see Vidura again, and that without him he had felt like a man lost on the earth. He lifted his brother onto his lap, smelled his head in affection, and asked forgiveness for the harsh words. Vidura forgave him freely. He explained that the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra were as dear to him as the sons of Pāṇḍu, but that the Pāṇḍavas were suffering, and his heart went out to them. The two brothers exchanged apologies and were happy again. The reconciliation changes nothing in policy, and Vidura's counsel will go unheeded again.

Told by Vaiśampāyana → Janamejaya

Who: Vidura, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Yudhiṣṭhira, Bhīma, Saṃjaya

Bound to

Vidura-nīti mirror

Sūrya's Akṣaya Pātra for Yudhiṣṭhira origin

Places: Kāmyaka forest, Hastināpura, Sarasvatī

Where this comes from

read for this telling · Mahabharata, Ganguli translation (ibiblio sripedia mirror) Vana Parva, Section V (Vidura at Kāmyaka)
read for this telling · Mahabharata, Ganguli translation (ibiblio sripedia mirror) Vana Parva, Section VI (Saṃjaya recalls Vidura)

See it on the tree · All stories

← Sūrya's Akṣaya Pātra for Yudhiṣṭhira · Draupadī and Yudhiṣṭhira on Forbearance →