Hearing the words of Yudhishthira the dog changed its form. Dharma regained his original form. He was extremely happy with Yudhishthira’s truthflness, justice and unfliching faith in right conduct. After blessing him he vanished. Indra took him to heaven. Yudhishthira looked all around him. It was a beautiful place but there was no sign of his brothers. He saw Duryodhana seated in splendour with angels around him. He was dumb-founded and looked sideways.
“Where are my brothers?” he asked sage Narada, “I do not wish to see this greedy and dishonourable man sitting here after committing sins arising from his hatred and envy. He has been wicked and insulted Draupadi. Take me where my brothers are.”
Sage Narada told him that Duryodhana had come to heaven because he had been a heroic warrior as expected of him. In heaven, there was no hatred. Yudhishthira said that he must go to the greater heaven where his brothers and Draupadi must be, with Vidura, Bhishma, Shikhandi, Karna and others. The gods respected Yudhishthira’s words and ordered the angel to take him to his brothers.
As they went along, the passage became dark and gloomy. Blood and dead bodies covered the floor. Worms and maggots crawled everywhere. There was a horrible stench. Yudhishthira was horror-struck and asked how long they had to walk.
The angel asked him if he wished to turn back. But Yudhishthira answered in the negative. As Yudhishthira moved ahead, he heard voices that sounded familiar calling out to him piteously. They were the voices of Karna, his brothers and Draupadi. Stunned, Yudhishthira asked the angel, “What good deeds has Duryodhana done that he sits royally in heaven, while these people are in hell?”
Angrily, he ordered the angel to go back and tell Indra that he would stay there with those who suffered the tortures of hell only for having obeyed him during their lifetime. The angel went back to Indra, while Yudhishthira stayed back with his family in hell. Yudhishthira was utterly worried. He failed to understand how it all happened.
