Kunti told Yudhishthira that she had asked Karna to join the Pandavas. Even his father, Surya, the Sun-god, had advised him to do the right thing by joining the Pandavas. But Yudhishthira was upset that Kunti had hidden the truth about Karna’s birth from them. She had caused them to commit the great sin of killing their own elder brother. Yudhishthira wished to go into the forest to do penance for his sin. Each one of the Pandavas tried to reason with him. Draupadi said that punishing the wicked was a part of the duties of a king. There was no need for him to feel sorrow at having punished those who had done wrong. Finally, it was Vyasa who came to tell Yudhishthira the duties of a king and his responsibility. Yudhishthira became King of Hastinapura. He first went to take the blessings of the grandsire who lay on his bed of arrows.
Yudhishthira’s Grief
