Myths of the Hindus & Buddhists

Myths of the Hindus ^f Buddhistscarry Yudhishthira back with him to Heaven,diately begs him to enter the chariot.It is here, in the emperor s answer, that we are able tomeasure how very far the Hindu people have gone sinceand immethe early worship of purely cosmic deities, in the moralizingand spiritualizingof their deities and demi-gods. Yudhishthira refuses to enter the chariot unless his dead brothersare all first recalled to enter it with him, and adds, ontheir behalf, that they will none of them acceptthe invitationeven then unless with them be their queen,Draupadi, who was the first to fall.Only when he isassured by Indra that his brothers and wife have preceded him and will meet him again on his arrival in thestate of eternal felicity does he consent to enter the divinechariot, and stand aside to let the dog go first.The DogBut here Indra objected. To the Hindu the dogis unholy. It was impossible to contemplate the idea of a dogin Heaven! Yudhishthira is begged, therefore, to sendaway the dog. Strange to say, he refuses. To him thedog appears as one who has been devoted, loyal in timeof loss and disaster, loving and faithful in the hour ofentire solitude. He cannot imagine happiness, even inHeaven, if it were to be haunted by the thought of one sotrue who had been cast off.The god pleads and argues, but each word only makesthe sovereign more determined. His idea of manlinessis involved. "To cast off one who has loved us is inand honourfinitely But sinful." also his personal prideas a king are roused. He has never yet failed theterrified or the devoted, or such as have sought sanctuarywith him, nor one who has begged mercy, nor any who212