Mackenzie, Donald Alexander: Indian myth and legend: with illustrations by Warwick Goble and numerous monochrome plates (London, 1913)

ATONEMENT AND THE ASCENT 325

by the way come with me also. I cannot enter heaven
without them, O king of the gods. Let the fair and
gentle princess come too; Draupadi hath been a faithful
wife, and is worthy of bliss. Hear my prayer, O Indra,
and have mercy."

Said Indra: "Thy brethren and Draupadi have gone
before thee."

Then Yudhishthira pleaded that his faithful hound
should enter heaven also; but Indra said: "Heaven is
no place for those who are followed by hounds. Knowest
thou not that demons rob religious ordinances of their
virtues when dogs are nigh?"

Said Yudhishthira: "No evil can come from the
noble. I cannot have joy if I desert this faithful friend."

Indra said: "Thou didst leave behind thy brethren
and Draupadi. . Why, therefore, canst thou not abandon
thine hound?"

Said Yudhishthira: "I have no power to bring back
to life those who have fallen by the way: there can be no
abandonment of the dead."

As he spake, the hound was transformed, and behold
Dharma, god of justice, stood by the rajah's side.

Dharma said: "O Yudhishthira, thou art indeed mine
own son. Thou wouldst not abandon me, thy hound,
because that I was faithful unto thee. Thine equal
cannot be found in heaven."

Then Yudhishthira was transported to the city of
eternal bliss, and there he beheld Duryodhana seated
upon a throne. All the Kauravas were in heaven also,
but the rajah could not find his brethren or fair Draupadi.

Said Indra: "Here thou shalt dwell, O Yudhishthira,
in eternal bliss. Forget all earthly ties and attain to per-
fection; thy brethren have fallen short, therefore they
sank by the way."