How did Subhadra die ? What is the story of her death?

Question

How did Subhadra die ? How did her death occur ? What is the story behind it ? Did she die before Arjuna ? If not , why didn't she accompanied him in Swarga-Rohan ?

Answer 1

Well, Vyasa's Mahabharata doesn't offer much information about Subhadra's death. For the most part, we must assume that she serves as an advisor in her grandson Parikshit's palace and eventually retires to the forest and lives out her days.

There's another story, though, that may be of interest. It's not in any of the original retellings, but I'll still include it because it does come up fairly often.

Described as Vibhishana's sister (although earlier versions depict her as an older Rakhshasi), Trijata was one of the kinder Rakhshasis during Sita's captivity on the island. She became friends with Sita. In thanks for her support and kindness, Lord Rama decided to reward her. He told her that in one of her lives, she would be his sister, and would become the matriarch of a royal lineage. She would be married to the greatest mortal archer. (From Madhvacharya's Mahabharata Tatparya Nirnaya, 37th entry in the English translation) Trijata was reborn as Subhadra.

20th-century Belgian scholar and missionary (and Padma Bhushan honoree) Camille Bulcke, in one of his books, noted a tribal story from the Bheel retelling of the Mahabharata. In it, Krishna tells Arjuna to take Subhadra to a lake and push her in. Arjuna is confused, but still, he follows his friend's advice nonetheless. Subhadra reemerges as a Rakhshasi- as Trijata. Then, she goes back under the surface and dies.

And that is the story of Subhadra's death. Not in the original retelling, but it certainly is the most cited version that I could find. It actually clashes with the original implication, that Subhadra outlived Arjuna, but...it would explain why she didn't accompany the Pandavas on their climb up the mountain to Swarga- because she died before him.

Answer 2

There is no mention of her death in Mahabharata. She continued to live in Hastinapura after Pandavas died and continued to help Parikshit in the administration. Her death is not mentioned in Mahabharata at all.