Gandhari

Uncommon card · No. 162449

Gandhari (Sanskrit: गान्धारी, lit. 'of Gandhara', IAST: Gāndhārī) is a major character in the ancient Hindu epic Mahabharata. She is introduced as a princess of the Gandhara Kingdom and later becomes the queen of the Kuru Kingdom. The daughter of King Subala, her marriage is arranged with Dhritarashtra, the blind prince of Kuru, and in a symbolic gesture of solidarity, she voluntarily blindfolds herself for life. Through miraculous intervention, she becomes the mother of the one hundred sons collectively known as the Kauravas, the eldest of whom, Duryodhana, serves as one of the principal antagonists of the narrative. Besides her hundred sons, Gandhari also has a daughter, Dushala. Her brother, Shakuni, becomes a central figure in aiding Duryodhana's schemes against his cousins, the Pandavas. An ardent devotee of the god Shiva, Gandhari is portrayed as a woman of great virtue and moral strength, who nonetheless struggles to dissuade her sons from their destructive path. She speaks out at...

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