What Can We Learn from Gandhari in Mahabharat | The Story of Gandhari

We all know about the great epic Mahabharata. We have either seen this epic on television or read this epic. Most of us know Mahabharata from our childhood. We relived our memories of Mahabharata during the lockdown. As we all know the Mahabharata was about the life of Lord Krishna, who was an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Bhagavad Gita is a part of Mahabharata. Apart from the story of Mahabharata, we learn many lessons from the Hindu epic. There are many such characters in Mahabharata, from which we get some lessons, but today we will see what can we learn from Gandhari's life. Let's learn and take life Lesson from Mahabharata

The Story of Gandhari - Mahabharata

Daughter of King Subala of Gandhara. Gandhari was the queen of Hastinapur after marriage. Gandhari was married to the blind king Dhritarashtra, the eldest prince of the Kuru kingdom. He had got a boon from Vyasa to have 100 children. She holds a GAJAGHARBJA and gives birth to 100 Kauravas. They were known as Kauravas, who were slain against the Pandavas. 

Gandhari was a virtuous woman. When she was married to Dhritarashtra, she took an oath as a devoted wife that she too would remain blindfolded for the rest of her life to understand the pain and suffering of her blind husband. At a critical juncture in the discharge of political duties, she used to give sensible advice to her husband. Although Dhritarashtra was strongly condemned by all for his highly condescending behavior towards his devious sons, Gandhari was held in very high esteem.

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No one can understand the pain of Gandhari when she lost all her sons in the battle of Kurukshetra at the hands of the Pandavas as directed by Lord Krishna. She had great respect for Lord Krishna. But, once she loses all her sons, she curses Lord Krishna that she too must have a tragic end. It is believed that the curse of a pativrata woman (the pious and devoted wife) will not go unanswered. Lord Krishna has a sad ending. Lord Krishna himself is the originator of this entire drama knew all this in advance. This shows that even the gods and goddesses cannot escape from pre-determined things even when they appear in human form.

We have many questions related to Gandhari's life as we know that she had 100 sons but very few people know how she produced 100 sons. why Gandhari blindfolded herself? how many times does Gandhari open her eyes? Also, we had questions like what curse was given by Gandhari to Shakuni? What Happened to Gandhari to curse to Lord Krishna? How did Gandhari had 100 sons?

Here are some other interesting facts from the life of Gandhari

100 Kauravas

How did Gandhari Get Boon and had 100 Sons?

Once saint Vyasa came to visit Hastinapur to meet Gandhari. She took great care of the great saint's amenities and saw that he had a pleasant stay in Hastinapur. The saint was pleased with Gandhari and granted her a boon. Gandhari wished for one hundred sons who would be as powerful as her husband. Vyasa granted her a boon and with time, Gandhari found herself pregnant. But two years passed and still the child was not born. Meanwhile, Kunti received a son from Lord Yama, whom she called Yudhishthira.

After two years of pregnancy, Gandhari gave birth to a tough piece of lifeless flesh that was not a child at all. Gandhari was devastated as she expected a hundred sons as per the blessings of sage Vyasa. She was about to throw away the piece of meat when sage Vyasa appeared and told her that his blessings could not be in vain and asked Gandhari to arrange one hundred pots to be filled with ghee.

He told Gandhari that he would cut the piece of meat into a hundred pieces and put them in pots, which would then grow into the one hundred sons she desired. Gandhari then told Vyasa that she too wanted to have a daughter. Vyasa agreed, cut the piece of meat into one hundred and one-pieces, and put each in a jar. After two more years of patient waiting, the jars were ready to open.

When the first jar was opened the first child was born and he was named Suyodhana, who was later called Duryodhana (for his evil deeds), meaning "invincible" or "fighting hard". As soon as the child started crying, all the animals of the forest started roaring and many signs of bad omen started appearing. Vidura warned that the child would have to be abandoned as it was doomed for the Kuru dynasty at the time of his birth. He said, "The scriptures clearly say that a person can be sacrificed for the good of the clan, a clan can be sacrificed for the good of the village, a village can be sacrificed for the good of the country." Soul, for the betterment of the nation and humanity, please sacrifice this son of yours."

But both Gandhari and Dhritarashtra were adamant that a child could do no harm, and much against Vidura's wishes kept the child. At the same time, Bhima was born in the house of Kunti in the forest. Dhritarashtra had another son from Sukhada, a Vaishya servant named Yuyutsu, who was born on the same day as Bhima and Duryodhana. Gandhari's more children were taken out of the pots; Now Gandhari had one hundred sons and one daughter, whose name was Dhusala. All the children grew up to be strong and powerful.

Gandhari Curse

What Happen to Gandhari to Curse Lord Krishna did she really curse Lord Krishna? After all the 100 sons of Dhutrashtra & Gandhari were killed in the battle of Kurukshetra, Gandhari was in her champ & sat in front of Shiv ling with frustration & tears in her eyes & was constantly expressing her rage to Lord Shiva. At that time Pandavas & their mother Kunti came & stood in front of her champ, she told Pandavas to wait outside as they may not be able to face her anger.

Kunti alone entered into her champ & told Gandhari that Pandavas have come to take ur blessings as it is time to now leave. Gandhari without a word on her lips was quiet. Kunti again & again told this to Gandhari but Gandhari didn’t answer. Now Kunti got confused as to now what to do, she came out of the champ, there she met Lord Krishna told him to convey Gandhari to speak. Now Lord Krishna entered into the champ as soon as Lord Krishna entered the champ, Gandhari’s ears alerted her listening to the voice of his approach in the champ. 

Gandhari stood up at a full speed & turned towards Lord Krishna. She was angry & furious, she shouted on Lord Krishna ‘How did u dare step in my champ after conspiring the death of all my sons are u not little bit feeling guilty for what u did?’ Lord Krishna told calmly ‘ I have only supported Dharma, if ur sons have chosen the right path of Dharma I may have supported them’ Gandhari then said angrily, 'Don't justify your wickedness as an act of righteousness, all my sons have been killed because of you.'

Lord Krishna again told calmly regarding her a mother ‘'Mother Gandhari, divine truth is that person who walks on the wrong path of dharma becomes the reason of his own decline’ Gandhari with anger told ‘ you are justifying yourself even after u r the cause of death of my sons, Today there is nobody to give fire to us( Gandhari & Dhutrashtra) after our death because of u, I curse u that also your’s all the sons will be killed mercilessly in front of our eyes as our ( Dhutrashtra & Gandhari) sons are killed. When you die none of your sons will live to set your body on fire after you die There were 108 sons of Lord Krishna, not a single one was alive when Lord Krishna was killed.

What was the Gandhari Curse to Shakuni? Shakuni was the king of Gandhara's kingdom, and he stayed at his sister Gandhari's house and had plotted the entire Mahabharata. He was angry at his sister's marriage to Dhritarashtra and considered it an insult as Dhritarashtra was a blind man.

When Shakuni and his father Subala and all his brothers objected to this, they were taken prisoner and put in prison, the prison president would give them only that much food which could feed only one person, that's why the whole family gave food to Shakuni and tried her best to keep Shakuni alive. Then slowly Shakuni saw her father and all the brothers dying in front of her eyes.

While leaving, his father took a promise from him that just as our dynasty has been destroyed due to Hastinapur, in the same way, you should also destroy Hastinapur.

Shakuni did exactly the same, he instigated Duryodhana and filled his heart with hatred towards the Pandavas, and the result came out in the form of this war of Mahabharata. She cursed that the way our Kuru dynasty has been destroyed, in the same way, there will never be peace in your kingdom.

What Can We Learn from Gandhari in Mahabharata - Life Lesson from Mahabharata 

The 5 mistakes of her life. 

1. Jealousy & frustration leads to destruction even though Gandhari was pregnant, her pregnancy was taking a long time even after 14 months she didn’t deliver. When she learned about Yudhisitra’s birth before her child she bet her womb badly causing her to deliver a piece of flesh. Her jealousy & frustration caused her kids to be born on an inauspicious day. If she had waited patiently the kids would have been born on any auspicious day. Jealousy! This jealousy & frustration is the root cause of one's destruction.

 2. Always value what God has given to us Gandhari as a character teaches us to always value what God has given to us. She was blessed with eyesight which if she had treasured the story would have been different. Instead of taking Dridharashtra to the light, he chose to walk with them in the dark. She blindfolded herself instead of being her husband's guide and 'eyes' to participate in the darkness. And eventually, they both are doomed along with their children.

3. One must not overlook or tolerate any injustice. Dhritarashtra was born blind, but Gandhari could see. She, however, chose to close her eyes to the world because her husband was blind. This effectively prompted Gandhari to ignore the actions of her sons, which was a major cause of the Mahabharata war. Thus we can learn not to overlook or tolerate any kind of injustice either through words or actions. 

4. Anger clouds the rational judgment of the mind. When Gandhari came to Kurukshetra and felt the bodies of her sons, her agony made her curse Krishna and all the Yadavas. One moment of anger led to the annihilation of an entire clan. Anger must be kept under control.

5. No matter how godly his act was, yet for his family, it remained a mere misadventure. She went through the ups and downs of life helplessly, not because she couldn't do anything, but because she chose not to do anything easily under the guise of being a noble wife. Duryodhana's rise was nothing but the result of poor upbringing. Whenever time and circumstance demanded her participation, she offered only inaction. The act of not acting on anything was also a choice she made. She will be held responsible for the unprecedented massacre and loss of life in comparison to her devious husband because although he was born blind she was the one who chose to be blind!

Never become jealous and frustrated of anyone with what they have and you don't. Never overlook or Tolerate any kind of injustice being made either through words or actions. Never become blind to your bad choices and unthoughtful actions. And never let the anger destroy the intellect and reasoning power of your mind.  I hope you learn something from the mistakes of Gandhari.