Reading Notes: Gandhari, A Mother Blinded by Love

Gandhari: A Mother Blinded By Love [Comic on Reserve]
Gandhari Comic Cover Page. Source: Indian Epics Blog
POV: Third person
Summary:

  • Gandhari is introduced as the princess of Gandhara and has many virtuous qualities, like a deep love of god and truth; she also prayed a lot
  • Lord Shiva appears while she is praying and tells her she will have 100 hundred sons
  • Later on, a proposal for Gandhari's hand in marriage is sent to the King from Hastinapura; it is none other than Dhritarashtra, the blind King
  • Gandhari's father is wary but eventually agrees; knowing her future husband is blind, Gandhari blindfolds herself so that she may live like him and experience life as he does
  • Everybody is talking about the honourable woman who blinded herself for her hubby as the celebrations of marriage fill the air
  • Soon she becomes pregnant, but the pregnancy lasts a long time and all her worried for she was meant to give birth ever since
  • Kunti, her sister-in-law and mother of the Pandavas, is said to have given birth already and this makes Gandhari all the more sad
  • Finally Gandhari gives birth but it isn't really a child, it has no features and it doesn't seem to be alive
  • Sage Vyasa knows that she has been promised one hundred sons and tells her not to worry for it will be done; a hundred jars of ghee are prepared and the sage splits the lifeless child to a hundred pieces; Gandhari silently wishes for another daughter and the sage grants her wish and brings a one hundred and first jar
  • For two years she waits and then the children are 'ready' but as the first son is born he brays like a donkey, a horrible omen!
  • Gandhari and her husband are warned to give up the child or something bad might happen one day
  • Kunti and the Pandavas come to live in the kingdom later on and the children grow up together; Gandhari realises how good the Pandavas seem 
  • The growing hostilities between the Pandavas and her hundred son become clear as the years go by, but Gandhari does not want to see it (what mother does)
  • One of the Pandavas, Yud, is crowned heir apparent and this further adds fuel to the fire
  • Next few scenes are of Duryodhana trying to burn down the Pandavas house and winning against them in the game of die; trying to dishonour Draupadi in public
  • All the while Gandhari tries to deny but slowly sees the evil in them
    • "It is a terrible moment when a good woman is forced to admit that her son is wicked."
  • The Pandavas are sent to exile for thirteen years and Kunti remains at the palace where Gandhari consoles her (like sisters)
  • While they are arguing over Krishna and going to war, Gandhari finally scolds her first born and tries to advise him; on the battle day, he asks for her blessing but she can only bless that the 'righteous' side wins; her firstborn is disturbed by this blessing
  • After the war, none of Gandhari's sons are left; her anger boils inside her; when she finally confronts the Pandavas, they actually address her as 'mother'; Gandhari burns Yud by accident when she glances at his feet with her piercing gaze
  • They go to the battlefield where all her sons lay dead; here she curses Krishna and then turns to the River Ganga to perform the last rites for her one hundred sons

Sage Vyasa grants Gandhari a boon. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Reference: Gandhari: A Mother Blinded by Love, Amar Chitra Katha. [Printed Comic]

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