20 Facts About Dhritarashtra

Dhritarashtra was a ruler of the ancient Kuru kingdom, featured as a central character in the Hindu epic Mahabharata.

Dhritarashtra is attested in the Yajurveda, where he is acknowledged as the son of King Vichitravirya.

However, after Pandu renounced the throne and retired to the forest, Dhritarashtra assumed kingship of the Kuru kingdom, albeit as a nominal ruler heavily influenced by his grandsire, Bhishma, and his eldest son, Duryodhana.

Dhritarashtra married Gandhari, a devoted wife who, in a gesture of solidarity, blindfolded herself for life to share in her husband's blindness.

Dhritarashtra fathered a son, Yuyutsu, through a maid, who later sided with the Pandavas during the war.

Dhritarashtra spent his final years in asceticism and meditation, ultimately passing away in a forest fire, attaining liberation.

Dhritarashtra's cattle was reportedly destroyed as a result of the conflict with the vratya ascetics; however, this Vedic mention does not provide corroboration for the accuracy of the Mahabharata's account of his reign.

Dhritarashtra did not accept the vratyas into his territory, and with the aid of rituals, the vratyas destroyed his cattle.

Dhritarashtra married Gandhari of Hastinapura's weakened and lowly vassal Gandhara; After their marriage, Gandhari covered her eyes with a blindfold in order to truly experience her husband's blindness.

Dhritarashtra had a son named Yuyutsu mothered by a maid.

However, not willing to see his kin slaughtered, Dhritarashtra asked that the boon be given to Sanjaya, his charioteer.

When Lord Krishna displayed his Vishvarupa to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Dhritarashtra regretted not possessing the divine sight.

Dhritarashtra was confident that Bhishma, Drona, Karna and the other invincible warriors would make the Kaurava camp victorious.

Dhritarashtra rejoiced whenever the tide of war turned against the Pandavas.

Yuyutsu had defected to Pandava side at the onset of the war, and was the only son of Dhritarashtra who had managed to survive the Kurukshetra War.

When Dhritarashtra turned to Bhima, Krishna sensed his intentions and asked Bhima to step back and placed Bhima's iron statue in his place.

Dhritarashtra crushed the statue into pieces and then broke down crying, his rage leaving him.

Dhritarashtra often ended up endorsing his son's actions merely out of fatherly love.

Dhritarashtra is physically strong, yet psychologically weak, easily manipulated by his brother-in-law, Shakuni.

Dhritarashtra appears in Mahabharata sections that have been circulated as separate scriptures, most notably the Bhagavad Gita, whose dialogue was narrated to him.