Encyclopedia for Epics of Ancient India

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Dhritarashtra

Read about Dhritarashtra at Wikipedia

DHRTARASHTRA. [Source: Dowson's Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology] The eldest son of Vichitravirya or Vyasa, and brother of Pandu. His mother was Ambika.

He married Gandhari, and by her had a hundred sons, the eldest of whom was Duryodhana. Dhristarashtra was blind, and Pandu was affected with a disease supposed, from his name, "the pale," to be a leprous affection.

The two brothers in turn renounced the throne, and the Great War recorded in the Mahabharata was fought between their sons, one party being called Kauravas, from an ancestor, Kuru, and the other Pandavas, from their father Pandu.

Dhritarashtra and his wife were burned in a forest fire. (See Mahabharata.)


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