As I mentioned in my previous blog, there were two benedictions. Bhishma heard from his spy that the daughter of Gandhar Raj was blessed by Lord Mahadev. She would give birth to 100 sons. Knowing that Bhishma thought Gandhari would be a perfect daughter in law for Kuru dynasty. But later we saw that Vedvyas gave Gandhari a blessing that she would give birth to 100 children. This benediction was given after the marriage to Dhritarashtra. Now there is a contradiction. Which was the proper benediction? We may never know. There are different versions of the epic. Now back to our story.
Great Bhishma sent marriage invitation of his nephew
Dhritarashtra to Gandhar raj Subala. The messenger explained everything that Dhritarashtra
was born blind. Gandhari was an elegantly beautiful woman. King Subala was very
happy at first thinking that the invitation had come from Hastinapur (capital
of Kuru dynasty), but how can he give his only daughter to the man who is
blind. Huge conflicting situation for Subala. Now here we think about our life.
Some situations of our life are beyond our dominance. We have to accept the circumstance.
Same situation was for king Subala. Kuru dynasty was one of the greatest of
that time. Gandhar was a small state. Subala had to think rationally, he didn’t
want Kuru dynasty as his rival by turning down the marriage proposal.
We have
to analyze these thoughts of King Subala. At last, Subala agreed to this
marriage due to the status of Kuru dynasty. He did not think of his young, cheerful
daughter who might have dreams about her life partner. Here comes patriarchy in
the Mahabharat. A young teenager girl who was ready to give her everything,
heard that her marriage was fixed to a blind man. King Subala didn’t ask
Gandhari whether she had any obligation for this marriage. He only thought for
reputation of the groom family. Under these circumstances, princess Gandhari
not only tied her eyes with a piece of cotton cloths, but also, she shut off
her mind from the surroundings. But why did she take such spirited decision?
That is for next blog.
To be continued….
Next Blog link- Gandhari and Her 101 Children (Part 3) (inspiredbymythology.blogspot.com)
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