Gāndhārī

Gandhari (, ) is a major character in the ancient Hindu epic Mahabharata. She is introduced as a princess of the Gandhara Kingdom and later becomes the queen of the Kuru Kingdom. The daughter of King Subala, her marriage is arranged with Dhritarashtra, the blind king of Kuru, and in a symbolic gesture of solidarity, she voluntarily blindfolds herself for life. Through miraculous intervention, she becomes the mother of the one hundred sons collectively known as the Kauravas, the eldest of whom, Duryodhana, serves as one of the principal antagonists of the narrative.

Besides her hundred sons, Gandhari also has a daughter, Dushala. Her brother, Shakuni, becomes a central figure in aiding Duryodhana's schemes against his cousins, the Pandavas. An ardent devotee of the god Shiva, Gandhari is portrayed as a woman of great virtue and moral strength, who nonetheless struggles to dissuade her sons from their destructive path. She speaks out at pivotal moments in the narrative, including during the humiliation of Draupadi and peace talks before the Kurukshetra War. Despite condemning the actions of Duryodhana, the longstanding rivalry between the Kauravas and the Pandavas ultimately leads to the catastrophic Kurukshetra War, where all of Gandhari's sons perish.