Birth of the Hundred Sons: The Boon of Gandhari – 10
Long ago, there lived a queen named Gandhari, who was married to King Dhritarashtra. Gandhari was a virtuous and devoted wife, who loved her husband deeply. However, King Dhritarashtra was blind, and he always lived in darkness. So Gandhari vowed to share her husband’s darkness by always covering her eyes with a cloth.
One day, a great saint named Krishna Dwaipayana Vyasa visited Gandhari in Hastinapur. Gandhari took care of the saint’s comfort and was very hospitable towards him. The saint was pleased with Gandhari and granted her a boon. Gandhari wished for one hundred sons who would be as powerful as her husband. Dwaipayan Vyasa granted her the boon.
Time passed, and Gandhari found herself pregnant, but two years passed and still, the baby was not born. Meanwhile, Kunti, a queen from a neighboring kingdom, received a son from Yama, whom she called Yudhishthira.
Gandhari eventually gave birth, but it was not a baby at all. It was a hard piece of lifeless flesh, which devastated Gandhari as she had expected a hundred sons according to the blessing of Rishi Vyasa. She was about to throw it away when Rishi Vyasa appeared and told her that his blessings could not have been in vain.
Vyasa asked Gandhari to arrange for one hundred jars to be filled with ghee. He cut the piece of flesh into a hundred pieces and placed each one in a jar, which would then develop into the one hundred sons that she so desired. Gandhari also asked Vyasa for a daughter, and he agreed. He cut the piece of flesh into one hundred and one-pieces and placed them in a jar.
After two more years of patient waiting, the jars were ready to be opened and were kept in a cave. Bhima was born on the same day on which Duryodhana was born, thus making them of the same age. Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva were born after Duryodhana was born.
The hundred Kaurava brothers, born from the jars filled with ghee, grew up to be strong and powerful. However, due to their upbringing and circumstances, they were filled with envy and hatred towards their cousins, the Pandavas. This eventually led to a great war, the Mahabharata, in which the Kauravas and Pandavas fought against each other.