In a remarkable act of solidarity, Gandhari blindfolds herself for life upon learning of her husband’s blindness, choosing to share his condition.

Blessed by the god Shiva and the sage Vyasa, she bears one hundred sons through miraculous means, collectively known as the Kauravas, with her eldest, Duryodhana, becoming a key antagonist in the epic.

Her life ends in a forest fire, but her legacy endures as a symbol of maternal love, devotion, sacrifice, and the profound cost of war.

[4] The Mahabharata centres on the intense rivalry between the groups of brothers—five Pandavas and the hundred Kauravas, culminating in the epic Kurukshetra War, which forms the narrative's core.

[2] Gandhari is introduced in the Adi Parva of the Mahabharata as the daughter of King Subala, the ruler of the Gandhara kingdom and a descendant of Turvasu (son of Yayati) of the Lunar Dynasty.

After becoming aware of the divine boon bestowed upon Gandhari, Bhishma, the patriarch of the Kuru dynasty, proposes her marriage to Dhritarashtra, his eldest nephew who is born blind.

Subala initially hesitates due to Dhritarashtra's blindness but later agrees to the marriage, prioritizing the prestige of an alliance with the Kuru dynasty.

Overwhelmed by frustration and envy upon hearing this, Gandhari strikes her womb, but instead of a child, a "hard mass of flesh" like an "iron ball" emerges from it.

When the Kuru elders were about to discard the mass of flesh, Vyasa intervenes and instructs that the lump be divided into one hundred pieces and placed in jars of ghee for incubation.

[1][9][10] As queen in the Kuru court, Gandhari witnesses many pivotal events leading to the Kurukshetra War, the central plot of the epic.

[12] Gandhari remains a notable presence throughout Sanjaya’s recounting of the war to Dhritrarashtra, as evidenced by several clear references to her and the other women of the Kuru court.

Krishna, the counsellor of the Pandavas, had foiled Gandhari's plan to make her son invincible by asking Duryodhana to cover up his loins before meeting his mother.

[14] On their decisive encounter on the eighteenth day of the war, Bhima smashed Duryodhana's thighs, a move both literally and figuratively below the belt.

Gandhari accepts this truth and acknowledges that the destruction of her sons and the Kuru dynasty is the result of the misdeeds of Duryodhana, Shakuni, Karna, and Dussasana.

Gandhari emerges as a central voice among the bereaved women, expressing her sorrow and outrage over the destruction wrought by the war.

Granted divine vision to see through her blindfold, Gandhari witnesses the mourning of the Kuru women on the battlefield, their cries and lamentations contrasting sharply with the earlier songs of praise for the fallen warriors.

In a moment of profound emotional anguish, she curses Krishna, foretelling that thirty-six years from then, he will witness the destruction of his Yadava dynasty and die a lonely death, killed by trickery.

[1][12] The Ashramavasika Parva recounts that fifteen years after the war, Gandhari, along with Dhritarashtra, Kunti, her brother-in-law Vidura, and aid Sanjaya, retires to the forest near the ashram of Shatayupa, on the banks of the Ganga.

[18] Rabindranath Tagore wrote a Bengali poetic play about her, named Gandharir Abedon (Bangla: গান্ধারীর আবেদন, Translation: Supplication of Gandhari).