GAANDHAARI COUNSELS DHRITARASHTRA

SRIMAD MAHBHARATA > SABHA PARVA > DYOOTA PARVA > CHAPTER 74 - GAANDHAARI COUNSELS DHRITARASHTRA

“Vaishampaayana said, ‘O monarch (Janamejaya), it was then that the virtuous (Dharma Yukta in Sanskrit) Gaandhaari, pained with grief on account of her affection for her sons, addressed king Dhritarashtra and said, ‘When Duryodhana was born, Kshatta (Vidura) of great intelligence (Maha Mati in Sanskrit) had said, ‘It is better to send this disgrace of the race (kula in Sanskrit) to the other world.’

“He cried repeatedly and sounding like a jackal. It is certain he will prove the destruction of our race. Take this to heart, O king of the Kurus. O Bharata, do not sink, for your own fault, into an ocean of calamity. O lord, do not grant your approval to the counsels of the wicked ones of immature years. You be not the cause of the terrible destruction of this race. Who is there that will break a bridge which has been completed, or re-kindle a fire which has been extinguished? O bull of the Bharata race (Dhritarashtra), who is there that will provoke the peaceful Paarthaas (Paandavaas)? You remember, O Ajameeda (Dhritarashtra), everything, but still I will call your attention to this. Shaastraas can never control the wicked-minded for good or evil. O king (Dhritarashtra), a person of immature understanding will never act as one of mature years. Let your sons follow you as their leader. Let them not be separated from you for ever (by losing their lives). Therefore, at my word, O king (Dhritarashtra), abandon this wretch of our race (Duryodhana). You could not, O king, from parental affection, do it before. Know that the time has come for the destruction of race through him. Do not make a mistake, O king. Let your mind, guided by counsels of peace (Shama in Sanskrit), Dharma, and true policy, be what it naturally is. That prosperity which is acquired by the aid of wicked acts, is soon destroyed; while that which is won by mild means taketh root and descends from generation to generation.’

“The king, thus addressed by Gaandhaari who pointed out to him in such language the path of Dharma, replied to her, saying, ‘If the destruction of our race is come, let it take place freely. I am not able to prevent it. Let it be as they (these my sons) desire. Let the Paandavaas return. Let my sons again gamble with the Paandavaas.’”