Gandhari's Grief
“Gandhari removes her blindfold and sees all one hundred of her sons dead on the battlefield, expressing the devastating grief of a mother who lost everything.”
Contains: Extreme grief and loss, Death of children, Emotional trauma, Devastating loss, Mature themes
Story Summary
The women reach the battlefield of Kurukshetra and see the devastation spread before them. Gandhari, who had never seen her sons in life due to her self-imposed blindfold, now prepares to see them in death. Through Krishna's divine grace, she removes her blindfold and sees the battlefield—and there, spread before her, are the bodies of all one hundred of her sons. The sight is devastating, overwhelming, beyond comprehension. She had never seen Duryodhana, her firstborn, never seen Dushasana, never seen any of her sons. But now, in death, she sees them all, sees where they fell, sees the cost of the war. Her lament is profound, her grief absolute, her loss complete. She mourns each son, remembers each Kaurava prince, questions why this happened, why all of them had to die. The other Kaurava women also grieve, but Gandhari's loss is unique—she lost all her children, every single one. This central emotional moment of Stri Parva shows the devastating human cost of war through the eyes of a mother who lost everything, setting the stage for her curse on Krishna in the next story.