Mahabharata Characters 16 – Dhritarashtra 02 – How the attached get manipulated

This talk is a part of the “Fascinating Mahabharata Characters” series. To know more about this course, please visit: bhakticourses.com

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Welcome back to the Mahabharata characters series we are now discussing about Dhritarashtra so Duryodhana and the Kauravas were born and Dhritarashtra’s blindness has been compounded by his blindness of attachment so his blind attachment to his sons especially to Duryodhana will be the cause of his suffering and the suffering of the whole Kuru dynasty and that begins right from the birth of Duryodhana when despite being advised to forsake his son he refuses to do so now somebody may say isn’t it natural for a parent for a father to be attached to the son it’s a natural affection and how can a father be expected to abandon a son like this so it’s true that it is natural for a father to be attracted to the son and it is not only natural it is necessary in all living beings whether it is humans or birds or animals or even aquatics all species the affection that the parents have for their offsprings that is what enables them to care for protect nourish the offspring and that’s how they grow up normally so that is natural in human society we also have a higher intelligence and that higher intelligence is the capacity for dharmic enquiry and to understand the principles of dharma and to live according to dharma so Chanakya Pandit described this and Vidura also talks about this in Vidura Niti long before Chanakya and the point is that dharma enables us to understand a higher principle and a lower principle and to recognize that the lower principle can be sacrificed for the higher principle so it is said that for the sake of the family one member of the family can be sacrificed for the sake of a village one family can be sacrificed for the sake of a kingdom one one village can be sacrificed for the sake of the world one kingdom can be sacrificed so there is a higher interest and for the sake of the higher interest the lower interest can be sacrificed So, it is not that Dhritarashtra was expected to become heartless and reject Duryodhana, but he had also 99 other sons to consider. And he was not just an ordinary person.
He is a member of the royal family. So, those to whom much is given from them, much is expected. So he was also expected to consider the well-being of the whole society and act accordingly.
But unfortunately, his primary, if not exclusive, concern was just Duryodhana. How Duryodhana can be pleased. And he just wanted, in a sense, to get the second-hand or vicarious glory of being the king, being the recipient of royal attention and royal honor and royal glory, second-hand to Duryodhana.
So, as Duryodhana grew up, because he was expected to become the heir, Pandu had gone to the forest and along with him, at that time Pandu had not got any sons. So, although eventually the news came that he had got sons, but still he showed no inclination of coming back to the kingdom. So therefore, it was expected that Duryodhana will become the next king.
And so he was a pampered child. So he had some demoniac propensities from before also. And those propensities became aggravated because of the arrogance that he developed due to the pampering that he got in the royal family and in the kingdom at large.
So Dhritarashtra watched this and he indulged Duryodhana. And as Duryodhana grew up, Dhritarashtra’s attachment to him only increased. And when the Pandavas came back, Dhritarashtra knew intellectually, oh, actually they are my brother’s sons.
They are my cousins. And in the absence of my brother, Pandu had passed away. We will discuss about Pandu’s passing more in detail when we talk about Kunti.
So, it is now I who have to take the responsibility of their guardianship. And as their guardian, it is I who have to make sure that they are cared for properly. So he knew this intellectually, but emotionally, he just felt too attached to the Kauravas.
And of course, Bhishma and Vidura were there and they ensured that nothing very serious happened. But as Duryodhana’s hatred grew, Duryodhana would manipulate Dhritarashtra and Dhritarashtra would let himself get manipulated. So one day Duryodhana came to Dhritarashtra and told him, father, can’t you see how everyone is just praising the Pandavas and I can tolerate it no longer.
If they continue to stay in the kingdom, then they will usurp all our rights to the throne and they will become so popular that we will be neglected. Dhritarashtra should not speak anything. He did not want to speak anything against the Pandavas, although he was very attached to Duryodhana.
So Duryodhana had already talked with Shakuni and Shakuni was thinking of further vicariously enjoying the Kaurava kingdom through having his brother’s son become the king. So he also wanted to get back at Bhishma, who he saw was partial to the, affectionate to the Pandavas and it was Bhishma who had arranged for Shakuni’s sister’s marriage to a blind man and Shakuni was incensed by that. And that’s why he wanted to cause pain to the, especially the grandsire and to the remaining Kuru dynasty, except that which his sister was connected directly.
So Shakuni had hatched a plot and Gandhari had come, Shakuni had also come and Shakuni most of the time stayed with Duryodhana itself. And Shakuni became like a self-appointed advisor and Shakuni noticed the animosity which Duryodhana specifically and the Kauravas in general had for the Pandavas and he fanned it, he fuelled it, he filled him with evil schemes of what to do. So he suggested that we have to say, so Duryodhana on the idea given by Shakuni came to Dhritarashtra and said that we should send the Pandavas away to the forest.
He said, we can’t send them to the forest, so we will send them away from the kingdom and we should send them away to some other place. And he told that send them away to Varanavarth. And Dhritarashtra said that even if they go away, their popularity will still remain.
He said, no, we will send them away and then they will never come back. Dhritarashtra was momentarily aghast, but he maintained his silence because he had that hope against hope that somehow his son would become the king and he did not speak anything. And Duryodhana took that as a consent.
And then the next day, he arranged, Duryodhana had arranged that there was a nearby kingdom called Varanavarth and it is a part of the Kuru kingdom itself, nearby city it was. And there in Varanavarth, there was going to be a great festival for celebrating an occasion centred around Lord Shiva. And many visitors came and they all started praising that festival, how gorgeous it was and how enjoyable the festivities were.
And naturally everybody heard about it. And Duryodhana and Dhritarashtra, they noticed that the Pandavas’ eyes lit up in interest. Of course, anyone would be interested to hear about an enjoyable festival.
And then Dhritarashtra suggested, one day after several days of the sort of glorification of the festival had been going on, he said, why don’t all of you Pandavas go to Varanavarth? You can have an enjoyable time over there while the festival is going on. And along with that, you can also make sure that the administration is going on well over there and you will go as representatives of the royal family. And those citizens and the administrators over there will also feel that the royal family is paying some attention to them.
Now Yudhishthira was intelligent and he understood. If enjoyment itself was the plan, was the desire, then why would the Kauravas not go? They would also want to enjoy. But Yudhishthira considered this to be the order of his elder, that is his father’s equal.
In fact, Dhritarashtra was his father’s elder also. So he considered him to be like father and he did not oppose. He went away accordingly.
And that story we will discuss. We are focusing right now on Dhritarashtra. So eventually, the Varanavarth, after almost one year of staying over there, the Pandavas’ house where they were made of lake was burnt.
Of course, the Pandavas survived. But coincidentally, it happened that a Nishadha lady with five sons had come there in the festival and she was sleeping and the charred remains of her body and her son’s body were found. And everybody thought that the Pandavas had died.
The Pandavas had died and everybody started lamenting. Now Dhritarashtra externally lamented, but internally he was happy. He was thinking, now my son will become the king.
And as this was going on, the Pandavas escaped in the forest and they stayed for a considerable amount of time. Eventually, here Dhritarashtra, because he was still the king, Duryodhana was not coronated, but it was unofficially almost understood that Duryodhana would be the king. And for all practical purposes, Duryodhana took power.
So he was acting like the king itself. He had assumed the power. And as the situation moved forward, then Dhritarashtra came to know that Draupadi’s swayamvar was going to be there.
And Duryodhana said, I would like to go. And Duryodhana went. And then in that swayamvar, the Pandavas appeared again and Arjuna won the hand of Draupadi.
And when the news came back to Dhritarashtra, the news came, Panchali has been won by the Kurus. So wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, he said. How wonderful it is that Duryodhana has won the hand of Panchali.
So then the messengers said, no, it is not Duryodhana. It is Arjuna who has won. Those great five Pandavas still live.
And Dhritarashtra was alarmed internally, but he promised, oh how fortunate I am that the Pandavas live. Now I am feeling as if my brother Pandu has come back in the form of his sons. We were all lamenting so much that they had passed away in the fire, accidental fire.
It is good that they have lived. And Duryodhana later on, after the assembly got over, he pounced on him. His father said, how can you be happy? He said, it is a matter of great disaster that our team has failed.
And the Pandavas still live. Not only do they live, they have become even more powerful because they are now allied with the powerful Drupada. So it is a matter of great alarm for us.
How can you be so happy? So Dhritarashtra was wily. He said that I do not want Bhishma or Vidura to know about my feelings. That is why I spoke like that.
And then after the assembly came up, then everybody counseled, especially Bhishma, Vidura and others counseled that the Pandavas have been found. The Pandavas should be welcome back and they should be given half the kingdom. Dhritarashtra understood the truth of the words.
Not that he was very truth conscious person, but he realized that at this stage, there was no alternative for him. He had to do the right thing because if he did not, not only would it look very bad, Bhishma and Vidura told him, do you know what the people are talking? Do you know that everybody is blaming the royal family for the death of the Pandavas? They are saying there is a conspiracy by which the Pandavas were killed. And we are already in the bad books of the people.
People are criticizing us. At least now we can redeem ourselves by welcoming the Pandavas back and giving them the kingdom. So he had messengers sent to Drupada’s kingdom and the Pandavas were called back.
When the Pandavas came, they all offered their respects to Dhritarashtra, seeing him as a venerable elder. And Dhritarashtra said that, O Yudhishthir, be you happy, I’ll offer you half the kingdom. And he gave him half the kingdom.
He said, go and be the ruler of Khandava Prastha. Now Khandava was definitely half the kingdom. It was large, but it was utterly barren half.
So it is a very unfair settlement. It was unfair and it was obvious to everyone that it was unfair. Dhritarashtra did not protest.
He accepted the word. We will look about, see Dhritarashtra’s character when we discuss about Dhritarashtra more. But here we see Dhritarashtra’s wiliness.
At one level, Dhritarashtra was an attached person who allowed Dhrivadhana to do evil things. But Dhritarashtra himself was also not a paragon of virtue. He himself had his wiliness.
And he here decided to partition the kingdom. But it’s like, say a father has a company and one company is running very well. Another company is almost on the verge of bankruptcy.
And when the father decides to pass on the inheritance to the two sons that he has, he gives one son the flourishing company and another son the bankrupt company. That would consider a very unfair settlement. So it was like that.
Dhritarashtra did not protest. That is his glory. But that Dhritarashtra made such an arrangement that shows his partiality.
Now of course, by Krishna’s arrangement, the Khandava Prastha was converted into Indraprastha and the Pandavas flourished there and then they’d perform the Rajasuya Yajna. Now because Dhritarashtra was blind, he did not travel much. So he did not go to the Rajasuya sacrifice.
But when Dhrivadhana came back burning in envy and Shakuni told Dhritarashtra, your son is so miserable. It is almost as if he’ll commit suicide. Dhritarashtra was surprised and distressed.
He said, oh dear son, what is the matter? What has caused you so much distress? And Dhrivadhana told him that the sacrifice which I saw was so glorious. The prosperity of the Pandavas was so great. What person can be happy on seeing the prosperity of his enemies like this? Dhritarashtra tried to counsel Dhrivadhana.
He said, oh son, what do you lack? You have magnificent palaces, you have queens, you have maidservants, you have servants, you have horses, you have elephants, you have all the luxuries that a king can have, a prince can have. Why do you lack anything? Why do you have to lament like this? He said, be happy. Do not think about the Pandavas.
And if at all, if you want to attain glory as Yudhishthira attained, then you can also perform a sacrifice. And in that sacrifice, you can also call citizens of the people from all over the world and you’ll also get tributes and you’ll also be glorified. So Dhrivadhana shook his head and he said, no.
He said, the kind of sacrifice that Yudhishthira performed is unparalleled. The amount of tribute that he got from far far corners of the world. He said, it’s not possible to equal that.
And he also said that we cannot perform that sacrifice as long as he is the king. Now, normally two kings can fight, but they were family members. So directly fighting with him was also difficult.
And Dhrivadhana also acknowledged the military prowess of the Pandavas. So Dhritharashtra was distressed and that was to get Dhritharashtra distressed was the intention of Shakuni and Dhrivadhana. And then they sprung the next plan.
And then they said that the only way that we can gain wealth and gain wealth greater than that of the Pandavas is by taking their wealth and making them wealthless. So let us invite them for a gambling match. And in that gambling match, Shakuni will play on my behalf.
And Shakuni is a powerful gambler. He’s a peerless gambler and he will win the whole kingdom for us. So Dhritharashtra said, so no, gambling is the cause of dissension.
There is gambling, then we fight. Better don’t do this. Dhritharashtra said, this is the only way that my misery can be mitigated.
You must agree to this, oh father. And Dhritharashtra started pressurizing Dhritharashtra. And Dhritharashtra just could not say no to Dhritharashtra.
And he said, wait, let me consult Vidura and Bhishma. They are wise people. After consulting them, I will decide what to do.
And Dhritharashtra said, scowling. He said, if you ask them, they will definitely say no. And all our plans will come to naught.
Do you consider their opinion so important and what I feel and what I propose as of no value? He just knew how to push the right buttons and to make Dhritharashtra dance like a puppet in his hands. So Dhritharashtra had a dark side and Dhritharashtra had a darker side still. So Dhritharashtra gave order that a magnificent assembly hall be constructed where the gambling match will take place.
And after passing the orders for that, he retired. And Dhritharashtra and Shakuni marched away jubilantly. And then he called Vidura and he told Vidura that I would like to see a friendly gambling match between the Pandavas and the Kauravas.
And therefore, we are arranging a magnificent hall for that. Please go and invite the Pandavas. The hall was constructed very fast and as the hall was nearing construction, then this meeting took place between Dhritharashtra and Vidura.
And Vidura frowned disapprovingly. He said, O king, I do not approve of this. Now gambling never leads to any good.
Gambling is the root of evil. If the Pandavas and Kauravas gamble, it will lead to such dissension that it will lead to violent conflict afterwards and it will lead to destruction. So Vidura explained the evils of gambling and Dhritharashtra heard.
But even after hearing, he did not speak anything. He remained adamant about his decision that the Pandavas can’t be invited for gambling. And then Vidura accordingly got the Pandavas and then the dreadful gambling match took place.
And here Dhritharashtra knew it was rigged and although Dhritharashtra himself was not directly gambling, it was Dhritharashtra who was gambling. But he arranged the whole thing. And how was it rigged? It is rigged because normally two players should play against each other.
But it was Shakuni who was playing on behalf of Dhritharashtra, of Dhritharashtra rather. And that was not according to the rules of gambling. And as the stakes were being cast, the stakes were being lost, all the noble people in the assembly were in great distress.
But Dhritharashtra was jubilant. Oh, what has been won now? What has been won now? What has been won now? And then finally when Panchali was gambled, at that time he called out, has Panchali been won? Has Panchali been won? So it was horrible what happened and Dhritharashtra as the king presided over it. And eventually when Panchali was attempted to be disrobed and Krishna came to her rescue, then the whole assembly hall was in uproar at that time.
We will discuss that past time elaborately later. But here we will focus on Dhritharashtra. And finally Vidura spoke to him.
When Dhritharashtra’s attempts were completely foiled and the whole assembly was in uproar, praising Draupadi’s virtue by which her chastity was protected miraculously and censuring the Kauravas, Vidura got up. He says, can you not see all the inauspicious signs everywhere? Can you not see how there are jackals who are howling, there are inauspicious birds flying in the sky, there are omens which indicate great destruction? Please stop this. Otherwise, there is a fire which will destroy everything.
And Dhritharashtra also realized, things have gone too far. The Pandavas, especially Bhima had taken a vow to kill the Kauravas, to break the thigh of Duryodhana and to break the hand of the Shasana and to kill Shasana. All these fiery vows had been taken and seeing all this and being told by Vidura about all the inauspicious omens all around, Dhritharashtra realized that things have gone too far now.
And he said, yes. O Panchali, if the Queen Gandhari and I have done any good to you, please remember that and please forgive what has happened over here and ask for whatever benediction you want. He wanted to appeal to the soft-heartedness of Draupadi and he wanted to appear very kind.
And he said, whatever you want, you ask. So he gave her three benedictions and in those three benedictions, basically, she asked first for the freedom of Yudhishthira, then she asked for the freedom of everyone else and then she asked for getting back their weapons. But Dhritharashtra said, I will give you your full kingdom back.
So whatever was lost, Dhritharashtra gave back. So this was one instance where Dhritharashtra acted with some resolution. Of course, things had gone too far by this time and what he did was the right thing, but it was too late.
And the Pandavas went away, but they went away in great anger. And after that, Duryodhana in the private chambers came straight to Dhritharashtra. He says, what have you done, oh father? Now we have already made the Pandavas into enemies and now we have given wealth and power back to the enemies.
We are courting disaster. The only way we can stay out of disaster is by taking away what they have got. So please call them back for another gambling match.
And here Dhritharashtra again gave in to Duryodhana’s pressure and again Vidura was sent. The Pandavas had not even reached back to their kingdom Indraprastha. Halfway only Vidura came and he asked them for a gambling match to come.
And when the gambling match was there, this time the stakes were terrible. The stakes were that whichever party is defeated will go 12 years into the forest and after that one year incognito. And again Shakuni cast the die and when he cast the die, the Pandavas lost.
Dhritharashtra lost and they all had to go to the forest. And here you see Dhritharashtra, even when there is the voice of conscience screaming, begging, Godi, stop it. It’s enough now.
Don’t do wrong anymore. Correct it. So one does something to correct oneself but then again the force of attachment pulls one back and drags one in the wrong direction and the person gives up.
So actually Dhritharashtra, he did something good but then again he undid it and did something far worse by that. And he saw the Pandavas going to the forest. Yudhishthira, the respectful person, went to Dhritharashtra and departed to the forest.
So basically Dhritharashtra, even when he wanted to do some good, there are forces within us. There is a higher side and a lower side. The higher side is noble.
It is selfless. It is sensitive. It is uplifting and there is a lower side which is selfish, which is exploitative, which is grossly materialistic, even sinful.
And it drags us down. And this battle goes on in the heart of everyone. And attachment is such that when we are attached to something, with things connected with that attachment, we get dragged down.
So even if sometimes some nobler side comes up and we rise up, but soon after that the attachment comes back and drags a person down. So why does this happen? This happens because the person, now it’s one thing to have an attachment and it’s another thing to hold on to the attachment. So Akrura was sent once by Krishna to give advice to Dhritharashtra and Akrura gave good advice and Dhritharashtra said, your words are true and they are luminous like the light, but for me, they are like a lightning.
Light is what illumines steadily, but lightning, it illumines for some time and after that again everything becomes dark. So attachments create such a dense darkness in our consciousness that even when good advice comes up, even when whether the advice comes from outside, whether the counsel comes from the voice of conscience within, there’s a temporary illumination that is there, which is fleeting, which is there for a few moments and it goes away. That’s what happened to Dhritharashtra and does that mean that Dhritharashtra had no power? No, we all have attachments, but to stay attached to our attachments is the problem.
To understand this is attachment and this is wrong and it’s going to pull me in this direction, I will not let myself be pulled. So Dhritharashtra, unfortunately, made terribly wrong choices and those would eventually lead to disastrous consequences. What those consequences were, we will discuss in our next session.