Week 10 Storytelling: The Curse of Gandhari

It was the final night of the great Kurukshetra War. The Kaurava forces had been wiped out, their commanders killed one by one. All that remained was the king of unyielding cruelty, Duryodhana. However, his end would have to wait. Blessed by the gods, Duryodhana had no need for air or food, and he was hidden away from the fighting, at the bottom of a deep lake. The battle had ceased- temporarily, anyway.

The remaining Pandavas and their forces went to pay their respects to the old queen Gandhari, mother to the one-hundred Kauravas, including Duryodhana. The old queen was wise and held a deep spiritual strength. She was no fool; she knew her sons had brought about their own destruction. However, her deep affections for Duryodhana often betrayed her better judgment. Upon seeing Krishna enter as part of the Pandava retinue, she let out a wail of sorrow. This was the man responsible for all of her loss and suffering.

"Oh mighty Krishna, why must you show your face here? Have you not already caused enough pain in this house of mine? You, whose cunning and guile have so easily won the war...you could have made peace between these families, but instead you led them only to death and despair."

Krishna was shocked by her accusations. He had tried to put a stop to the conflict, but the stubbornness of Duryodhana was the real cause of the war. He tried to explain.

"Wise Gandhari, surely you know that this was not my doing. Can you not see tha-"

"No actually, I can't see. Vow of blindness and all that, you know."

"Ah, yes, of course. My apologies, Gandhari. But nevertheless, I insist I can take no blame for this war."

Gandhari bristled at this declaration of innocence. She arose from the mat where she was sitting and walked over to Krishna.

"Because of your actions, I place upon you and your tribe a curse of a mother's sorrow. In 36 years, all of the Yadavas will perish, each killed by the hand of a brother."

Krishna could not help but laugh. "That's it? That's your curse? My clan has grown much too arrogant and vile. Honestly, they probably deserve what's coming to them. You're doing me a favor."

"You really want your whole family to die? That's horrible."

"Well yes, karmic justice must be upheld right? I'm just confused as to why you're putting it off for 36 years. That's an oddly specific number."

"It was just the first one that popped into my head really. This whole curse-making thing is much less refined than one might think."

Queen Gandhari: source: wikimedia

Author's Note: This is a retelling of a section of the Mahabharata as seen in Peter Brook's film, the Mahabharata. I thought Gandhari was a really interesting character in all of the versions I've seen, and her story is very compelling. I also thought it made an interesting counterpoint with the depictions of Krishna that show him as totally accepting of the curse against his clan. I started writing this as more serious than usual,  but I couldn't help try injecting some humor into the story towards the end.