Gandhari has a hundred sons

Pandu was cursed by the deer that he killed while it was copulating. He decided to spend the rest of his days in the forest, away from the comforts of his palace and accordingly, sent the royal jewel back to Hastinapura. When Dhritarashtra received Pandu's jewel, he was in tears.

``Bharata,'' he said to Bhishma, ``Pandu will never come back.''

``Who knows the future?,'' asked Bhishma, ``take the jewel and rule the kingdom wisely.''

``A blind man as king?,'' asked Dhritarashtra bitterly.

``A blind man whose wisdom is his only eye,'' replied Bhishma, ``Don't wallow in pity - a young princess even now is making her way to Hastinapura to be your queen.''

Dhritarashtra was awestruck. ``Who is this woman who would marry a blind man?,'' he asked.

Bhishma told him that it was the princess of the land of Gandhara. He told the young king of how her brother Sakuni was bringing marriage gifts and how the young princess had blindfolded herself so that she might never see what her husband couldn't.

Dhritarashtra and Gandhari ruled happily from Hastinapura. The king lost himself in the queen's love, as a river gets lost in the sea. Gandhari became pregnant, to the joy of everyone.

A full year passed and yet the queen did not deliver. The worried Bhishma sent for the poet Vyasa who calmed him down saying that Gandhari would deliver a hundred sons, only that she would deliver them after two years.

Another full year passed and Gandhari delivered a hard ball of flesh that Vyasa cleaned in cool water and divided into a hundred pieces. He put each piece in a bronze jar full of butter and sealed the jar. Vyasa thus filled one hundred bronze jars but there was still a single piece of flesh left. Bhishma brought another jar and Vyasa dropped the final piece into the last jar. ``These are your hundred sons and one daughter,'' he told Gandhari, ``open the jars after two years and the children will be born then.''

Bhishma protected the jars for two years. After two full years, Gandhari went about opening the jars one each day. The first to be born was her son Duryodhana and the other ninety-nine Kurus followed one after the other.

The Kauravas, sons of Dhritarashtra, and the Pandavas, sons of Pandu, grew up in the palace of Hastinapura. The natural rivalry between the two sets of cousins was stoked by Bhima whenever he could. Bhima was the strongest of the lot and bullying Duryodhana, he would draw him into a fight and beat him thoroughly. Bhima would clasp one of the Kauravas and diving into the water with him, would stay under water so long that the weaker Kaurava almost suffocated to death. Bhima tortured the Kauravas day and night and they in turn developed an abiding hatred toward him and his brothers.

Yet, it was not completely one-sided. Once, Duryodhana even tried to kill Bhima but Bhima escaped the trap that had been set for him . When Kunti sent word to Vidura about what had happened, Vidura advised the Pandavas to stay on their guard but to not tell any one about the incident. Vidura did not want to further roil the intrigue that centered around which of the cousins, Duryodhana or Yudhishthira, would become king after Dhritarashtra.