A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.567

c5.567

GĀNDHĀRĪ. Princess of Gandhāra. The daughter of Subala, king of Gandhāra, wife of Dhrita-rāshtra, and mother of his hundred sons. Her husband was blind, so she always wore a bandage over her eyes to be like him. Her husband and she, in their old age, both perished in a forest fire. She is also called by the patronymics Saubalī and Saubaleyī. She is said to have owed her hundred sons to the blessing of Vyāsa, who, in acknowledgment of her kind hospitality, offered her a boon. She asked for a hundred sons. Then she became pregnant, and continued so for two years, at the end of which time she was delivered of a lump of flesh. Vyāsa took the shapeless mass and divided it into 101 pieces, which he placed in as many jars. In due time Dur-yodhana was produced, but with such accompanying fearful portents that Dhrita-rāshtra was besought, though in vain, to abandon him. A month afterwards ninety-nine other sons came forth, and an only daughter, Duh-salā.