Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c7.68

c7.68

5) *Gāndhārī starts to curse the Pāṇḍavas.* When the battle was over the sons of Gāndhārī and their followers were killed, Dhṛtarāṣṭra suggested that the Pāṇḍavas should visit Gāndhārī and pay homage to her. The Pāṇḍavas, therefore, went and stood before Gāndhārī very respectfully. Vengeance boiled in her heart and her body shivered. Gāndhārī was about to curse the Pāṇḍavas when Vyāsa, intervened saying “Gāndhārī! Don’t you remember you said that victory would lie on the side of the righteous in this war? Your words are not wasted. The Pāṇḍavas won the battle because right was on their side. So why should you get agitated?” Gāndhārī became calm on hearing these words and she admitted that the end of the Kuru dynasty came because of the mistakes of Duryodhana, Śakuni, Karṇa and Duśśāsana. She, thereafter, treated the Pāṇḍavas as her own sons. (Chapter 14, Strī Parva, M.B.).