Text 48] Bhisma’s Passing Away 507
TEXT 48
TA FMT MeN ACH MN THTSTT |
fratareanara Teme a aaa yc

tato yudhisthiro gatva
saha-krsno gajahvayam

pitaram sdntvayamasa
gandharim ca tapasvinim

tatah—thereafter; yudhisthirah—Maharaja Yudhisthira; gatva— going
there; saha—with; krspah—the Lord; gajahvayam—in the capital named
Gajahvarpa_ Hastinapura; pitaram—unto his uncle (Dhrtarastra);
santvayamasa—specified; gandharim—wife of Dhrtarastra; ca—and;
tapasvinim—an ascetic lady.

TRANSLATION

Thereafter, Maharaja Yudhisthira at once went to his capital, Hastina-
pura, accompanied by Lord Sri Krsna, and there he consoled his uncle and
aunt Gandhari, who was an ascetic.

PURPORT

Dhrtarastra and Gandhari, the father and the mother of Duryodhana
and his brothers, were the elder uncle and aunt of Maharaja Yudhisthira.
After the Battle of Kuruksetra, the celebrated couple, having lost all their
sons and grandsons, were under the care of Maharaja Yudhisthira. They
were passing their days in great agony over such heavy loss of life and were
practically living the life of ascetics. The death news of Bhismadeva, uncle
of Dhrtarastra, was another great shock for the King and the Queen, and
therefore they required solace from Maharaja Yudhisthira. Maharaja
Yudhisthira was conscious of his duty, and he at once hurried to the spot
with Lord Krsna and satisfied the begrieved Dhrtarastra with kind words,
both from himself and the Lord also.

Gandhari was a powerful ascetic, although she was living the life of a
faithful wife and a kind mother. It is said that Gandhari also voluntarily
closed her eyes because of the blindness of her husband. A wife’s duty is
to follow the husband cent percent. And Gandhari was so true to her
husband that she followed him even in his perpetual blindness. Therefore
