The Real Import: But, this is history. The word Gandhari comes from the root word gandh, which means fragrance. In the Indian mythology, fragrance is the identifying characteristic of the earth. Therefore, Gandhari means the possessor of the earth’s characteristic. What does gandh stand for? It stands for the basic creative power of the earth or Kunti—the power which draws, nourishes and creates. However, Gandhari represents this power in the finite dimension and hence is shown as the daughter of Subala (positive force). What is the most prominent expression of this creative power in the human system? It is the power of intellect, called mati in Sanskrit, whose secondary expression is vaani (speech). That is why she is shown as the avataar of the Goddess of learning—Saraswati. But, Gandhari remains blindfolded throughout her life. And that is what deprives her of the power of the intellect—the power of perception. Gandhari, therefore, represents the intellect without perception (without eyes)—that is nothing but dry and biased reasoning. This is the reason why she is jealous of Kunti—the universal power which gravitates, nourishes and creates, when the latter conceives three of the Pandavas. Dry reason is never fertile and hence despite keeping foetus for over two years she doesn’t get a son. Out of sheer jealous desperation, she, in a way forces her foetus to come out. What comes out of the womb is a shapeless mass. That is what comes out of dry and biased reason—deformity. What happens then? Ved Vyas, the Time, interferes and cuts the mass into 99 pieces plus the original one. It signifies that infertile, dry and biased reason multiplies one 100 times. This is what is happening all around. One lie is being magnified 100 times by the power of Gandhari in favour of the undeserving king like Dhritrashtra. In fact, the shapeless mass represents lust whose another face is anger. That is Duryodhan. This one lust-anger is multiplied 100 times in our body-mind system by Gandhari.
Now what does it mean? It means wherever lust-anger stays, his 99 brothers accompany him. Krishna says in shlok 40 of chapter 3, indriyani mano buddhir asyaadhisthaanam ucchyate— five senses, mind and intellect are its residence. That means 1 sense has 100 corrupting agents. When 1 sense has been corrupted thus, its objects too are corrupted by it the same way. Now you can imagine its multiplying dimension. No wonder lust is predominantly established in the world. Gandhari even removes the blindfold to let out her suppressed creative power to protect her naked son Duryodhan. But, Krishna, the game changer, overpowers Duryodhan with his reason of decency and forces him to cover his genitals. Duryodhan wears a loincloth, which covers his two thighs too. Gandhari’s gaze (the radiance of suppressed creative power) armours the lust. But, Krishna’s trick leaves him unguarded at the thighs. Bheem cripples Duryodhan first by smashing his thighs. Lust-anger has two feet—greed and attachment. Once the two are smashed, Duryodhan is dead.When lust dies, Gandhari, the suppressed creative power, dashes into Krishna like a fire shot (merges into Him). This is the meaning of the curse. What happens then? Krishna accomplishes his purpose in the finite dimension and assumes His infinite dimension after 36 years—He takes another multiple of 18 to withdraw himself from the earth. Isn’t it amazing?
Vivek Sharma