SB 1.9.48 (1964)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT No. 48
Tato judhisthiro gatwa saha krishna gajahvayam Pitaram santayamasa gandharimcha tapaswinm.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS
Tato—thereafter, Yudhisthiro—maharaj Yudhisthir, Gatwa—going there, Saha—along with, Krishna—the Lord, Gajhavayam—in the capital of the name Hastinapur, Pitaram—unto his uncle (Dhritarastra) Santayamasa—spacified, Gandharim—wife of Dhritarastra, Cha—and, Tapaswinim—an ascetic lady.
TRANSLATION
Thereafter, Maharaj Yudhisthir at once went to his capital of the name Hastinapur along with Lord Shri Krishna and going there he spacified his uncle and aunt Gandhari who was an ascetic.
PURPORT
Dhritarastra and Gandhari, the father and the mother of Duryodhone and brothers, were elder uncle and aunt of Maharaj Yudhisthir. After the battle of Kurukshetra the celebrated couple having lost all their sons and grand sons, were under the care of Maharaj Yudhisthir. They were passing their days in great agony on account of such heavy loss of life and were practically living the life of ascetics. The death news of Bhismadeva uncle of Dhritarastra was another great shock for the king and the queen and therefore they required good solace from Maharaj Yudhisthir. Maharaj Yudhisthir was conscious of his duty and he at once hurried to the spot with Lord Krishna and satisfied the berieving Dhritrastra by 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 folded her eyes on account of blindness of her husband. A wife's duty is to follow the husband cent per cent. And Gandhari was so true to her husband that she followed him even in his perpetual blindness. Therefore in her actions she was a great ascetic. Besides that the shock which she suffered on account of wholesale killing of her one hundred sons and the sons' sons also, was certainly too much for a woman; but she suffered all these just like an ascetic forbearing in all sorts of sufferings. The character of Gandhari, although a woman, is no less than Bhismadeva. They are all remarkable characters in the role of Mahabharata.