Who is Dhritarashtra?

The eldest, passed over

Dhritarashtra was the eldest of the three princes born through Vyasa, and the strongest. But he was born blind, and the elders decided a blind man could not rule. The crown went to his younger brother Pandu. Dhritarashtra never quite forgot it.

When Pandu gave up the throne and went to live in the forest, Dhritarashtra ruled in his place. In his heart he was always waiting for his own son to be king.

The father who could not say no

He married Gandhari, and they had a hundred sons, the Kauravas, led by Duryodhana. Dhritarashtra knew right from wrong. Again and again Vidura, Bhishma and others told him what had to be done. Again and again he agreed, and then gave in to his son.

He allowed the game of dice. He sat silent while Draupadi was dragged into the hall. His blindness in the story is about more than his eyes.

How Dhritarashtra’s story ends (spoilers)

During the war, his charioteer Sanjaya was given the gift of distant sight and described every day of the battle to him, and the Bhagavad Gita reaches us that way. When it was over, all hundred of his sons were dead. He embraced the victorious Bhima and, in his grief, crushed the iron statue Krishna had put in Bhima’s place. In the end he retired to the forest with Gandhari and Kunti, and died there in a forest fire.