श्रुत्वा कुन्तीसुतं जातं बालार्कसमतेजसम् ॥
उदरस्यात्मनः स्थैर्यम् उपलभ्यान्वचिन्तयत् ॥
अज्ञातं धृतराष्ट्रस्य यत्नेन महता ततः ॥
सोदरं पातयाम् आस गान्धारी दुःखमूर्च्छिता ॥
ततो जज्ञे मांसपेशी लोहाष्ठीलेव संहता ॥
द्विवर्षसंभृतां कुक्षौ ताम् उत्स्रष्टुं प्रचक्रमे ॥
śrutvā kuntīsutaṃ jātaṃ bālārkasamatejasam ||
udarasyātmanaḥ sthairyam upalabhyānvacintayat ||
ajñātaṃ dhṛtarāṣṭrasya yatnena mahatā tataḥ ||
sodaraṃ pātayām āsa gāndhārī duḥkhamūrcchitā ||
tato jajñe māṃsapeśī lohāṣṭhīleva saṃhatā ||
dvivarṣasaṃbhṛtāṃ kukṣau tām utsraṣṭuṃ pracakrame ||
"Hearing that a son had been born to Kunti, radiant as the young sun, and feeling the stillness of her own womb, Gandhari fell to brooding. And secretly from Dhritarashtra, with great effort, maddened by grief, Gandhari struck a blow to her womb; and then was born a lump of flesh, dense as a ball of iron, borne two years in her belly -- and this she set out to cast away."
2340901840ad · published Jul 12, 2026, 4:30:26 PM UTC
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Here grief and jealous impatience drive Gandhari to a desperate act. Telling is that the trigger is the news of a son born to Kunti: rivalry, envy of another's motherhood, drive her to violence against her own womb. Here it is plain how ruinous is haste born of envy: not waiting for the appointed time, in her turmoil she destroys the natural course and brings forth a hideous lump instead of children. Telling too is that the child, conceived for the sake of ambitious primacy ("a hundred sons like her husband"), ripens deformed -- as though the unnaturalness of the wish had stamped itself upon the unnaturalness of the birth. Thus scripture teaches patience and warns against envy: what is wrenched out by impatience and rivalry emerges distorted, and only the grace of the saint (Vyasa) can yet save the situation.