tato yudhiá¹£á¹hiro gatvÄ
saha-kṛṣṇo gajÄhvayam
pitaraá¹ sÄntvayÄm Äsa
gÄndhÄrÄ«á¹ ca tapasvinÄ«m
tataḥ - thereafter; yudhiá¹£á¹hiraḥ - MahÄrÄja Yudhiá¹£á¹hira; gatvÄ - going there; saha - with; kṛṣṇaḥ - the Lord; gajÄhvayam - in the capital named GajÄhvaya HastinÄpura; pitaram - unto his uncle (Dhá¹›tarÄá¹£á¹ra); sÄntvayÄm Äsa - consoled; gÄndhÄrÄ«m - the wife of Dhá¹›tarÄá¹£á¹ra; ca - and; tapasvinÄ«m - an ascetic lady.
Dhá¹›tarÄá¹£á¹ra and GÄndhÄrÄ«, the father and the mother of Duryodhana and his brothers, were the elder uncle and aunt of MahÄrÄja Yudhiá¹£á¹hira. After the Battle of Kuruká¹£etra, the celebrated couple, having lost all their sons and grandsons, were under the care of MahÄrÄja Yudhiá¹£á¹hira. They were passing their days in great agony over such a heavy loss of life and were practically living the life of ascetics. The death news of BhÄ«á¹£madeva, uncle of Dhá¹›tarÄá¹£á¹ra, was another great shock for the King and the Queen, and therefore they required solace from MahÄrÄja Yudhiá¹£á¹hira. MahÄrÄja Yudhiá¹£á¹hira was conscious of his duty, and he at once hurried to the spot with Lord Kṛṣṇa and satisfied the bereaved Dhá¹›tarÄá¹£á¹ra with kind words, from both himself and the Lord also.
GÄndhÄrÄ« was a powerful ascetic, although she was living the life of a faithful wife and a kind mother. It is said that GÄndhÄrÄ« also voluntarily blindfolded her eyes because of the blindness of her husband. A wife’s duty is to follow the husband cent-percent. And GÄndhÄrÄ« 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 she suffered because of the wholesale killing of her one hundred sons and her grandsons also was certainly too much for a woman. But she suffered all this just like an ascetic. GÄndhÄrÄ«, although a woman, is no less than BhÄ«á¹£madeva in character. They are both remarkable personalities in the MahÄbhÄrata.