01Passed over
Bhishma raised the three sons of Vyasa as his own, and Dhritarashtra grew up with great strength of body. But a blind man could not be king, the elders said, and the throne went to Pandu. When Pandu gave it up and went to the forest, Dhritarashtra ruled in his name, and after Pandu died he went on ruling. He made Yudhishthira crown prince, as dharma required, and then listened while Duryodhana and his advisers whispered about Varanavata and the house of lac.
02A father who could not refuse
He knew what the dice game was. Vidura told him it would end in war, and he let it go ahead. When Draupadi had been dragged into the hall and asked her question, a jackal howled at the sacred fire and asses brayed, and the frightened king called her to him and gave her boons; she asked only for her husbands’ freedom. Then Duryodhana talked him into a second game, and the Pandavas went to the forest. On the night before Sanjaya brought back Yudhishthira’s answer, he could not sleep, and sent for Vidura, who talked till dawn. He agreed with every word and changed nothing.
03The war through Sanjaya
Vyasa offered him sight to watch the battle. Dhritarashtra said he did not wish to see his kinsmen killed, only to hear of it, and so Sanjaya received the divine eye and sat beside him. The Bhagavad Gita opens with the blind king’s question: what did my sons and the sons of Pandu do at Kurukshetra? After the war he asked to embrace Bhima. Krishna, knowing his heart, pushed forward an iron image instead, and the old king crushed it to pieces, then wept, thinking he had killed Bhima, until Krishna told him the truth.
04The forest fire
Yudhishthira honoured him for fifteen years, though Bhima’s words still stung. Then the old king asked leave to go to the forest. Gandhari went with him, a hand on his shoulder, and Kunti went too, and Vidura and Sanjaya. At Kurukshetra Vyasa granted them the night when the dead rose from the Ganga. Some time later Narada brought the news to Hastinapura: a forest fire had swept the woods near Gangadvara, and Dhritarashtra, refusing to flee, had sat down in yoga with Gandhari and Kunti and given himself to it. Sanjaya escaped and went on to the Himalaya.
Famous verses
धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे समवेता युयुत्सवः । मामकाः पाण्डवाश्चैव किमकुर्वत संजय ॥
On the field of dharma, at Kurukshetra, gathered and eager to fight, what did my sons and the sons of Pandu do, Sanjaya?Bhagavad Gita 1.1 = Mahabharata 6.23.1 (BORI CE)