What is "dhritarashtra"

n. The king of Hastinapur in the Mahabharata.

In the Mahabharata, Dhritarashtra ( Sanskrit: धृतराष्ट्र, dhṛtarāshtra; lit. "a good king") is the King of Hastinapur at the time of the Kurukshetra War, the epic's climactic event. He was born the son of Vichitravirya's first wife Ambika, and was fathered by Veda Vyasa. When Rishi Veda Vyasa approached Ambika to grant her a son under Niyoga system, she got frightened due to his scary appearance and closed her eyes hence her son was born blind. Dhritarashtra was blind from birth, and became father to a hundred and one sons (and one daughter) by his wife Gandhari ( Gāndhārī). These children, including the eldest son Duryodhana, came to be known as the Kauravas. Dhritarashtra was half-brother of Pandu and Vidura, and was uncle to the five Pandavas, with whom his sons fought the Kurukshetra War. Throughout his reign as King of Hastinapur, Dhritarashtra was torn between the principles of dharma and his love for his son Duryodhana, and often ended up endorsing his son's actions merely out of fatherly love. Thus Dhritarashtra essentially presided over the fall of Hastinapur's kingdom. All of his sons perished in the war, with the exception of Yuyutsu, his son with Gandhari's lady-in-waiting Sughada, who fought on the Pandava side. Dhritarashtra appears in Mahābhārata sections that have been circulated as separate scriptures, most notably the Bhagavad Gita, whose dialogue was narrated to him.

Dhritarashtra (romanized Sanskrit: Dhṛtarāṣṭra; Sanskrit: : धृतराष्ट्र) may refer to:

• Dhritarashtra (Dhṛtarāṣṭra), a character in the Hindu epic Mahabharata
• Dhṛtarāṣṭra (Japanese: 持国天 "Jikoku"), a figure in Buddhist mythology, and one of the Four Heavenly Kings