Dhritarashtra

In the Mahābhārata, Dhritarashtra (Sanskrit: धृतराष्ट्र, dhritarāshtra) was 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 Vyasa. He was blind from birth, and became father to a hundred children 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 was uncle to the five Pandavas, with whom his sons fought the Kurukshetra War. All of his sons perished in the war, with the exception of Yuyutsu, his son with a Vaishya woman, 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.