Kunti Gives Birth to Yudhishtra and Gandhari is Frustrated : Episode 22

Recap

Pandu and Kunti withdraw into the forest, choosing a life of restraint and austerity. With no heir born in Hastinapura, Dhritarashtra grows increasingly anxious, torn between loyalty to his brother and his own yearning for succession.

Yudhishtra is Born in the Forest

Kunti gives birth to her first son in the quiet of the forest. Dharmadeva appears, names the child Yudhishtra, and blesses him to walk the path of righteousness throughout his life. Pandu and Kunti rejoice, strengthened in their resolve to raise their children far from royal influence but close to Dharma.

A messenger carries the news to Hastinapura. Vyasa, Satyavati, and Ambalika welcome the arrival of the eldest Kuru prince, sensing that the lineage is now secure. Dhritarashtra turns away silently, the news reopening an unhealed wound. Though he congratulates the elders, he leaves the gathering in a surge of frustration, unable to accept that his younger brother’s son now stands first in line for the throne.

Dhritarashtra’s Anger and Gandhari’s Desperation

Back in his chamber, Dhritarashtra calls for Gandhari. His voice wavers between grief and anger as years of suppressed insecurity spill out. He says that he has waited since marriage to hold the future emperor of Hastinapura, yet she still carries a pregnancy of impossible duration. He questions whether fate has denied him once again.

in a moment of anguish, desperate to fulfil expectations, Gandhari orders the attendants to strike her abdomen with a wooden pestle. They plead with her to reconsider, but she insists. The blow forces her to deliver not a child but a mass of flesh. The attendants stand horrified, unsure what to do next.

Vyasa Intervenes and the Kauravas Take Birth

Vyasa reproaches Gandhari for acting out of despair. He instructs the attendants to prepare one hundred and one earthen pots partially filled with ghee. The mass of flesh is divided into portions, each placed in a pot. Vyasa sprinkles sanctified water and utters mantras, then leaves with instructions that the pots remain undisturbed.

Months later, the first pot breaks open amid ominous signs. Winds rise, animals cry in the night, and the palace corridors echo as if the land itself protests. A boy emerges. He is named Duryodhana.

One by one the pots open, revealing more sons, and finally a daughter, Dushala. Gandhari also requests that Vyasa bless a child born to a maidservant. Vyasa names him Yuyutsu, remarking that he will stand apart in wisdom.

Meanwhile, far from the capital, Vayu appears before Pandu and Kunti in the forest and blesses them with a second son, Bhima, born with immense strength.

Astrologers Warn of Destruction

Bhishma consults astrologers to understand the future of Gandhari’s children. They study the charts repeatedly, cast cowrie shells to verify their readings, and grow increasingly unsettled. When Bhishma questions them, they hesitate to speak.

Vidura urges them to state the truth openly, even if bitter. The astrologers warn that Duryodhana’s birth carries the shadow of destruction and that he may bring ruin upon the Kuru dynasty.

Bhishma and Vidura take this warning to Dhritarashtra and advise that the newborn be abandoned for the good of the kingdom. Dhritarashtra refuses with fierce resolve, declaring that if anyone harms his child he will himself drown Hastinapura in blood rather than allow the lineage to be severed. Bhishma and Vidura withdraw in silence, knowing the first step toward inevitable conflict has already been taken.

Births in Mathura: Balarama and Krishna

In Mathura, Rohini gives birth to Balarama after secretly living near the prison where Vasudeva and Devaki remain confined. Rumours circulate that the child was conceived in secrecy and moved away for safety, as Kamsa remains determined to kill any heir of Devaki.

One night, the guards outside the prison collapse into sudden sleep as a strange mist spreads across the corridor. Kamsa himself falls unconscious. Devaki delivers her eighth child. The infant rises in divine form and speaks to Vasudeva, revealing his purpose and instructing him to carry the child to Gokula, exchange him with Yashoda’s newborn daughter, and return before dawn. The prison doors unlock and open on their own.

Vasudeva carries the child through the storm as the waters of the Yamuna part to give him safe passage. At Gokula, he lays the divine child beside Yashoda and returns to Mathura with the girl child, completing the exchange that will one day reshape the destiny of Bharatavarsha.

Epilogue

Yuyutsu is a son of Dhritarashtra, born not to Gandhari but to her maid Sugadha on the same day as Duryodhana. Though a Kaurava by birth, he grows up on the fringes of the royal household as a dasiputra, never fully accepted like his hundred half-brothers. Yet, guided by a strong sense of righteousness, he later chooses to stand with the Pandavas in the Kurukshetra war.

Rohini is the first consort of Vasudeva and the mother of Balarama and Subhadra. During Vasudeva’s imprisonment in Mathura, she stays in Gokul at Nanda’s home, protected from Kamsa’s reach. It is there that she bears Balarama, after the seventh embryo of Devaki is mystically transferred to her womb.