Write about Dhritarashtra.
When Satyavati asks Vyasa for grandchildren, he advises her to wait for a year, and use that time to send Ambika and Ambalika to various ashrams to live in close proximity with rishis like himself, so they can get used to the life and the people. He himself planned to use that time to clean himself up a bit, maybe refresh some nice poetry...to meet the ladies halfway basically, given that this situation was unpleasant for both parties (Vichitraveerya did love his two wives and they loved him).
Dr. Bhaduri posits that intimacy without consent, can sometimes affect the child- which is what he theorizes is the core reason for Dhritarashtra's blindness. However, this is only speculation, and no one can really tell for sure.
Dhritarashtra's name [lit. one who takes/snatches a kingdom] is ironic to an unbelievable degree. Dr. Bhaduri points out that this might not be his given name- just the one that stuck, given his actions later in life.
Dhritarashtra as a child was taught all theory, as well as martial arts [as much as was possible] like wrestling, running, etc. Still, when the time came Bheeshma and Satyavati chose Pandu over him, solidifying a certain inferiority complex. The elders did not mean to hurt him, since they thought a blind king will run the risk of being betrayed at every turn, more so than a non-blind person. But then, no one really saw the future how it played out.
To make up for it, Pandu's coronation was performed without any festival or celebrations, with only the bare minimum rituals that were required by law.
Pandu however, throughout his life, ensured that everyone addressed Dhritarashtra as 'maharaja', and he never took a single decision without involving his older brother [except the one to leave, which again Dr. Bhaduri theorizes could be because maybe Dhritarashtra was passive-aggressively bullying him and his wives]. After this too, Pandu went out of his way to stay out of the kingdom as much as legally possible, so as to not make Dhritarashtra feel worse than he already did.
After this, looking for an excuse to celebrate, and to solve the issue of succession in the next generation as soon as possible, Bheeshma proposed marriage to the King of Gandhara on behalf of Dhritarashtra. Saubala the king agrees without so much as asking his daughter.
It is probably this betrayal, from her own father, that drives Gandhari to take that drastic step of blindfolding herself [and even metaphorically she turned a blind eye, as a silent protest on her own behalf, even as the Kauravas went bad right under her nose]. Dhritarashtra was however, happy, unable to sense the inner rebellion. Gandhari herself too, after a point, made peace, and even began to sympathize with her husband on some level.
Then Pandu marries Kunti and Madri, and goes out on various conquests within months. When he returns, he gives up all the won wealth to Dhritarashtra so he could spend it as he deemed fit. However, this too hurt Dhritu on some level, since he despised the fact that he had to effectively live off of his younger brother's charity.
Then, when Pandu went to the forest with his wives, putting Dhritu in charge of the kingdom [maybe as a result of the aforementioned bullying], at first Dhritu sent a lot of food and other luxurious items, but eventually he slowed it down, and Pandu never really followed up.
Gandhari was already expecting, when Yudhishthira was born. She had gotten pregnant before Kunti but due to some unnamed circumstance [unfortunate ones maybe?], her child was not born first.
When Duryodhana was born finally, with Vyasa's help, we see Dhritarashtra already asking his courtiers in an unseemly manner that if something were to happen to Yudhishthira, would his son be king then, leading to Vidura pleading with his brother to abandon just the oldest child.
After 15-20 years, finally Dhritarashtra comes face-to-face with the fact that he is not really the King, when Kunti returns with her five sons and the bodies of Pandu and Madri. He was undoubtedly broken at receiving the news of the death of his brother, Dhritu did love him.
However, by the way the Kauravas dressed up in their best clothes and jewellery before appearing before their just fatherless Pandava cousins, and Dhritu didn't stop them, it seems he had gotten too used to being in charge, and wanted to kill Kunti's hope of any fair treatment on the first night itself, nevermind how sad he was regardless.
The Pandavas therefore grow up, under Dhritu's care, in a solidly middle-class environment, while of course watching the Kauravas living a life of luxury.
When Duryodhana poisons Bheema as a teenager, and Vidura and Yudhishthira stop Kunti from even voicing her concerns: then itself it is clear that Duryodhana has grown up equally as messed-up as Dhritu, and that he is already out of control. Later, when Duryodhana gives Karna the control of Anga without so much as asking his father, then also we see what kind of a 'monster' Dhritarashtra has created for himself.
Dhritarashtra was already looking for ways to curb the popularity of the Pandavas when Duryodhana comes to him with the idea to banish the brothers to Varanavat. Duryodhana however doesn't tell his father full plan, because he knows Dhritu wants to do a lot of things, but lacks the courage/cunning for most of it.
Dhritarashtra then spent the next few months throwing money at anyone and everyone [buying off his opposition within the govt], and simultaneously sending people to praise Varanavat in front of the Pandavas [so that they would go without any fuss].
Dr. Bhaduri says, that counter-intuitively, Dhritu does love Pandu, and his sons. His grief therefore, after the house burns down at Varanavat, is 100% genuine, and yet, he is ecstatic to gave gotten rid of his son's enemies. It is this complexity and duality of character is what makes the readers of MB [and Krishna too, at times] want to run their heads into a wall repeatedly.
Vidura and Dhritarashtra are a strange pair. Similar to Pandu, Vidura too infinitely adores his big brother, despite not being blind to his many faults. Contrary to Pandu, who maintained a veneer of cooperation [not much unlike Krishna and Balarama], Vidura occasionally hits back, mostly through sarcasm, and sometimes directly. He takes it upon himself to inform Dhritarashtra that the Pandavas have won Draupadi in marriage. Dhritu pretends to be happy, and Vidura pretends to take him at face value, playing a lovely game of cat-and-mouse even though they both know that they are each bs-ing the other.
Then, Dhritarashtra, knowing that a war with the Pandavas at this time might just incite a general rebellion, never mind Bheeshma-Drona etc, he plays it cool, opting for a 'compromise' in the form of dividing the kingdom, like it had been done so many other times.
However, his trick falls flat when the Panadavas are able to convert Khandavaprastha into Indraprastha and do an entire rajasuya to put salt on his wound. Dhritu still controls himself, letting the good part of his brain take the lead for now.
Soon though, Shakuni informs him that Duryodhana is 'nearly dying' [the drama queen]. For the first time, Dhritu is confronted Duryodhana's greed, separate from his own, when he declares that he isn't happy with Hastinapura, and now he wants Indraprastha too. He tries to placate Duryodhana with a equally splendid sabha, like Maya-danava's one at Indraprastha, but just like a child who has not yet learnt to share, Duryodhana doesn't want a new sabha, he wants Yudhishthira's sabha, and nothing less will do.
When Shakuni proposes a game of dyuta, Dhritu summons Vidura too, who, obviously says no. Duryodhana is however adamant. Dhritu, contrary to popular opinion, tries his level best to stop it, and scolds his son to no end. Finally, he is unable to stop and has to say no in the face of Duryodhana-Dushhasana-Karna-Shakuni, his very own out-of-control kitchen cabinet.
In the fated sabha, however, we see that Dhritu has resolved his inner conflict, and the worst side has won. I am not going to bore everyone with points that have been discussed ad nauseam. He becomes and enthusiastic spectator by blaming his actions on niyati. He only starts to roll back his stance when Bheema makes an oath to kill Dushhasana, because primarily, more than anyone else, Dhritu is terrified of Bheema. Even though he manages to get the situation under control somehow, in the very next minute Duryodhana pulls him back again and he pulls Yudhishthira back into the sabha for the second round.
Once the Pandavas leave for the forest, Dhritu, as he is, is again tormented by his guilty conscience. He calls Vidura and Sanjaya [the first time we meet him], to counsel him, and we get this gem of a dialogue from Sanjaya: tavedam sukritam raajam mahad vairam upasthitam [such a beautiful job you have executed yourself, raja, why feel guilty now?! roughly]. Everything aside, I LOVE Sanjaya's sass at any given time.
When Vidura tries to counsel Dhritu, he becomes extremely angry, compared Vidura to an 'unfaithful woman' and banishes Vidura to go stay wherever his beloved Pandavas lie. Vidure too straight up runs out of the kingdom, and immediately reaches the place where the brothers were resting. However, the moment Dhritu realizes what a terrible combination he has concocted by merging Vidura's wisdom with Bheema-Arjuna's strength, he immediately begans crying and howling, sending Sanjaya to fetch his brother back [this guy's legit a walking-talking whiplash]. Once Vidura is back we get a scene of such brotherly tenderness, where Dhritu seats Vidura on his lap [maybe like they had done in childhood], kisses his forehead and embraces him, and Vidura too gives in and promises to stay by his side.
Vyasa then comes to meet Dhritarashtra. The details I have put in this post, but among many other things he also suggests that Dhritarashtra send Duryodhana to go stay with the Pandavas for as long as they're in the forest, in order to learn empathy [Draupadi would tear his face off for starters...maybe it'd have helped the process].
For the next thirteen years, Dhritu called and cursed out his son at regular intervals, but was still unable to do anything constructive about the situation.
Sanjaya was later sent as a counter-messenger to Drupada's purohit. When he returned, Dhritu summoned his to his chambers immediately and we then got this another gem of a conversation:
Dhritu: Tell me everything , Sanjaya, did they agree to give everything up and go beg for food for a living?
Sanjaya: I am very tired, plus you always twist my words, so I won't say a thing without Gandhari and Vyasa as my witnesses. *he yawns* Like I said, I'm tired, we'll talk in public tomorrow.
Just imagine for a second, what is the status of Dhritu's command over his kingdom where his chauffeur calls him 'paltibaaz' to his face and walks out without permission with a literal command to boot. Given with the actual war, and the funerals, the ownership of the kingdom changed hands in only about a month from the date of this conversation, we can imagine that the smarter people had already mentally checked out [maybe even for the better part of the thirteen years too].
Dhritu, then left quite flabbergasted, calls for Vidura, who delivers his famous Vidura-neeti with. So. Much. Sass. [Eg. for kinds of people cannot sleep at night: (1) one who is under attack by a stronger person, (2) one who has been robbed, (3) one who is newly in love, and (4) one who is a greedy thief. Now you couldn't possibly be one of these, not even the fourth one, right?)
By this time he has completely taken on the role of a victim yelling again and again that his sons do not listen to him. He does scold them a little, but by this time everyone knows that this is a farce. LiStEn tO yOuR eLdErS, Dury!
When Krishna comes to Hastinapura, Dhritu orders Duryodhana to arrange for many women (seriously, just because the dude has 16108 wives? Do better y'all! At least some butter you could churn out? Ngl that would make for a better bribe than women).
When Krishna starts scolding Dhritu and holding him responsible for his mess, Dhritu calls Gandhari and just goes, "Your son. Fix him." Gandhari, understandably, is offended, since I mean, Krishna is right, the culprit is squarely Dhritu here! The entire sabha, plus Krishna, therefore just stares awkwardly as the king and queen duke it out, while Dury runs in and out of the sabha in anger.
Then, the war starts and ends, Sanjaya travels back and forth from Kurukshetra, like a true journalist and gives first-hand accounts to Dhritu and Gandhari. Notably, every time Dhritu even tries to cry about his woe-is-me tendency, Sanjaya literally barks at him to sit still and listen. In a way, this was the punishment Vyasa gave his son, indirectly though, to sit and listen to the detailed accounts of his failure without so much as an opportunity to even cry or repent.
Notably, Dhritu and Gandhari both fall unconscious when they hear of Karna's death, which is interesting yet understandable since they have both known this son of Adhiratha since far earlier than they have known their own children.
After the war is over, Dhritu tries one last time, to murder Bheema by crushing him in his embrace, but this plan is foiled by Krishna. Still, when he thinks he has killed Bheema, Dhritu immediately breaks down, leaving him to be comforted by Krishna.
During the funeral, when Yudhishthira falls unconscious, we now see Dhritarashtra in a completely opposite role, now consoling and comforting Yudhishthira. He offers to 'take over' all the guilt from Yudhishthir leaving him ready to take the throne.
Now we see a strange parallelism: just like Pandu, Yudhishthira too does nothing without the express permission of Dhritarashtra. He also had access to 3 special cooks to cook him age-appropriate food, as well as dedicated people to bring him his preferred meat and liquor. Yudhishthira even allowed him to interfere in the ruling process as he saw fit (like pardoning or incarcerating random people, overriding Yudhishthira's dictum). All relatives and ministers too were ordered to be equally polite to him. They weren't allowed to insult Duryodhana and co. too, in order to not hurt his father's feelings. Draupadi too, personally oversaw most of the arrangements.
Bheem, however, is another case. Whenever Yudhishthira was not looking, he would misbehave with the old man. He would intentionally intimidate Dhritu's servants into not doing his bidding, putting salt in place of sugar, sugar in place of salt, wrong medicine etc. He himself, would intentional sit in front of Dhritarashtra [and Gandhari for some reason], and then loudly insult the Kauravas and then loudly slap his biceps and stuff. He would also describe the deaths of their children in gory details etc....after a while it's painful to read as well. Bheema can be really cruel when he wants to.
Now Dhritu, already wracked with guilt, would never complain to Yudhishthira, because now he truly believed that he deserved all that, and this gave a free rein to Bheema to do whatever he wanted to them.
Finally, tired of this, Dhritu decides to go to the forest to live out the rest of his days. It was going to be tough, but anywhere seemed better than here [if you look at it a bit cruelly, whatever he did to Pandu, to push him out of the kingdom, Pandu's son was now returning it to him, with interest, maybe unknowingly so.].
When he tells Yudhishthira, the latter breaks down crying like a little kid, and even Dhritu loses consciousness. Once recovered, they both spend the rest of the day embracing each other. Somehow, these two, a fatherless son and a sonless father thad somehow moved past their old enmity and become truly, emotionally dependant on one another.
Finally, when he and Gandhari leave the next day, Vidura, Sanjaya and Kunti too go with them. When leaving they all perform the rites of their own funerals. Pretty morbid, but very common in those days.
Vyasa comes to them in the forest, and knowing Dhritu is still grieving his sons, to give him some closure, Vyasa arranges for all the characters to come back from heaven for a night, for a magical curtain call if you will.
When the forest catches fire, about 2-3 years later, they all pass away [Vidura was gone before], and only Sanjaya runs off into oblivion (upon Dhritu's request) never to be heard of again.
