The blind elder brother passed over for the throne and left holding it anyway, who can always see what his son is doing and never stops him.
Appears in
The birth of the Kuru princes — A blind heir, a pale one and a renunciant's vow leave the succession contested before any of the cousins can walk.
The house of lac — A guest house built to burn: the first attempt on the Pandavas' lives, and the escape that lets them be thought dead.
The Rajasuya sacrifice — Yudhishthira's consecration as emperor — the height of the Pandavas' fortune, and the sight that decides Duryodhana to act.
The game of dice — A king who cannot refuse a challenge plays against a loaded opponent, and stakes his brothers, his wife and himself.
Draupadi in the assembly — Dragged into a full court, the queen puts a question of law to the elders — and every one of them declines to answer it.
Vidura's counsel on a sleepless night — A king who cannot sleep sends for the half-brother he has ignored all his life, and is told exactly what to do while there is time to do it
Embodies
Counsel that goes unheeded — Someone in the room always says exactly what should be done, is heard politely, and is ignored — and the epic records the advice each time
Kinship and enmity — The war is a family quarrel: across the field stand cousins, teachers and elders, all owed reverence.
Questions to explore
Is Dhritarashtra passed over for his blindness, or for what the court fears his blindness means about a king?
He restores what was lost at the dice and then permits the second game — what does the epic want us to conclude from that pair of decisions?
