then beating them on a stone slab. As
with all the occupations in traditional
India, this was a hereditary occupation-
al group (jati), although the names used
to designate them are different from
region to region. They were typically
believed to be of low status, since they
habitually handled clothes rendered
impure by sweat and other bodily fluids.
Dhrshtadyumna
In the Mahabharata, the later of the two
great Hindu epics, Dhrshtadyumna is
the sonof King Drupadaand the brother
of Draupadi, King Drupada’s daughter.
Dhrshtadyumna and Draupadi are mag-
ically born by emerging from a sacrifi-
cial fire. Their father sponsors this rite of
sacrificeto give birthto a hero who will
kill Drona, who has taken away half of
Drupada’s kingdom after being insulted
by Drupada. Drona accepts the boy as a
pupil and teaches him the martial arts.
Even though a heavenly voice has
announced that the boy will eventually
kill him, he does this under the convic-
tion that fate cannot be avoided.
Dhrshtadyumna is instrumental in
arranging Draupadi’s marriage to the
five Pandavabrothers, the epic’s protag-
onists, and he fights on their side during
the Mahabharata war. Dhrshtadyumna
fights fiercely in the war and eventually
kills Drona by cutting off his head, there-
by avenging his father’s defeat. Yet his
triumph is short-lived, for that very
night Dhrshtadyumna is killed by
Drona’s son Ashvatthama, who secretly
gains entry to the Pandava camp and
kicks Dhrshtadyumna to death.
Dhrtarashtra
In the Mahabharata, the later of the two
great Hindu epics, the sonof the sage
Vyasaand queen Ambika. Dhrtarashtra
and his stepbrother Panduare the result
of a desperate attempt to preserve the
royal line of King Shantanu, after
Shantanu’s son Vichitraviryahas died
without heirs. Upon Vichitravirya’s
death, his mother Satyavati calls upon
her oldest son, Vyasa, to sleep with
Ambika and her sister, Ambalika, in the
hope that the women will conceive.
According to tradition Vyasa is very ugly,
and each woman involuntarily reacts
when Vyasa appears in her bed. Ambika
covers her eyes, causing her son
Dhrtarashtra to be born blind, and
Ambalika turns pale, causing her son
Panduto be born with an unnaturally
pale complexion. Despite his disability,
Dhrtarashtra assumes the throne after
Pandu’s abdication; the latter renounces
the world after being cursed by the sage
Kindama. Pandu’s two wives have five
sons, known as the Pandavas, and
Dhrtarashtra and his wife Gandhari
have one hundred sons, collectively
known as the Kauravas. The ultimate
source of conflict in the Mahabharata
stems from the conflict between these
two royal lines, each of which has a legit-
imate claim to rule.
Dhrtarashtra does little to forestall
this struggle. Although he is generally
portrayed as a good person, he is also
weak and unable to contain the ambi-
tions of his eldest son, Duryodhana.
Here Dhrtarashtra’s blindness is not
just literal, but also symbolic, as he
lacks the vision and clarity that would
have allowed him to recognize the
breakdown between these two fami-
lies and to therefore take steps to
avoid it. His disability not only keeps
him on the margin of daily life, but is
also a sign of his inability to influence
the course of events, whatever his
feelings about them. One of the few
times that he actually shows force is
when he offers boons to Draupadi
(daughterof King Drupada) after her
humiliation by Duryodhana and his
brother Duhshasana, through which
she regains freedom for herself and
her husbands.
Because of his blindness, Dhrtarashtra
does not actually fight in the Mahabharata
war, but receives regular reports from
his bard Sanjaya, who has the ability
to see events at a distance. After the
Kauravas are defeated, he goes with
Gandhari and several others to live inDhrshtadyumna