Duhsala

Biography

According to the Adi Parva of the Mahabharata, Gandhari, wife of Kuru king Dhritarashtra, received a boon from the sage Vyasa assuring her of a hundred sons. When she subsequently produced a single ball of flesh, Vyasa divided it into one hundred portions, each of which was placed in a vessel of clarified butter to develop into a son. During the process of division, Gandhari expressed a wish for a daughter in addition to the promised sons, motivated by the traditional belief that a daughter’s sons confer spiritual benefits upon the maternal grandparents and by the social value placed on the relationship with a son-in-law. Vyasa identified one remaining portion of the flesh beyond the hundred allotted for the sons and stated that this excess fragment would develop into a daughter. The portion was placed in a separate vessel of clarified butter. From this fragment Duhsala was born.