The marriage of Dhritrashtra and Pandu

Bheeshma was immensely loyal to the throne of Hastinapur and took great care of the future kings. He trained them in all fields and took care that they learnt the art of warfare as well as the rules of good governance. As Dhritrashtra was blind and Vidur the son of the maid, Pandu was made the king of Hastinapur. Under the guidance of Bheeshma, Pandu ruled well and his subjects were happy. Bheesma wanted that all the princes should get married. He had heard that the princess of Gandhar was a beautiful woman with good culture and was simple and good-natured. Bheeshma approached the king of Gandhar and asked for the hand of his daughter in marriage for the blind Dhritrashtra. When Gandhari, the princess heard that she was to be married to Dhritrashtra who could not see the beauty of the world as well as she did, she was sad. But as she was a devoted wife she covered her eyes too, so that she could feel the world like her husband would. Bheesma was moved at her devotion and blessed her. So Dhritrashtra was married to Gandhari. Shoorsen, the king of Yadavas had a beautiful daughter called Pritha whom he had given to his cousin Kuntibhoj. When Kuntibhoj adopted Pritha, she was called Kunti, after her adopted father. Now Kunti was of marriageable age and her father held a swayamvara (a ceremony where the bride chooses her husband out of many suitors). Bheeshma sent Pandu there and Kunti chose him to be her husband among all the suitors. Bheeshma wanted Pandu to have one more wife and so he requested Shalya, the King of Madra, a small kingdom to let Pandu marry his sister. Shalya was pleased at the honour and Pandu married Madri, the sister of Shalya. Vidur was also married to a beautiful maid from the household of King Dev, whom Pandu had defeated in one of his battles. After all of them were married, Pandu went to consolidate his kingdom and captured a lot of territory.