Krishna Responds to Gandhari's Curse

The battlefield was silent. Gandhari, the blindfolded queen who had never seen her hundred sons, now walked among their corpses. Her grief was a storm that had been building for eighteen days.

When she sensed Krishna approaching, she tore off her blindfold for the first and last time.

Gandhari: "YOU! You could have stopped this. One word from you and there would have been peace. But you wanted this war. You wanted my sons dead!"

Krishna: "Mata—"

Gandhari: "Don't call me that! A mother's sons lie dead because of your scheming. You guided every arrow that found my children. You are the true killer of the Kauravas!"

KRISHNA remained silent.

Gandhari: "You think I don't know? The way you told Bhima where to strike Duryodhana. The way you made Arjuna hide behind Shikhandi. The way you ensured Karna's chariot wheel would sink at the crucial moment. Fair war? There was nothing fair about it!"

Krishna: "You're right."

Gandhari: "What?"

Krishna: "I did all those things. I broke the rules of war. I ensured your sons would lose. Everything you're saying is true."

Gandhari: "Then why? WHY?"

Krishna: "Because I tried the other way first. I went to Duryodhana myself, begged for peace. I asked for just five villages — one for each Pandava. He refused. I asked for just five houses. He refused. I asked for just five rooms. He said he wouldn't give enough land to fit a needle point. After that, Mata, what choice remained?"

Gandhari: "You could have changed his heart! You are GOD!"

Krishna: "I don't change hearts, Gandhari. That would remove free will — and without free will, there is no dharma, no karma, no growth. Your son chose his path. I merely ensured that his choice led to its natural consequence."

Gandhari: "Then hear my choice, Krishna. As I have suffered, so shall your people suffer. As I have watched my sons die, you will watch your clan destroy itself. The Yadavas will kill each other, and you will be powerless to stop it. Dwaraka will sink into the sea. And you — you will die alone, killed by a hunter's arrow, without glory, without honor."

Krishna: "Tathaastu. So be it."

Gandhari: "You accept it? Just like that?"

Krishna: ""I accept all consequences of my actions. I knew this would come. A mother's curse is powerful, and you have earned the right to curse. But know this, Gandhari — even as I accept your curse, I do not regret what I did. Given the same circumstances, I would do it again. Some adharma is so great that even God must get his hands dirty to end it. Your sons were that adharma."

But you are still a mother. And your grief is real. And for that, I am sorry."

He touched her feet — God touching the feet of the woman who had just cursed him to die alone.

Gandhari: "Why... why did you let me curse you? You could have stopped me..."

Krishna: "Because you needed to say it. Because holding that pain inside would have destroyed you. And because even my death will serve a purpose — it will show the world that no one, not even God in human form, can escape the law of karma. Whatever we do returns to us."