What if Kunti & Gandhari had switched?

As we know, when Bheeshma approached Subala for Gandhari's hand for Dhritarashtra, Subala balked, and initially wanted him for Pandu. But what if the circumstances had been somewhat different? Let me explain.

In that case would karna 's parentage would be known and could create problems by staking his claim to the throne which Dhriti may not like. Duri as pandu's son may not need to befriend Karna. Dhriti's sons may not be born of Devtas so not as illustrious as Pandavas and Karna being the strongest and ablest could forcibly win the Hastinapur throne. He may have proved to be quite a good king as he had all the qualities! Would the MB war have taken place? May be or may be not. The fight for the throne/ power would remained quitea possibility even with Kunti and Gandhari switched 😛

This is a beautiful topic and a broad one also And there could be many possibilities also and many questions. In that case would Kunti have covered her eyes with silk? When Pandu becomes the king, what would have Shakuni as Pandu's BIL have done? But he suely would have tried his own mischief when it happens Pandu had killed Rishi Kindama in the form of stag. If Pandu were exiled to the forest and Gandhari was with him, and Gandhari gets hundred sons in the forest, surely it is possible Shakuni would have done something to incite Duri to become the king. And Duri born in the forest would have just been ordinary and the same is the case of the sons of Dhrit and Kunti also. But one point is there. The Rishi Durvasas taught the secret spell to Kunti because he could well see into the future of what will happen to Kunti after marriage. Probably he would not have taught the Mantra and so Karna wouldn't be there. What would have happened is Duri and Yudhi may still have fought for the throne with Dhrit and Shakuni in opposite camps. The stronger of them could have prevailed. Still there more ifs here. The Hastinapura veterans like Bhishma i9f there is a war would have sided Yudi. And Krishna would still have sided Yudi as He is Kunti's nephew. Thus there is a lot of confusion and so it is possible we could see an interesting discussion if everyone of you would post in this topic.

Originally posted by: .Vrish.

So did Bheeshma mismatch the choice of spouses for Dhritarashtra & Pandu?

Never thought about this before but your question raises the question - why did Bheeshma choose Gandhari for Dhriti?

ohh i am not only craziest one..you guys too...
TM@really craziest thought ever...
i am also thinking about the same some time what if Kunti and Gandhari had switched...

Res**

Originally posted by: peridot.

Never thought about this before but your question raises the question - why did Bheeshma choose Gandhari for Dhriti?

He knew that Gandhari was supposed to give birth to 100 children . That would be an asset to a king those days. Was Dhriti projected to be the king at that time? If yes then it explains Bheeshma's choice. It makes more sense to let the king have a wife who would have a hundred sons than let the brother of the king have her.

What do you think?

Originally posted by: .Vrish.

Bold - That was what inspired my topic. Pandu was already king when Bheeshma approached Subala for Gandhari's hand. So why didn't Bheeshma ask Subala for Gandhari's hand for Pandu, who was still unmarried @ the time? Pandu, w/ 100 sons, would have been quite formidable. Dhritarashtra wouldn't have asked Kunti to go thru niyoga if he could give her sons of his own.

Karna wouldn't have had any rights to the throne anyway, since a kanina son wouldn't have those rights - even in the original, had Karna joined the Pandavas as asked by Krishna, Kunti & Surya, he still couldn't have replaced Yudhisthir on the throne due to that reason. Only he would have then been recognized as a kshatriya, and no princess who married him would be getting into a pratiloma marriage.

Shakuni - in the original, Shakuni is only involved in the game of dice. But here, if his sister was married to their first choice - Pandu, and his nephews automatically get to be Yuvraj, he'd have been pretty happy sitting in Gandhara, & only backing Pandu or his sons when needed.

I also doubt that Kunti would have blindfolded herself.

Bold and red cause Dhritarashtra was big brother of Pandu..and most eldest on kuru vansh [i think]...

Probably if this happened there would have been no jealousy in the mind of Dury. And Pandu probably may not have been exiled as afterall he is the father of 100 sons if the curse happened after the birth of sons . If the curse had happened before the birth of sons also, Pandu may not have been exiled as the prophecy is Gandhari will have 100 sons. May be Bhima being born of normal birth wouldn't have been so strong. All the 105 princes would have grown together. Duri need not have to face abnormalities in encountering Bhima. One reason envy was planted in Dury's mind was because Bhima when he came to the palace bullied Dury and his brothers with wild energy and Dury's supremacy was consistently questioned. He had to share the love of his grandfather with Pandavas and also see that Bhima ate away much of the food made in the kitchen. If all those things didn't happen, what wiould have been the case?

Originally posted by: maha2us

Probably if this happened there would have been no jealousy in the mind of Dury. And Pandu probably may not have been exiled as afterall he is the father of 100 sons if the curse happened after the birth of sons . If the curse had happened before the birth of sons also, Pandu may not have been exiled as the prophecy is Gandhari will have 100 sons. May be Bhima being born of normal birth wouldn't have been so strong. All the 105 princes would have grown together. Duri need not have to face abnormalities in encountering Bhima. One reason envy was planted in Dury's mind was because Bhima when he came to the palace bullied Dury and his brothers with wild energy and Dury's supremacy was consistently questioned. He had to share the love of his grandfather with Pandavas and also see that Bhima ate away much of the food made in the kitchen. If all those things didn't happen, what wiould have been the case?

Bhishma asked Gandhari for Dhritarastra because he was the elder brother, and the younger brother cannot marry until the elder does, whether he is King or not. I guess Bhishma did not know about Kunti yet when he was searching a bride for Dhritarastra. He learned about Gandhari being blessed with a 100 sons, and he thought she was an appropriate bride for the Kuru Vansh. It did not matter if she would be Queen or not, since the 100 sons would belong to Kuru Vansh and be an asset to them anyway. Since Dhritarastra was of marriageable age, Bhishma chose Gandhari for him and only then began searching brides for Pandu, after which he learned about Kunti being blessed by Durvasa.