SOME THOUGHTS ON SLOKA-1, CHAPTER-1

Dhritarashtra asks Sanjaya  ” MAMAKAH PANDAVAH CA EVA DHARMAKSHETRE KIM AKURVATHAH”   (What did MY PEOPLE and also the Pandavas do in the Holy land?)
 
Dhritarashtra was born congenitally blind. He also acquired inner blindness  by his selfishness and excessive attachment to Duryodhana.  Dhritarashtra, being blind, was not eligible for the throne and hence PANDU became the king. Out of respect for his elder brother , Pandu treated him with due respect. After Pandu’s death,Dharmaraja being the elder son became eligible to the throne. Dhritarashtra assisted his son Duryodhana to snatch the kingdom from pandavas, unlawfully. Still the Pandavas successfully completed the Vanavasa and Agnathavasa and asked for their fair share of the kingdom.
When viewed with the above back ground, Dhritarashtra’s inner blindness and cruelty  is abundantly clear  when he refers his sons as ” MY PEOPLE” and his own brother’s sons as  ” also the Pandavas” implying as if  Pandavas are some unrelated strangers.  When he made reference to the battle field as “DHARMA KSHETRE”,
Dhritarashtra still hoped that the dharmic Pandavas some how decided not to fight the war and voluntarily relinquished the kingdom to his sons.
Dr.Naidu Katta.