Janamejaya and Dhritarashtra

Vaishampayana begins the detailed tale: Gandhari, granted a boon for a hundred sons, endures a two-year pregnancy before delivering a mass of flesh. The sage Vyasa intervenes, dividing the flesh into parts that become the Kauravas, with the first-born Duryodhana arriving amid terrible omens that the blind king chooses to ignore.

King Janamejaya, listening to the history of his ancestors, asks the sage Vaishampayana to name the hundred sons of Dhritarashtra. Vaishampayana recites the long list, describing their formidable qualities and how Dhritarashtra arranged their marriages, including the marriage of his only daughter, Duhshala.