Dhritarashtra Confesses His Regret Over the Gambling
Dhritarashtra tells Vyasa that the gambling brought him no pleasure — that Bhishma, Drona, Vidura, and even Gandhari all disapproved. But he cannot abandon his son Duryodhana. Bound by affection and overcome by destiny, he confesses his helplessness to the sage.
Dhritarashtra spoke to Vyasa.
"O illustrious one! This affair of the gamble did not bring me pleasure. O sage! I think it was destiny which overcame me and made me agree. It did not bring pleasure to Bhishma, Drona or Vidura either, nor to Gandhari. There is no doubt that the gambling was caused by delusion."
He paused. Then he said what he had never been able to say differently.
"O illustrious one! I cannot abandon the insensible Duryodhana. O one with vows! Though I know, I am bound by affection for my son."
That was the confession. He knew. Everyone around him had known — Bhishma, the grandsire who had seen generations of Kurus rise and fall; Drona, the weapons master who had trained both his sons and Pandu's; Vidura, his brother, whose wisdom he had ignored; Gandhari, his wife, who had blindfolded herself for him and who had watched the disaster unfold without being able to stop it. They had all disapproved. The gambling had been wrong from the first throw of the dice.
And yet.
Dhritarashtra could not abandon Duryodhana. He knew his son was insensible — reckless, consumed by envy, deaf to counsel. But knowing did not free him. Affection for his son bound him more tightly than any chain of dharma or reason.
He laid this before Vyasa, not as an excuse, but as a fact about himself that he could not change. Aranyaka Parva, Chapter 307