Gandhari was the daughter of Subala, the king of Gandhara. Her name has been derived from here and she is one of the important characters of the great Indian epic Mahabharata. Gandhari was married to Dhritarashtra, the eldest prince of the Kuru kingdom.
As Dhritarashtra was blind, Gandhari blindfolded herself throughout her married life and did not wish to relish the pleasure of sight, which her husband could never realize. She was the mother of hundred sons known as the Kauravas and the mother of a daughter Dlushala, the wife of Jayadratha.
The Kaurava, predominantly Duryodhana and Dushasana were the villains who were killed at the battle of Kurukshetra in the hands of their cousin brothers the Pandavas. In spite of Duryodhana and Dushasana`s immoral behavior with the Pandavas, Gandhari always told them to follow `dharma` and make peace with the Pandavas. She was very close to Kunti who treated her as an elder sister.
Gandhari only opened her eyes to see Duryodhana exposing his entire body except his loins invincible to any enemy. Other than this, she was an ardent lover and worshipper of Lord Shiva. When she lost all her hundred sons, she cursed Krishna in effect ensuring the destruction of the Yadavas. Gandhari died in the forest-fire of the Himalayas along with her husband and sister-in-law Kunti.
