ve her husband. The model character for following the Stridharma in the epic is Gandhari. Gandhari decides to blindfold herself when she learns that her husband is blind. She sacrifices herself because she does not want to have the pleasures and the joys her husband couldnt have. She follows her Stridharma very well by putting her husbands needs before hers. By following the dharma that one is supposed to follow, an individual can attain victory in the battle of life. This is one of the various points that the epic tries to get across that victory is where dharma is. This is true in case of the Pandavas who come out victorious at the end of the Mahabharata War. Even though the Pandavas are said to be fighting on the side of dharma, they, however, do not achieve their victory by strictly following dharmic ways. At many instances, they use adharmic ways in order to get rid of their enemies. One such incident is where Yudhisthira tells a white lie in order to kill Drona. The Pandavas knew that Drona would be weakened by news of the death of his son, Asvatthama. Yudhisthira utters that Asvatthama is dead within the hearing of Drona and only adds softly whether it be the man or the elephant. Drona not hearing the latter gives up his weapons because he feels that he cant go on anymore, and the Pandavas go on and slay him.It is somewhat the same situation with the death of Karna. Arjuna kills Karna when his chariot wheels get stuck in the mud. It is against the ksatriya laws to kill someone in distress; but the lord Krsna himself tells Arjuna to go ahead and slay the enemy. Bhismas death was also by deceive where the Pandavas take shelter of a man named, Sikhandin who was a women in his previous life; and Bhisma had vowed to not to use weapons against a woman. The Pandavas take advantage of this very fact and get rid of Bhisma. These violations of dharma by the Pandavas and Krsna are questioned by Duryodhana who was also kill...
