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In the Hindu epic the Mahābhārata, Duryodhana (दुर्योधन) is the eldest son of the blind king Dhritarashtra by Queen Gandhari, the eldest of the one hundred Kaurava brothers, and the chief antagonist of the Pandavas. He was an avatar of the demon Kali[1] who had possessed the soul of Nala, forcing him to gamble away his kingdom.[2] His real name was Suyodhan but because of his evil acts he was called Duryodhana by everyone forever.
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Birth
When Dhritarashtra's queen Gandhari's pregnancy continued for an unusually long period of time, she beat her womb in frustration, at the envy of Kunti, the queen of Pandu who had given birth to Yudhisthira, the eldest Pandava. Due to actions of Gandhari, a hardened mass of grey-colored flesh produced from her womb. Gandhari was very shocked and upset.She worshiped Vyasa,the great sage who had blessed her with one hundred sons,to redeem his words.
Vyasa divides the flesh ball into one hundred and one equal pieces, and puts them in pots of ghee, which are sealed and buried into the earth for one year. At the end of the year, the first pot is opened, and Duryodhana emerges.
Literally, Duryodhana means "hard to conquer". His chariot bore a flag depicting a hooded cobra.
Development
Duryodhana's body is said to be made out of lightning, and he is extremely powerful. He is revered by his younger brothers, especially Dushasana. Learning martial skills from his gurus, Kripa, Drona and Balarama, he was extremely powerful with the mace, and the equal of Bhima, the powerful Pandava, in its use.
Karna
At the martial exhibition where the Kaurava and Pandava princes demonstrate their skills before their elders, their guru Drona and the people of the kingdom, a great and effulgent warrior, Karna appears and challenges Arjuna, who is considered by Drona to be the best of the warrior princes. But Karna is humiliated when Kripa asks him to ascertain his caste, as it would be inappropriate for unequals to compete.
Duryodhana immediately defends Karna, and makes him king of Anga so that he is regarded as Arjuna's equal. Karna pledges his allegiance and friendship to Duryodhana, as Duryodhana had rescued him from the source of continuing humiliation and hardship for him. Neither of them know that Karna is in fact Kunti's eldest son born to Surya.
A very intense bond of friendship develops between the two, and Duryodhana becomes very close to Karna. It is held that if there was one good quality in Duryodhana, it was his deep affection for his friend Karna.
In the Kurukshetra War, Karna is Duryodhana's greatest hope for victory. He earnestly believes that Karna is superior to Arjuna, and will inevitably destroy him and his four brothers. While devoted to Duryodhana, Karna knows that even though his skills are better than Arjuna's, he is incapable of killing Arjuna as he is protected by Lord Krishna. When Karna is killed, Duryodhana mourns his death intensely..
Evil tendencies and schemes
Although loved by all his family, Duryodhana and most of his brothers are seen as inferior to the Pandavas in their adherence to virtue and duty, and respect of elders. Duryodhana is mentored by his maternal uncle Shakuni, who desires the elevation of his sister's children at the expense of the Pandavas. Shakuni masterminds most of Duryodhana's plots to humiliate and kill the Pandavas.
Duryodhana's hatred for the Pandava brothers stems from his sincere belief that he being the eldest brother is the heir apparent to the throne of Hastinapura. His father, in spite of being the eldest son, had to renounce the throne in favor of Pandu because of his blindness. Duryodhana deeply belived that what was rightfully his was being given away to his younger cousin Yudhisthira which was nepotism. He also bore a deep hatred of Bhima, who dominates the Kauravas in sport and skill, with his immense physical power and strength.
Duryodhana attempts to murder Bhima by feeding him a poisoned feast, but Bhima survives due to his immense physical capacity and blessings from celestial Nagas. Duryodhana then participates in a plot by Shakuni involving an architect Purochana who built an inflammable house by incorporating lac, animal fat, hay and various other fuels into the walls and set it on fire when the Pandavas were staying in it during a visit to participate in festive celebrations at Varnavata. However, Purochana is himself killed in the fire, and the Pandavas manage to escape thanks to a brilliant counter-scheme by Vidura.
Usurping the kingdom
When the princes come of age, Yudhisthira is given half the kingdom and made king of Indraprastha, so as to avoid a clash with the Kaurava princes over the whole Kuru kingdom. Duryodhana becomes the prince regent of Hastinapura, and owing to the age and blindness of his father, he accumulates much control and influence, managing the state affairs himself with a coterie of his advisors that include his uncle Shakuni, brother Dushasana and friend Karna.
But Duryodhana remains jealous of Yudhisthira, owing to Indraprastha's prosperity and fame exceeding Hastinapura's. When Yudhisthira performs the Rajasuya sacrifice that makes him emperor of the World, Duryodhana is unable to contain his anger, which is intensified when Yudhisthira's queen Draupadi arrogantly taunts him, and his father's blindness, when he slips into a pool of water in the court.
The dice plot, and Draupadi's humiliation
Knowing that an all-out war with the Pandavas may not lead to definitive success, Shakuni devises a scheme to rob Yudhisthira of his kingdom and wealth by defeating him in a game of dice, which Shakuni is an expert at and Yudhisthira a complete novice. Unable to resist the challenge, Yudhisthira gambles away his entire kingdom, his wealth, his four brothers and even his wife, in a series of gambits to retrieve one by staking another.
Karna encourages Duryodhana's brother Dushasana to drag Draupadi into the court and disrobe her, as she is Duryodhana's property after Yudhisthira had gambled everything away to him. Dushasana attempts to strip Draupadi, who is mystically protected by Krishna, who makes her sari inexhaustible. Dushasana exhausts all his might, pulling the sari which never finishes.
Nevertheless, due to this action Bhima swears that at the end of the exile, he would break Duryodhana's thigh (as Duryodhana asked Draupadi to sit on his thigh).
The first time, the king Dhritarashtra and Vidura make Duryodhana re-establish Yudhisthira. But then the plot is repeated, and for this game of dice Shakuni sets the condition that upon losing, Yudhisthira and his brothers must spend thirteen years in exile in the forest before they may reclaim their kingdom. The thirteenth year must be passed incognito, or else the term of exile would be repeated.
World emperor
During the exile, Duryodhana attempts to humiliate Yudhisthira by flashing his wealth and prowess in their forest of exile. He is however caught in a conflict with the Gandharva king Chitrasena, who captures him. Yudhisthira asks Arjuna and Bhima to rescue Duryodhana, who is humiliated. Setting his mind to die, Duryodhana pledges to fast unto death.
During his fast, Duryodhana is mystically taken to a gathering of powerful Daitya and Danava beings, who inform him that he was born as a result of their tapasya, and his mission was to destroy the purpose of the Devas and Krishna upon earth. The demonic beings assure him that powerful demons had been incarnated as his allies, making his defeat impossible. Encouraged, Duryodhana returns to Hastinapura.
Karna now embarks upon a worldwide military campaign to subjugate kings and impose Duryodhana's imperial authority over them. Bringing tribute and allegiance from all the world's kings, Karna helps Duryodhana perform the Vaishnava sacrifice to please Vishnu, and crowns himself World emperor, as Yudhisthira did with the Rajasuya.
The Kurukshetra War
At the end of the exile term, Duryodhana refuses to return Yudhisthira's kingdom, despite the counsel of Bhishma, Drona, Vidura and even Krishna, whom he attempted to arrest. Although Dhritarashtra criticizes his son, he tacitly desires that Duryodhana, and not Yudhishitra remain Emperor.
Making war inevitable, Duryodhana gathers support from powerful kings and armies. The most legendary warriors - Bhishma, Drona,Karna, Kripa, Ashwathama, Shalya, even though most of them were critical of him - are forced to fight for Duryodhana. He ends up amassing a larger army than his rivals.
In the war, Duryodhana repeatedly eggs on the invincible Bhishma and Drona to forward his cause, even though his main hope is Karna. He asks Drona to capture Yudhisthira alive, so that he may blackmail the Pandavas into surrender, or force Yudhisthira to gamble again. He also participates in the brutal and unethical killing of Arjuna's son Abhimanyu.
But he is repeatedly frustrated when the Pandavas succeed in downing the two Kuru legends, and is emotionally distraught when Arjuna slays over one million Kuru soldiers in one day and kills Jayadratha, the king of Sindhu to avenge Abhimanyu. And all along, Bhima is steadily slaying his brothers, increasing his misery and bringing him closer to defeat.
It is said that, Duryodhana never shed a single tear for any of his real brothers who were killed in the battlefield, but when his beloved friend Karna was slain, he was inconsolable.
Duryodhana's hopes are finally shattered when Karna is felled by Arjuna in an intense and legendary battle. He cools his body by entering a lake, all hope of winning lost, yet he prepares for his final battle; for a death befitting a warrior on the battle field and hoping to reunite with his friends and relations in the afterlife. He re-emerges from the lake after Ashwathama and Kripa counsel him to face his destiny with courage.
Gandhari's blessing and the fight with Bhima
Queen Gandhari is distraught when she learns that all her sons save Duryodhana have been slain. Despite knowing that Duryodhana was wicked and his cause unrighteous, she decides to help him win. She commands him to bathe in the Ganges and return to her camp in the very condition in which he was born(i.e. naked). In her lifetime, Gandhari had amassed great mystic power through decades of penance to Lord Shiva. Also, faithful service to her blind husband had won her a lot of favour with the gods. After Duryodhana leaves, she concentrates all that hard earned power and holy favour into one gaze of her eyes that had she had kept blindfolded for all the years of her marriage to equally share her husband's plight. With that one gaze of her eyes, she intends to imbue Duryodhana's body with all her power, rendering him invincible.
Meanwhile, Krishna visits Gandhari to express condolences for her lost sons. Overcome by the pain of losing her sons, she curses Krishna that his family and folk will also be destroyed, just as her children were in the war that he (Krishna) could have averted. While returning from his visit, Krishna runs into a naked Duryodhana approaching the Queen mother's tent. He sharply mocks Duryodhana for his apparent intention to appear before his mother in such a shameful state. Himself knowing Gandhari's plan, Krishna chides Duryodhana for having abandoned all morality, who then out of embarrassment, takes a detour and returns to the tent with banana leaves wrapped around his waist, covering his groin.
When Gandhari's gaze falls upon Duryodhana, it imbues the visibly part of his body with her powers. She then realizes that Duryodhana had covered his groin, which was therefore left the only vulnerable part of his body. When she tells him of this setback, Duryodhana reassures his mother that she has done enough, and that because the rules of mace-fighting prohibit striking below the waistline, he is practically invincible already.
When Duryodhana finally faces the Pandava brothers and Krishna alone, Yudhisthira makes him an offer that he may pick any of the Pandava brothers to fight against one-to-one with a weapon of his choice, and that if he defeats that Pandava, Duryodhana shall be deemed the victor of the war.
Duryodhana picks his archnemesis Bhima over the other Pandava brothers whom he could have effortlessly overwhelmed with his skill at fighting with the mace, to ensure a fair fight. Both possessed exceptional physical strength and had been trained by Balarama in mace fighting and wrestling to equal degrees of prowess. After a long and brutal battle stretching many days, Duryodhana begins to exhaust Bhima. (It may be noted that Bhima had been blessed with strength equivalent of 70 elephants by drinking the magical Sudha-rasa that his maternal great grandfather had given him. Thus although otherwise equally matched, in this battle, Duryodhana with his mothers blessing had an edge over Bhima's physical strength).
At this point, Krishna, observing the fight, calls out to Bhima and signals him by repeatedly clapping his own thigh with his hand. To others it would appear like applauding the fight, but as Krishna intended, Bhima was reminded of an oath he had taken after the game of dice to crush Duryodhana's groin as retribution for insults to Draupadi. Bhima viciously attacks Duryodhana with a mace and strikes his groin which had remained hidden from Gandhari's blessing, and Duryodhana finally falls in battle, mortally wounded.
Although Duryodhana bemoans that he was slain by unfair means, given that it was illegal to attack below the waist according to the rules of mace-fighting, Krishna points out to the dying prince that his insults of Draupadi, murder plots and cheating against the Pandavas and the unethical killing of Abhimanyu too had neither complied with dharma nor with the rules laid down for the war. It was useless thus, for Duryodhana to hope that moral grounds and values would come to his rescue, after he had dishonored them throughout his life.
Duryodhana cries out, "I have no interest in becoming a king now, I have lost all interests in this world which is fake and temporary. I shall spend the rest of my (after)life in heaven in the company of my friends, relatives and well wishers. You people defeated us by cheating and trickery, otherwise the likes of Bhishma, Drona, Karna amongst others were unconquerable. The victory which you obtained is not true victory and your names will bare black stains in the future. I have always been a good son, loyal friend, caring brother, generous prince, and terrible enemy. I thank everyone who laid his life down for me"
It was each Kaurava's aim to protect Duryodhana till his last breath and so every one had vowed that they will fight for him till the end of their lives, so when Duryodhana died, it was after all those who had protected him. Duryodhana was always going to be the last person to die.
Krishna said "Yes, these men truly were invincible, while fought against fairly, but I had to uphold dharma."
Death and Heaven
Duryodhana dies slowly and painfully, and is thereafter cremated by the Pandavas. Decades later when Yudhisthira himself ascends to Swarga(the heavens), he sees Duryodhana there seated on a throne. He is unsettled to find Duryodhana enjoying a place in heaven despite his sins, but Indra clarifies to him that all men who die in the battlefield come straight to heaven and don't really have to go to hell.
Evaluation
The moderate view of Hindu scholars is that Duryodhana was a powerful and capable king who governed his subjects fairly, but was devious and wicked in his plots against his cousins.
His refusal to accept Yudishtir as Crown Prince, stemmed from the fact that he never acknowledged the sons of Kunti & Madri as the sons of Pandu. To him, the tales relating to Kunti's boon was all eyewash. Duryodhana never accepted the fact that Dhritarastra was a regent following the death of Pandu, and that Yudishtir was the only one eligible for Kingship.
Bhim's unrestrained, brutal beatings during childhood left psychological scars on him, and the rift was further fueled by the Kuru elders' partiality towards the Pandavas. Vidura, their uncle, in particular, promoted the interests of the Pandavas due to the legalities of their claim to the throne. While Duryodhana did endorse the idea of the dice game in order to usurp the Pandavas' kingdom, Yudishthira is equally to blame, for his impulsive gambling instincts.
While decrying the means of discrimination employed by Dronacharya, he likened Karna to the Sun, stressing that the Sun's identity arises only out of its power to illuminate the world. He went one-step further to accord Karna place among the royals, by crowning him the King of Anga and standing by him whenever anyone pointed a finger at his lower-birth.
While he is condemned for attempting to humiliate Draupadi out of pride and blatant disregard for traditions. Moreover, his hatred for Draupadi and Pandavas was fuelled further by her mocking his father's blindness.
Duryodhan's sincerity as a student of mace-warfare under Balaram, and his dogged performance in the war, won him accolades from the celestial beings at the time of his death.[citation needed] It is said that after Bhima's unlawful and vicious breaking of Duryodhan's thigh and groin, when Duryodhana fell to the ground, the Heavens showered petals upon him. Though his action was justified, similarly to Rama's killing of Vali (Ramayana), war was as rule was meant to be fair. Moreover, because of his just reign as a Crown prince, he was awarded a place in heaven.[citation needed]
Like Ravana, Duryodhana was powerful and glorious, and well-versed in religious knowledge, but failed to adhere to those values in practical life.
In Kumaon region of Uttranchal, several beautifully carved temples are dedicated to Duryodhana and he is worshipped as a minor deity. The mountain tribes of Kumaon fought along with Duryodhana armies in the Mahābhārata war; he was venerated as a capable and generous administrator.
In media
In the Mahābhārata television series of the late 1980s in India, Duryodhana's character is played by Punjabi actor Puneet Issar.
In Peter Brook's filmed version of the epic (1989), Duryodhana is played by Greek actor Georges Corraface.
Mani Ratnam's Tamil movie Thalapathi was based on the friendship between Duryodhana and Karna
See also
References
- The Mahabharata (1999) by Krishna Dharma
External links
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