Duryodhana

Duryodhana as depicted in Yakshagana popular drama from Karnataka

In the Hindu epic the Mahābhārata, Duryodhana (दुर्योधन,ధుర్యొధనా,ಧುರ್ಯೋಧನಾ Duryodhana, 'difficult to fight with', his real name was Suyodhana) is the eldest son of the blind king Dhritarashtra by Queen Gandhari, the eldest of the one hundred Kaurava brothers, Emperor of the world at that time which means Emperor of India or Bharatvarsha as it was known at that time, cousin and the chief antagonist of the Pandavas. He is said to be an Avatar of the demon Kali^[1] which means he was an incredibly powerful man who had created his own people to fight for him and die for his defense.^[2]

Birth

When Dhritarashtra's wife Gandhari's pregnancy continued for an unusually long period of time, she beat her womb in frustration, in 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 issued from her womb. Gandhari was very shocked and upset. She implored Vyasa, the great sage who had blessed her with one hundred sons, to redeem his words.

Vyasa divided the ball of flesh into one hundred and one equal pieces, and put them in pots of ghee, which were sealed and buried into the earth for one year. At the end of the year, the first pot was opened, and Duryodhana emerged.

Duryodhana was actually named Suyodhan which means 'Great Warrior', but he changed his name to Duryodhana which means 'the unconquerable one' OR 'difficult to fight with'; many people hold the misconception that he was called Duryodhana because of his misdeeds. 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 strong, second only to Bhima. He is revered by his younger brothers, especially Dushasana. Learning martial skills from his gurus, Kripa and Drona, he proved to be extremely skilled with the mace. He then went to specialize in mace fighting under Balarama and went on to become his favourite pupil. With the mace he was equal to the much stronger Bhima.

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, the great 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 a source of continuing humiliation and hardship. Neither of them know that Karna is in fact Kunti's oldest son, born to (sun god) 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 truly believes that Karna is superior to Arjuna, and will inevitably destroy him and his four brothers. When Karna is killed, Duryodhana mourns his death intensely, even more than the death of his brothers.

Tendencies and schemes

Duryodhana in Javanese Wayang

Although loved by all his family, Duryodhana and most of his brothers are not seen on the same level as 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 son of 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 believed that what was rightfully his was being given away to his elder cousin Yudhisthira which was nepotism, he also felt the Pandavas were sons of Kunti, not of Pandu. He never believed in their divine origin, on many occasions questioning it, and always calling them the 'Kaunteya', which means 'sons of Kunti'. He also bore a deep hatred of Bhima, who dominates his brothers in sport and skill with his immense physical power and strength.

Duryodhana attempted to murder Bhima by feeding him a poisoned feast, but Bhima survived due to his immense physical capacity and blessings from celestial Nagas. Duryodhana then participated in a plot by Shakuni involving an architect Purochana who built an inflammable house by incorporating lacquer, 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 was himself killed in the fire, and the Pandavas managed 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 group 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, 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. He is pacified by Karna, who vows he will kill Arjuna in battle and vows never to drink wine until he slays Arjuna.

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 emperor of the World, 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 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 as Karna was attacked by Arjuna when he was defenseless and removing the wheel of his chariot, the same way Karna killed Arjuna's son Abhimanyu. 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.

The fight with Bhima

Duryodana was defeated by Bhima - A scene from Razmanama

When Duryodhana 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.

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, 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, slain in battle I shall spend the rest of my (after)life in heaven in the company of my friends, relatives and well wishers. You 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 bear black stains in the future. I have always been a good son, loyal friend, caring brother, and terrible enemy, while I lived I stamped my foot on the heads of those who dared oppose me in anyway, I am happy to have died fighting and thank everyone who laid his life down for me, I die happy."

It was each Kaurava's aim to protect Duryodhana till his last breath and so every one had vowed that they would fight for him till the end of their lives, so when Duryodhana died, it was after all those who had protected him; he had millions of people protecting him, yet he lost the war. 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."

Evaluation

The moderate view of Hindu scholars is that Duryodhana was a powerful and capable emperor 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 were all eyewash. Duryodhana never accepted the fact that Dhritarastra was a mere regent following the death of Pandu, and that Yudishtir was the only one eligible for Kingship, He believed that being the elder son his father should have been the emperor and hence he was the rightful heir to the throne of Hastinapur.

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 and for making his wife an object of gambling.

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, his hatred for Draupadi stemmed from her marrying the Pandavas and was fueled further by her mocking his father's blindness.

At Malanada Temple in Kerala's Kollam district, Duryodhana is worshipped as the main deity. It is the only temple in South India, where a Kaurava is considered a demi-god.

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.

See also

• Kauravas
• Kali (Demon)
• Mahabharata

References

• The Mahabharata (1999) by Krishna Dharma

1. ^ The Mahabharata, Book 15, Section XXXI
2. ^ The Mahabharata, Book 3, Section LIX

External links

• Duryodhana Temples and Lineage