Duryodhana

Duryodhana (Sanskrit: दुर्योधन) is a major character in the Hindu epic Mahabharata and was the eldest of the Kauravas, the hundred sons of blind king Dhritarashtra and Queen Gandhari. Despite being the first born son of the incumbent king, he becomes disqualified as heir to the throne of Hastinapura upon the return of his cousins, the Pandavas, who left their rural forest dwelling upon the death of their father Pandu, the preceding king of Hastinapura and younger brother to Dhrithrashtra. His resultant animosity towards his cousins renders Duryodhana the chief antagonist of the epic. Karna was the closest friend of Duryodhana. Notably, Duryodhana, with significant assistance from Karna, performs Digvijaya Yatra when the Pandavas are in exile, conquering all kings in every direction of the world, establishing himself as the emperor of the world.

The word Duryodhana is derived from two words which are- dur and yodha or yodhana. dur means difficult or unconquerable, yodha means 'fighting' and yodhana means 'warrior. So this name has two meanings. Either it is, 'the one with whom fighting is difficult' or 'unconquerable warrior'.

It is said that Duryodhana was once called as 'Suyodhana' which means 'great warrior' or 'he who fights well'. But many people hold the misconception that later he was named as 'Duryodhana' because of his misdeeds.

Duryodhana is said to be the incarnation of Kali (demon), the overlord of Kali Yuga and the embodiment of evil source. The day he was born, he unleashed a donkey-like scream which the donkeys outside the home replied to. Despite the advice from Vidura to discard the evil baby, Dhritarashtra kept the child because demons had received a boon from Shiva that the future king would be invincible.

Some stories mention that Narada momentarily intercepted the demon Kali on his way to the Earth when Duryodhana was about to be born in order to make him an embodiment of 'Arishadvargas' and immorality in a preparation of the era of decay in values and the consequent havoc.

When Gandhari's pregnancy continued for an unusually long period of time, she beat her womb in frustration. This caused a hardened mass of grey-coloured flesh to issue from her womb. 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 two years. At the end of the second year, the first pot was opened, and Duryodhana emerged.

Although loved by his family, Duryodhana and most of his brothers are not seen on the same level as the Pandavas in their adherence to virtue, duty, and respect for elders. Duryodhana is mentored by his maternal uncle Shakuni, who masterminded most of Duryodhana's plots to humiliate and kill the Pandavas.

Duryodhana's hatred for the Pandavas stems from his sincere belief that he—being the son of the eldest brother—is the heir apparent to the throne of Hastinapura. Because of his blindness, his father had to renounce the throne in favor of the younger Pandu. Duryodhana deeply believed that what was rightfully his was being given away to his older cousin Yudhishthira. He also felt that the Pandavas were sons of Kunti and Gods (devakin), not of Pandu. He never believed that their divine origin alone proved their superiority, on many occasions questioning their merits, and always calling them the 'Kaunteya' (sons of Kunti). He also bore a deep hatred of Bhima, who was his age and dominated his brothers in sport and skill with his immense physical power and strength. When they were young, Bhima's bullying and taunting were a constant source of pain for Duryodhana and his brothers.

Balarama described Duryodhana's body to be "lightning made flesh". He is revered by his younger brothers, especially Dushasana. Learning martial skills from his gurus, Kripacharya and Dronacharya, 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 favorite pupil.

When the princes come of age, Yudhishthira is named as the crown prince due to his superior merits. After the Pandavas reveal that they have survived the wax house, with a new wife to boot, Bhishma suggests that the kingdom is divided in order to ease the obvious tension. Yudhishthira is given half the kingdom and made a king of Khandavprastha, so as to avoid a clash with the Kaurava princes over the whole Kuru Kingdom. Duryodhana becomes the prince regent of Hastinapur, 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 advisers that include his uncle Shakuni, brother Dushasana and friend Karna.

But Duryodhana remains jealous of Yudhishthira, especially after the Pandavas along with Krishna transform Khandavprastha to Indraprastha. Moreover, Yudhishthira performs the Rajasyua Yagna and gains the authority over several other kingdoms; Indraprastha's prosperity and fame appear to exceed Hastinapura's. Duryodhana is unable to contain his anger, which is intensified when Draupadi arrogantly taunts him about his father's blindness when he slips into a pool of water during a visit to Indraprastha. A popular quote, from later versions of the Mahabharata, is "a blind man's son is blind".

In early versions of the story, Duryodhana is also motivated by the idea that no matter what, Hastinapur should not remain divided. Yudhishthira shares this belief; both know that eventually, a conflict will arise and the nation will be ultimately reunified.

Knowing that an all-out war with the Pandavas may not lead to definitive success, Shakuni devises a scheme to rob Yudhishthira of his kingdom and wealth by defeating him in a game of dice, which Shakuni cannot lose due to his superior skill over Yudhishthira's ineptitude and addiction to the game of dice. Unable to resist the challenge, Yudhishthira gambles away his entire kingdom, his wealth, his four brothers and even his wife, in a series of gambits to retrieve one by taking another. Duryodhana encouraged his brother Dushasana to drag Draupadi into the court. As she is Duryodhana's property after Yudhishthira had gambled everything away to him, Duryodhana tells Draupadi to sit on his thigh, patting it suggestively. Due to this action, Bhima swears, he would break Duryodhana's thigh. As an enraged Draupadi is about to curse the Kuru clan, Gandhari intervenes. Fearing retribution by the Pandavas, their allies, and history, Dhritarashtra and Gandhari reverse all of Yudhishthira's losses. But then (either through Duryodhana forcing his father to command the Pandavas to play again or through the Pandavas' own desire to win a kingdom without bloodshed) the game is repeated. For this game of dice Shakuni sets the condition that upon losing, Yudhishthira 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. The Pandavas lose and begin their exile.

Friendship with Karna

The friendship between Karna and Duryodhana is considered to be a great one and is used as an example of friendship and loyalty.In the epic, Duryodhana decries the means of discrimination employed by Dronacharya. He goes one step further to accord Karna a place among the royals, by crowning him the King of Anga and standing by him whenever anyone pointed a finger at his lower birth. He seems to not care about the low birth of Karna and is the only one to vocally support Karna candidature in the archery contest without caring about caste inequality. When Draupadi refuses to allow Karna to string the bow at her Swayamvara because of his low birth, Duryodhana defends him saying "great sages, philosophers, and warriors have no source. They are made great, not born great". In the modern light, his disrespect for discrimination and blind following of tradition is seen more positively.