MAARKANDEYA presents MAHAABHAARATHAM

(An ancient king of Manu's dynasty too was named Duryodhana. Bheeshma told his history to Yudhishthira . Do not confuse between same names referring to different persons.)

( The D in the beginning of this name is pronounced like 'th' in 'brother'. The Y is a consonant and is pronounced like 'y' in 'you'. The DH in the middle is pronounced like a hardened sound of 'th' in 'brother'. The N is pronounced like 'n' in 'nut'.)

Duryodhana was the eldest of the Kouravas i.e. the 100 sons of Dhritharaashtra. He was considered to be the body-incarnate of Kali, the representative of the 4th age or 4 th yuga( Kali-yuga) indicative of less righteousness and more sins. He was the strongest of all the Kouravas. He was jealous of his cousins,the paandavas and maintained an implacable hatred toward s them. Since childhood, Bheema was his target. He made many efforts to murder him secretly but could not succeed. He deviced the great plan of the wax-house to kill the Paandavas with their mother, but only to lose his confidant in the operation.

He was arrogant by nature and was derided by many of the family elders. His father was many a time told by the elders to denounce him but the former heedded not out of his affection towards his son. This lenience of his father, coupled with the support of his friend Karna, encouraged him to overtly challenge the Paandavas.

He was burnt with jealousy for the wealth of the Paandavas and invited them for a dice game in which his maternal uncle shakuni won the kingdom of the Paandavas for his nephew. In the continued game, Yudhishthira staked and lost his brothers and Droupadi too. Then Duryodhana ordered his brother Dusshaasana to disrobe Droupadi in the full house on the pretext that the won-over woman was equal to a slave to him. This made Bheema angry beyond control and he vowed to kill all the Kouravas. At this stage,Dhritharaashtra intervened and sent the Paandavas back to their place. But Duryodhana forced his father to call them back and got another game of dice played in which he defeated the Paandavas and sent them on an exile for 13 years on such agreed terms that the party in exile should live incognito in a town during the thirteenth year, failing which would restart the whole term of 13 years.

He constantly made efforts to break their incognito to his best level. After the term was served and the Paandavas demanded their share back, he summarily rejected the claim, even so much as 5 towns to the 5 Paandavas. This lead to a war between the two sides.

Duryodhana was a fine strategist. He could successfully detach Shalya from his nephews,the Paandavas. His first rated plans to do so did not come to fruition before the cunning Krishna. He awarded the post of chief of army to the elders first, even at the cost of his best friend Karna to ensure faith of all in his side.

Despite his best efforts and superior power, he lost the war due to several reasons. He stood bravely for 18 days but fled in the end to hide himself in a tank. The Paandavas tracked him and forced to engage in a mace-fight with Bheema. He fought with graceful valor but the vow-bound Bheema broke his thighs . Thus he was to fall last on his side . When he was in his last minutes, Asvaththaama returned to him alongwith Kripa and Krithavarma . Duryodhana lamented for his negligence shown to the young braahmana and then declared him the chief among the surviving three, feud still high in him like a hissing cobra. Asvaththaama decided to please his king and destroyed Paandavas' camp , from horses to men , in their absence that very night . Duryodhana died satisfied with the last but conclusive devastation that his man could inflict on his rivals .

Jealousy, greed, adamance, superegotism and arrogance made him a bad personality. Throughout his life, he had been an excellent master of strategy, policy and administration. He was more than equal to Bheema in mace-fight. Both of them were students of Balaraama, but he was a clear favourite of the teacher. Had he been able to shed his notorious pride,adamance and jealousy, he would have been as ideal a king as his illustrous cousin Yudhishthira.

We should always keep in mind what made him ruin himself so as to guard ourselves against falling prey to such vices.

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