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Duryodhana (दुर्योधन, ) also known as Suyodhana, is the primary antagonist in the Hindu epic Mahabharata. He was the eldest of the Kauravas, the hundred sons of the king Dhritarashtra and his queen Gandhari. Being the first-born son of the king, he was the crown prince of the Kuru Kingdom and its capital of Hastinapura, often forced into ceding the title to his cousin Yudhishthira, who was one of the Pandava brothers and older than he. Aided by his maternal uncle Shakuni, Duryodhana tricked the Pandavas into surrendering their kingdom and forced them to go into exile. Later, Duryodhana waged the Kurukshetra War against his cousins and was helped by the warriors Bhishma, Drona and Karna. On the eighteenth day of the war, he was killed by Bheema, via cheating. Duryodhana used his greater skill in wielding the mace to defeat his opponents. He was also an extremely courageous warrior and was said to be a good ruler, but his greed and arrogance were the two qualities said to have led to his downfall. When Gandhari's pregnancy continued for an unusually long period of time, Her mother-in-law Ambika and Ambalika were very upset with her. Pandu and Kunti earlier bore a son whom they named Yudhishthira. So 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 as "Shata Putra Praptirasthu" (Sanskrit for "blessed with a 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 milk, 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 were not seen on the same level as the Pandavas in their adherence to virtue, duty, and respect for elders. Duryodhana felt that the partiality everyone showed to the Pandavas was only due to the circumstances of their birth.

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Related concepts (25)

Kurukshetra War

The Kurukshetra War (कुरुक्षेत्र युद्ध ), also called the Mahabharata War, is a war described in the Hindu epic poem Mahabharata (महाभारत ). The conflict arose from a dynastic succession struggle between two groups of cousins, the Kauravas and the Pandavas, for the throne of Hastinapura. The war laid the foundation for the Bhagavad Gita. The historicity of the war remains the subject of scholarly discussion. The Battle of the Ten Kings, mentioned in the Rigveda, may have formed the core of the Kurukshetra war's story.

Bhima

In Hindu epic Mahabharata, Bhima (भीम, ) is the second among the five Pandavas. The Mahabharata relates many events that portray the might of Bhima. Bhima was born when Vayu, the wind god, granted a son to Kunti and Pandu. After the death of Pandu and Madri, Kunti with her sons stayed in Hastinapura. From his childhood, Bhima had a rivalry with his cousins Kauravas, especially Duryodhana. Duryodhana and his uncle, Shakuni, tried to kill Bhima multiple times. One was by poisoning and throwing Bhima into a river.

Pandava

The Pandavas (Sanskrit: पाण्डव, IAST: Pāṇḍava) is a group name referring to the five legendary brothers, Yudhishtira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva, who are central characters of the Hindu epic Mahabharata. They are acknowledged as the sons of Pandu, the King of Kuru, but were fathered by different Devas (gods) due to Pandu's inability to naturally conceive children. In the epic, the Pandavas married Draupadi, the princess of Panchala, and founded the city of Indraprastha after the Kuru Kingdom was split to avoid succession disputes.