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Concept
Shakuni
Summary
Shakuni (शकुनि, , bird) is one of the antagonists of the Hindu epic Mahabharata. He was the prince of the kingdom of Gandhara when introduced, later becoming its king after the death of his father, Subala. He was the brother of Gandhari and the maternal uncle of the Kauravas.
Portrayed as intelligent, crafty and devious, Shakuni supported his nephews, particularly the eldest, Duryodhana, in plotting against their cousinsthe Pandavas. It was Shakuni who played the game of dice against Yudhishthira, one of the seminal events in the epic. He was a master of manipulating the game using loaded dice, which caused the exile of the Pandavas and the consolidation of the power of the Kauravas. During the Kurukshetra War, Shakuni was wounded by the youngest Pandava, Sahadeva,but was killed in the same manner, Abhimanyu had died.
The Sanskrit word "Shakuni" means 'a large bird'. In the epic, Shakuni has been referred to by many names. Shakuni shares his name with some other figures, including a divine-serpent, a rishi, a son of King Ikshvaku, and an asura son of Hiranyaksha who was the father of Vrikasura.
"Saubala" is a prominent name of Shakuni, derived from Subala, the name of Shakuni's father. Other patryomics include Subalaputra, Subalraja, and Saubaleya. As Shakuni belonged to the royal family of Gandhara, he was also referred to as Gāndara, Gandharnaresh, Gandhararaja and Gandharapati. Parvatiya ('he who is from the mountains') and Kitava ('gambler') are also epithets of Shakuni.
According to the Mahabharata, Shakuni was an incarnation of Dvapara Yuga, the personified third epoch in Hindu cosmology. He was the son of Subala, the king of Gandhara (in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent, its capital Takshashila being in the vicinity of the modern city of Islamabad). Shakuni had a sister named Gandhari, and many brothers among whom Achala and Vrishaka were the most prominent. Shakuni's wife is unnamed, but some modern retelling name her Arshi. Uluka was his son and he served as a messenger during the Kurukshetra War.
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