The Birth of Duryodhana (दुर्योधन) As mentioned earlier, Gandharis pregnancy lasted a usually long time - nearly two years. After she struck her belly in envy and frustration, a lump of flesh was conceived. She implored Vyasa, the great sage who had blessed her with one hundred sons, to redeem his words. Then we know the history of 100 pots of ghee and one extra piece left after 100, etc. At the end of the year, the first pot was opened, and Duryodhana emerged. Duryodhana means the unconquerable one or difficult to fight with. Many people hold the misconception that he was called Duryodhana because of his misdeeds. That is not true. Literally, Duryodhana means hard to conquer. His chariot bore a flag depicting a hooded cobra. When Duryodhana was born there were a series of ill omens all over the city. Wolves howled, strong winds blew causing destruction of crops, strong rains and flash floods happened at many places, etc. Duryodhana himself cried like a jackal. Seeing all these bad omens the elders, especially Bheeshma and Vidur were worried. Vidur cautioned Dhritarashtra that his child would be the cause of the Kauravas destruction, hence it would be better to abandon the child at once. What he said was as follows, May one person be sacrificed for the sake of the family, a family for the sake of a village and a village to save an entire nation. Yet, the entire earth may be sacrificed to save oneself. But the love of his son, especially who was born after so long time, and over and above the thought that this son may inherit the Hastinapur throne some day, prevented Dhritarashtra to do so. It is believed that Duryodhanas body was made out of lightning, and thus he is extremely strong, second only to Bheem. Although Bheem was stronger in raw might, Duryodhna practiced hard and became 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. Duryodhana was married to Bhanumati, daughter of Bhagadatta (भग्गदत्त), king of the city Pragjyotisha (प्रागज्योतिष). That resulted into the valiant Bhagadatta to side with the Kauravas during the battle of Kurukshetra even though Bhagadatta was extremely close friend of Pandu. Duryodhanas hatred for the Pandava brothers stemed 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 Kaunteya (कौन्तेयः), which means sons of Kunti. He also bore a deep hatred of Bhima, who dominated his brothers in sport and skill with his immense physical power and strength.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Oct 2013 05:31:05 +0000
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