Duryodhana

Learning martial skills from his gurus 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. Balarama described Duryodhana's body to be "lightning made flesh" and declares him to be the greatest mace fighter of his generation.

Killing of Karna

At the martial exhibition where the Kaurava and Pandava princes demonstrate their skills before their elders, their guru Drona and the people of that kingdom, Karna appears and challenges an unsuspecting Arjuna, who is considered by Drona to be the best of the princes. But Karna is stopped when Kripa asks him to ascertain his lineage, as it would be inappropriate for unequal to compete. Karna, not being a kshatriya, hangs his head in shame.

Duryodhana immediately defends Karna, arguing that it is actions, and not birth, that defines a warrior. Using the boon granted to him by Dhritarashtra, Duryodhana makes Karna king of Anga so that he is regarded as Arjuna's equal.[5] Karna pledges his allegiance and friendship to Duryodhana. Neither of them know that Karna is in fact Kunti's oldest son, born to (sun god) Surya, before her marriage to Pandu.

In the Kurukshetra War, Karna is Duryodhana's greatest champion and serves as commander from the fifteenth day. Duryodhana sincerely believes that Karna is superior to Arjuna, and will defeat his four brothers. When Karna is killed, Duryodhana mourns his death intensely, even more so than the death of his own brothers and was inconsolable. When Karna's identity is revealed to him, Duryodhana's love for Karna only grows and it is said to be he, and not the Pandavas, who performs Karna's last rites. Krishna confirms that he has the highest right over Karna, as they loved and supported each other truly.

During their childhood Bhima used his brute strength to inflict injuries on the Kaurava brothers. As Bhima was gluttonous, Duryodhana, guided by Shakuni attempted to kill Bhima by feeding him poison, but Bhima survived the trap and emerged even stronger than before. Duryodhana then participated in a plot by Shakuni to burn the Pandavas in a house of wax at Varnavata; however, they managed to escape the trap having been warned by Vidura.

Draupadi is presented to a pacheesi game

Raging in jealousy by the prosperity and fame of Indraprashta, and being humiliated by the Pandavas, makes Duryodhana furious and he wishes to throw down the Pandavas. To support his will, 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 staking another. Duryodhana encourages his brother Dushasana to drag Draupadi into the court. As she is Duryodhana's property after Yudhishthira gambled everything away to him, Duryodhana tells Draupadi to sit on his left thigh, showing and patting it to insult her for revenge. He also instructs Dushasana to disrobe her, however, she is saved by Krishna.[7]

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 Shakuni's vicious tricks) 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.

In the Chaturdhari compilation, it is interpolated that Karna took up the task of establishing Duryodhana as the Emperor of the world . Karna embarks upon a worldwide military campaign, otherwise called Digvijaya Yatra.[3][8][2] Bringing tribute and allegiance from all the kings ruling over in then India except Dwaraka, Karna helped Duryodhana to perform the Vaishnava yagya to please Vishnu and crown Duryodhana as "Emperor of the World", as Yudhishthira did with the Rajasuya Yagna. No person in the entire universe, except Lord Vishnu, had performed this Vaishnava sacrifice. Duryodhana thus became the most powerful and the wealthiest man in the world. With the help of Karna, Duryodhana even made plans and preparations to conquer Indra, the lord of the heavens and the father of Arjuna in order to become the sovereign ruler of both heaven and earth.[9]

At the end of the exile term, Duryodhana refuses to return Yudhishthira's kingdom, despite the counsel of Bhishma, Dronacharya, and Vidura. Although Dhritarashtra openly criticizes his son, he tacitly desires that Duryodhana retain his throne. In a final attempt at securing peace, Krishna returns with the Pandavas' final proposal: the Pandavas would give up all claims to Indraprastha and Hastinapura in exchange for five villages. Scoffing, Duryodhana says he will not even give even a needlepoint of land to the Pandavas. Egged on by Krishna, Duryodhana attempts to arrest him. Krishna reveals his Vishvarupa form. The entire Kaurava court, save for Bhishma, Drona, Vidura, and Dhritarashtra (who was granted divine vision in order to see that by supporting his son, he was going against God), is temporarily blinded by the form. This confirms to those present that Krishna is indeed an avatar of Vishnu. Duryodhana, being vastly egoistic (in some versions of the story an outright atheist), brushes off the incident, not convinced of Krishna's divinity, and believing that strength of arms, not philosophy, would win him a war.

With war inevitable, Duryodhana gathers support from his powerful vassals. The most legendary warriors – Bhishma, Drona, Karna, Kripa, Ashwatthama, Shrutyudha, even those who were critical of him are forced to fight for Duryodhana due to their previous commitments. He ends up amassing a larger army than his rivals.

Shakuni also advises Duryodhana to seek Krishna's help. Duryodhana rushes to Dwarika only to find Krishna sleeping; he waits at the head of Krishna's bed when suddenly, Arjuna arrives with the same goal in mind. Arjuna waits at the foot of Krishna's bed. When Krishna wakes up, both Duryodhana and Arjuna appeal for his alliance. Krishna offers a choice of himself, completely unarmed or the entire Vrishni army. Duryodhana proclaims that because he arrived first, he should get first-pick. However, Krishna says that because he saw Arjuna first and because Arjuna is younger, that Arjuna gets first choice. Duryodhana becomes worried but is overjoyed when Arjuna elects to reject Krishna's army in favor of Krishna alone. Joyously, Duryodhana returns to Hastinapura with the Vrishni army in-hand, only to be rebuked by Shakuni, who comments that Krishna is worth many armies by himself.

Duryodhana also manages to win the army of Shalya, the maternal uncle of the Pandavas. Duryodhana intercepts Shalya's army as it comes to Kurukshetra and offers hospitality; Shalya accepts thinking Yudhishthira had made the offer. After Shalya has enjoyed Duryodhana's comforts, Duryodhana reveals the duplicity and indicates that Shalya is now indebted to him. He uses this indebtedness to extract Shalya's army and support. Duryodhana wanted Shalya mainly so that Karna would have an equivalent charioteer to Arjuna's Krishna.

In the war, Duryodhana repeatedly eggs on the invincible Bhishma and Drona to forward his cause, even though his main hope is Karna. He desires to appoint Karna as his commander-in-chief; however, Karna and Shakuni point out that his already reluctant allies would much rather fight under Bhishma, an older, experienced, god-born, kshatriya than fight under a suta-putra. Reluctantly, Duryodhana appoints Bhishma as the commander in chief. When Bhishma falls to Arjuna, Duryodhana appoints Drona as commander-in-chief and orders him to capture Yudhishthira to win the war. On the thirteenth day of battle, his heir Lakshmana is killed by Arjuna's son, Abhimanyu, who proceeds to try and arrest Duryodhana. Duryodhana orders his soldiers to brutally kill of Abhimanyu, even if though it takes unethical means to finish him off.

Duryodhana is repeatedly frustrated, as the Pandavas succeed in downing Drona, and is emotionally distraught when, on the 14th day, Arjuna, enraged by Abhimanyu's death, tears through the Kaurava army and slays Duryodhana's brother-in-law Jayadratha. Throughout the war, Bhima is steadily slaying Duryodhana's brothers, increasing his misery and bringing him closer to a defeat.

Duryodhana's hopes are finally shattered when Karna is felled by the strategy of Lord Krishna and Arjuna. It is said that Duryodhana never shed a single tear for any of his real brothers except Dushasana who were killed in the battlefield, but when his beloved friend Karna was slain, he was inconsolable. Duryodhana appoints Shalya as the next commander-in-chief.

On the final day of war, Duryodhana takes out his anger by smashing open Chekitana's head. As Shalya is killed by Yudhishthira, Duryodhana's paltry army-once eleven akshauhinis strong-breaks, and the army is essentially routed. Having lost his horse, Duryodhana leaves the battlefield. He cools his body by entering a lake, all hope of winning lost. Yet, he prepares for his final battle; for a death befitting a warrior on the battlefield and hoping to reunite with his friends and relations in the afterlife. He re-emerges from the lake after Ashwatthama and Kripa counsel him to face his destiny with courage. In some versions of the story, after Karna's death, Duryodhana doesn't even join his army and instead heads immediately to the lake.

Duryodhana found in the lake

Duryodhana lay in the battlefield, awaiting death, badly bruised by the wounds inflicted by Bhima.

He kept his three fingers in a raised position and was unable to speak. All the efforts made by his men to understand the meaning proved to be futile. Seeing his plight Krishna approached him and said "I know what issues occupy your mind. I will address them". Krishna identified the issues as:

• Not building a fort around Hastinapura,
• Not persuading Vidura to fight the battle, and
• Not making Ashwatthama the commander-in-chief after the death of Drona.

On hearing this Duryodhana closed all the fingers and rested. Duryodhana concluded that these 3 factors should have surely brought him victory. Had he built a fort around Hastinapura, he could have totally avoided the war in the first place.

If Vidura had fought on his side, he would have had the best strategist, even better than Krishna. At last, Duryodhana came to the conclusion that Krishna was, in fact, the avatar of Lord Vishnu.

If Duryodhana had named Ashwatthama the commander of the army after the death of Drona, victory would have surely have been his as Ashwatthama was born from "Ansha" of Lord Shiva.[14] This would have countered Krishna. The thought that he had under-utilized Ashwatthama prompted Duryodhana to rethink and make him the commander of his army after his defeat.[15] These events led to the complete destruction of the Pandavas' army, destroying almost their whole clan.

After the night raid of Ashwatthama on the Pandava camp, Duryodhana died in peace and glory, considering victory as his own, as he would die valiantly and peacefully and be reunited with his brothers, relatives and dearest friend Karna, whereas the Pandavas would live a misery-filled life, having lost everyone they cared about.

The friendship between Karna and Duryodhana is considered to be a great one, and is used as an example of friendship and loyalty.[5][16] In the epic, Duryodhana decries the means of discrimination employed by Dronacharya and the others. 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's 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 a modern light, his disrespect for discrimination and blind following of tradition, is seen more positively.

Bhanumati was the Wife of Duryodhana,With the help of karna's Friendship, Duryodhana married Bhanumathi

A lesser known story is told about Karna, Duryodhana, and his wife Bhanumati, as an example of honest friendship. With the help of karna, Duryodhana married Bhanumathi .According to the Mahabharata, Duryodhana abducted Bhanumati, the maiden of the fairest complexion, from her swayamvara with the help of his best friend Karna in the wake of having been rejected by her. It is said that, when Duryodhana had recently wedded Bhanumati, one day, he requested Karna to take care of her and entertain her for the evening as he had duties to be taken care of. To pass time, Karna and Bhanumati began playing a game of dice. The game soon got very interesting, engrossing the two of them completely. Gradually, Karna started winning. Meanwhile, Duryodhana had returned early, and entered the room. Seeing her husband come in, Bhanumati immediately stood up as a mark of respect. Karna, whose back was facing the door, did not realize this and misconstrued her intent, thinking that she was leaving because she was on the losing side.

He immediately reached for her pearl-trimmed shawl, and accidentally pulled so hard that the trimming broke, and the pearls were scattered all over the floor. Her veil also slipped along with the shawl, so she was half-dressed. Bhanumati, who was as yet, not so familiar with Karna, froze at the thought of how her husband would react. She had heard of his ego, and had personally been present the last time he was insulted, that had resulted in her own abduction.

Karna, following Bhanumati's stunned gaze, turned around to see Duryodhana observing them both carefully. He stood in shame, embarrassment and guilt, considering the wrath and inevitable punishment he was going to face from his friend. He was sure Duryodhana would immediately accuse them of impropriety. However, much to both their surprise, Duryodhana looked past Karna, and addressed his wife, “Should I just collect the beads, or would you like me to string them, as well?”

Bhanumati and Karna could only look at each other in shock, mutely, feeling ashamed at the way they had both severely misjudged him. He had implicit faith and great love for his queen, and even greater was his faith on his friend Karna. Not for a moment did he suspect that the man he had considered his brother would ever betray him, and only quietly picked up the pearls trustfully. This story is not present in the Vyasa Mahabharata, but is often commonly told when discussing Karna and Duryodhana's genuine friendship. [17]

Coronation of Karna

• At Poruvazhy Peruviruthy Malanada Temple in Kerala's Kollam district, Duryodhana is worshipped as the main deity. It is the only temple in South India where a Kaurava is considered a God.[18]
• In the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand, several beautifully carved temples are dedicated to Duryodhana and he is worshipped as the deity. The mountain tribes of Kumaon fought along with Duryodhana in the Mahabharata war; he was venerated as a capable and generous administrator.
• There is a temple in Osla, Garhwal division of Uttarakhand. This was built by inhabitants of Saur. People believe he stayed here with blessings of Lord Mahasu to take care of the people.[19]

Lakshmanaa was the daughter of Duryodhana and Bhanumati.[20]

In the Hindu epic Mahabharata, Laxmanaa is the daughter of Duryodhana and Bhanumati.[21] She had a twin brother named Laxman Kumara. Not much is revealed about Laxmanaa in the Mahabharata except her marriage to Krishna's son Samba.