Dushasana

Dushasana
Dushasana

Dussasana (Sanskrit: दुःशासन, Duḥśāsana), also spelled as Dushasan and Dushyasan, was a Kaurav prince, the second son of the blind king Dhritarashtr and Gandhari and the younger brother of Duryodhan in the Hindu epic Mahabharata.

Etymology

The name is often derived from two elements, the Sanskrit: duh, meaning 'tough or hard to beat' and shasana, meaning "ruling or power". So the word Dussasan means 'competent or firm ruler'.

Birth and development

When Dhritarashtr's queen Gandhari's pregnancy continued for an unusually long time, she beat her womb in frustration and in envy of Kunti, the queen of Pandu, who had given birth to three of the five Pandav brothers. Due to her actions, a hardened mass of grey-colored flesh emerged from her womb. Gandhari was devastated, and called upon Vyasa, the great sage who had blessed her with one hundred sons, to redeem his words. Vyasa divided the flesh ball into a hundred equal pieces, and put them into pots of ghee, which were then sealed and buried in the earth for one year. At the end of the year, the first pot was opened, and Duryodhana emerged. The next one to emerge was Dussasana.

Dussasana was devoted to his older brother Duryodhana. He was also closely involved in the various schemes and plots to kill the Pandavas along with Duryodhana and Shakuni.

Draupadi's humiliation

Draupadi is presented to a parcheesi game

After Yudhishthira lost his kingdom, his brothers and his wife Draupadi, in a game of dice with Shakuni, Dussasana dragged Draupadi by the hair into the assembly, at the behest of his brother Duryodhana, and tried to disrobe her. Draupadi prayed to Krishna and he made her sari to be of infinite length, so that Dussasana could not take it off. However, the princess was humiliated by being dragged into court by her hair. After this humiliation Draupadi swore that she will not tie her hair until it is bathed with blood of Dushasana.

Death

Bhima fulfilling his promise regarding Dushsasana in the Mahabharata field

On the 17th day of the Kurukshetra War, Bhima defeated and killed Dussasana, tearing open his chest and drinking his blood. Dussasana's brutal death greatly agitated Duryodhana, and demoralized the Kaurava army watching Bhima in his ecstasy of wrath (soldiers of both sides called Bhima 'Rakshasa' condemning his heinous act). However, this did little to end the conflict, as Duryodhana reaffirmed his view on the continuation of the war.

Dursasana (Dushasana in the Javanese language) in the Balinese wayang kulit shadow theatre

References

• The Mahabharata (1999) by Krishna Dharma

External links

• Media related to Dushasana at Wikimedia Commons