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, so as to gain sympathy from him and went on to become his favourite pupil. Balarama described Duryodhana's body to be "lightning made flesh" and declared him to be the greatest mace fighter of his generation.

At the martial exhibition where the Kaurava and Pandava princes demonstrated their skills before their elders, their guru Drona and the people of that kingdom, Karna appeared and challenged an unsuspecting Arjuna, who is considered to be the best of the princes. But Karna was stopped when Kripa asked him to ascertain his lineage, as it would be inappropriate for unequal to compete. Karna, not being a kshatriya, bowed his head in shame.[6]

Duryodhana immediately defended Karna, arguing that it is skill and bravery, and not birth, that defines a warrior. Using the boon granted to him by Dhritarashtra, Duryodhana made Karna king of Anga so that he was regarded as Arjuna's equal.[7] Karna pledged his allegiance and friendship to Duryodhana. Neither of them knew that Karna was in fact Kunti's oldest son, born to (the sun god) Surya, before her marriage to Pandu.

In the Kurukshetra War, Karna was Duryodhana's greatest champion and served as commander from the fifteenth day. Duryodhana sincerely believed that Karna was superior to Arjuna, and would defeat his four brothers. When Karna was killed, Duryodhana mourned his death intensely, even more so than the death of his own brothers and was inconsolable. When Karna's identity was revealed to him, Duryodhana's love for Karna only grew and it is said to be he, and not the Pandavas, who performed Karna's last rites.[8] Krishna confirmed that he had 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

Duryodhana's jealousy of the prosperity and fame of Indraprastha and being humiliated by the Pandavas made him furious and he wished to throw down the Pandavas. To support his will, Shakuni devised a scheme to rob Yudhishthira of his kingdom and wealth by defeating him in a Pakida or game of dice, in which Shakuni couldn't lose as he had dices which he could control.

Unable to decline the invitation, due to diplomacy, Yudhishthira gambled away his entire kingdom, his wealth, his four brothers and even his wife, in a series of gambits to retrieve one by staking another. After Yudhishthira lost Draupadi, Duryodhana encouraged his brother Dushasana to drag her into the court as she was now his property. Dushsana pulled Draupadi's hair and dragged her into the court. Duryodhana ordered Draupadi to sit on his left thigh, showing and patting it to insult her for revenge. Draupadi refused and Duryodhan ordered Dushashan to disrobe her. Following his brother's orders, Dushashan laughed and started pulling Draupadi's saree. Duryodhan, Shakuni, Karna and the other Kauravas (except Vikarna) also started laughing. However, by Krishna's grace, Draupadi's amount of clothing remained the same.[15]

Due to this action, Bhima pledged that he would break Duryodhana's thigh.

As an enraged Draupadi was about to curse the Kuru clan, Gandhari intervened. Fearing retribution by the Pandavas, their allies, and history, Dhritarashtra and Gandhari reversed 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 was repeated. For this game of dice Shakuni set the condition that upon losing, Yudhishthira and his brothers must spend thirteen years in exile in the forest and one year of Agyatavasa (remain unknown to others possibly by a disguise) before they reclaim their kingdom. The thirteenth year must be passed incognito, or else the term of exile would be repeated. The Pandavas lost and began their exile.

At the end of the exile term, Duryodhana refused to return Yudhishthira's kingdom, despite the counsel of Bhishma, Dronacharya, and Vidura. Although Dhritarashtra openly criticized his son, he tacitly desired that Duryodhana retain his throne. In a final attempt at securing peace, Krishna returned with the Pandavas' final proposal: the Pandavas would give up all claims to Indraprastha and Hastinapura in exchange for five villages. Scoffing, Duryodhana said he will not even give even a needlepoint of land to the Pandavas. Egged on by Krishna, Duryodhana attempted to arrest him. Krishna revealed his Vishvarupa form. The entire Kaurava court, saved for Bhishma, Drona, Vidura, and Dhritarashtra (who was granted a divine vision in order to see that by supporting his son, he was going against God), was temporarily blinded by the form. This confirmed to those present that Krishna was indeed an avatar of Vishnu. Duryodhana, being vastly egoistic (in some versions of the story an outright atheist), brushed 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 gathered support from his powerful vassals. The most powerful warriors – Bhishma, Drona, Karna, Kripa, Shalya, Bhurisravas, Ashwatthama, even those who were critical of him were forced to fight for Duryodhana due to their previous commitments. He ended up amassing a larger army than his rivals.

Shakuni also advised Duryodhana to seek Krishna's help. Duryodhana rushed to Dwarika only to find Krishna sleeping; he waited at the head of Krishna's bed when suddenly, Arjuna arrived with the same goal in mind. Arjuna waited at the foot of Krishna's bed. When Krishna woke up, both Duryodhana and Arjuna appealed for his alliance. Krishna offered a choice of himself, completely unarmed or the entire Vrishni army. Duryodhana proclaimed that because he arrived first, he should get first pick. However, Krishna said that because he saw Arjuna first and because Arjuna was younger, that Arjuna gets the first choice. Duryodhana became worried but was overjoyed when Arjuna elected to reject Krishna's army in favour of Krishna alone. Joyously, Duryodhana returned 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 managed to win the army of Shalya, the maternal uncle of Nakula and Sahadeva. Duryodhana intercepted Shalya's army as it came to Kurukshetra and offered hospitality; Shalya accepted thinking Yudhishthira had made the offer. After Shalya had enjoyed Duryodhana's comforts, Duryodhana revealed the duplicity and indicated that Shalya is now indebted to him. He used 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.

Bhima attacked Duryodhana, pierced him and cut off his bow. In return, Duryodhana pierced Bhima, his Charioteer and cut off his bow. Duryodhana pierced Bhima with shafts on his breast. Bhima feeling great pain fled away from the battlefield.[16]

On the 8th day, Rakashasaas of Ghatotkacha's army attacked Duryodhana. Duryodhana slew many rakshasas like Vegavat, Maharudra, Vidyujihva and Pramathin.[16] Later, he killed Visharada, son of Kunti-Bhoja.[17]

Duryodhana showing his army to Drona

Uttamauja and Yudhamanyu (sons of Drupad)[18] attacked Duryodhana and Duryodhana defeated them in mace fighting.[18] After the death of Jayadratha, Duryodhana became very angry and he started killing the Pandava army. However, he is later defeated by Yudhishthira and flees.

Nakula attacked Duryodhana. Duryodhana fought with him and defeated Nakula, forcing him to flee. On the sixteenth day, he tried to face Yudishthira and bravely withstood his onslaught. But soon, Yudishthira defeated him and destroyed his chariot. Luckily, he was rescued by Karna.[19]

Nakula and Sahadeva attacked Duryodhana. Duryodhana pierced them and nearly killed them. Later, Dhrishtadyumna saved them. Then many Pandava warriors, including Yudhishthira, Bhima, Dristadyumna, Satyaki, etc. all together attacked Duryodhana. However Duryodhana alone managed to resist all the Pandavas and he repelled the Pandavas' group attack single-handedly.[20]

On the 18th day, the Pandavas together had attacked Duryodhana but they were unsuccessful as Duryodhana alone resisted and defeated all of them.[21][22] Duryodhana had also killed a Yadava warrior named Chekitana on that day. Later, he tried to defeat Dhrishtadyumna who was destroying the retreating Kaurava army. However, Dhrishtadyumna killed Duryodhana's charioteer and destroyed his chariot, forcing Duryodhana to flee. He was the one of the only warriors who was able to defeat Duryodhana that day.[23]

The friendship between Karna and Duryodhana is considered to be a great one, and is used as an example of friendship and loyalty.[7][26] 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 Bhanumati. 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.

As per a Tamil folktale, 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, which 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 in 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.[27]

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.[28]
• 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 the inhabitants of Saur. People believe he stayed here with the blessings of Lord Mahasu to care for the people.[29]

• Mammootty played a character based on Duryodhana in the 1991 Kollywood film Thalapathi. The theme of the film is based on the friendship between Karna and Duryodhana.[30]
• Manoj Bajpayee played a character based on Duryodhana in the 2010 Bollywood film Raajneeti.