Duryodhana - The Kurukshetra War

The Kurukshetra War

At the end of the exile term, Duryodhana refuses to return Yudhisthira's kingdom, despite the counsel of Bhishma, Drona, Vidura and even Krishna, whom he attempted to arrest. Although Dhritarashtra criticizes his son, he tacitly desires that Duryodhana, and not Yudhishitra remain Emperor.

Making war inevitable, Duryodhana gathers support from powerful kings and armies. The most legendary warriors - Bhishma, Drona, Karna, Kripa, Ashwathama,Bhagadatta,Shalya, even though most of them were critical of him - are forced to fight for Duryodhana. He ends up amassing a larger army than his rivals.

In the war, Duryodhana repeatedly eggs on the invincible Bhishma and Drona to forward his cause, even though his main hope is Karna. He asks Drona to capture Yudhisthira alive, so that he may blackmail the Pandavas into surrender, or force Yudhisthira to gamble again. He also participates in the brutal and unethical killing of Arjuna's son Abhimanyu.

But he is repeatedly frustrated when the Pandavas succeed in downing the two Kuru legends, and is emotionally distraught when Arjuna kills Jayadratha, the king of Sindhu to avenge Abhimanyu. And all along, Bhima is steadily slaying his brothers, increasing his misery and bringing him closer to defeat.

It is said that, Duryodhana never shed a single tear for any of his real brothers who were killed in the battlefield, but when his beloved friend Karna was slain, he was inconsolable.on this day he gets an super power from his mother gandhari ,she told him to come in nude befor him ,so that she would see him for once by opening her long tied band,the rays from her eyes would make his full body vajra (Diamond),but krishna confuse him and makes to cover his laps area.so when gandhari saw Duroyodhan his whole body except his laps area became hard like a diamond.

Duryodhana's hopes are finally shattered when Karna is felled by Arjuna as Karna was attacked by Arjuna when he was defenseless and removing the wheel of his chariot, the same way Karna killed Arjuna's son Abhimanyu. 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 battle field and hoping to reunite with his friends and relations in the afterlife. He re-emerges from the lake after Ashwathama and Kripa counsel him to face his destiny with courage.