Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c5.1178

c5.1178

DURYODHANA I. Villain in the Mahābhārata story; the eldest and greatest of the Kauravas.
(1) Genealogy. See under Kauravas.
(2) Birth. Dhṛtarāṣṭra born blind married Gāndhārī. Hungry and thirsty, Vyāsa once came to Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s palace where Gāndhārī treated him sumptuously, and he blessed her to have hundred sons by her husband. Ere long Gāndhārī conceived, but even after two years she did not deliver. Grief-stricken at this she got herself aborted in secret as the result of which she ‘delivered’ a mass of flesh, and hearing about it Vyāsa visited her. As instructed by him hundred pots were filled with ghee, and the mass of flesh was sprayed with cold water as a result of which it got divided into hundred pieces, each the size of a thumb. Also a smaller piece of flesh remained. Those pieces of flesh were deposited in the pots filled with ghee and the pots kept in a secret place. Vyāsa departed for the Himālayas for tapas. In course of time the pots burst open one by one and from each pot emerged a boy. From the 101st pot a girl was born. Eldest among the boys was named Duryodhana, and the girl called Duśśalā. (For other names see under Kauravas).