DUSSALA Jayadratha

Nearly 3,500 years ago, Sage Vyasa had come to Hastinapur. The then queen of Hastinapur, Gandhari, looked after the sage so well that he was pleased by her devotion. “Ask for any boon”, he told Gandhari. The Queen wanted 100 sons and asked for it. Gandhari became pregnant but even after two years she did not deliver any baby. Meanwhile, another queen of Dhristra had already delivered a baby who came to be called Yudhistra. Subsequently, Gandhari delivered a lump of flesh. Deeply disappointed she decided to throw it away. Vyasa then intervened and told her that his boon could not go in vain. He asked her to get 100 jars and placed a piece of flesh in each one of those jars filled with ghee. Gandhari replied that she wanted a daughter too apart from the 100 sons. Vyasa nodded in approval and cut the lump if flesh into 101 pieces. He then asked Gandhari to wait for two more years before opening the jar. Two years passed and when an anxious Gandhari opened the first jar, she found a baby boy whom she named Duryodhana. According to Aadhi Parva, (Chapter 114, Sloka 17) when Duryodhana started crying, several animals too started howling. Vidura, an adviser to Dhritarashtra, said it was an evil omen and asked Gandhari and Dhritarashtra to abandon it. But that was not to be and the rest as they say is history or rather Mahabharata. (Duryodhana’s real name was Suyodhana and he changed it to Duryodhana which means unconqurable) When the Kauravas were being taken out of the jars, Bheema was born to Kunti in the forest. After 100 sons, Gandhari took out Duhshala, a baby girl, from the 101st jar. Check out the Adi Parva (The book of the beginning) in the Mahabharata which deals with the birth of the Pandavas, Kauravas and other related aspects Duhshala married Jayadratha who was killed by the Pandavas during the Mahabharata war.

Duhsala (also written as Dushala, Dussala etc.) was the sister of Duryodhana in the Indian epic Mahābhārata. She was married to Jayadratha the king of Sindhu and Sauvira. Jayadratha was slain by Arjuna in the Kurukshetra War. Dussala had a son named Suratha. Her grandson battled with Arjuna, when he came to the country of Sindhus after the Kurukshetra War, to collect tribute for Yudhisthira's Aswamedha sacrifice. Arjuna considered Duryodhana's sister as his own sister. Due to love for his sister Arjuna spared life to Suratha's son and left the country of Sindhus. Dussala, daughter of Dritharashtra, is the only girl among the batch of cousins growing up in Hastinapura under the wise tutelage of Bhishma. She becomes a victim of circumstances. She gets married to the powerful king of Sindhu, but the king happened to be a man of split personality often becoming incivil towards women. Jayadradha, king of Sindhu, is the husband of Dussala. As his best friend Duryodhana might have wished, Jayadratha tries to abduct Draupadi, but fails, and as a punishment, gets his head shaved by Bhima. Immediately after this, as a compensation, he does Tapas to Shiva and gets many boons and returns to Sindhu. The first scene opens here. When Dussala sees him she is ashamed and angry at his irresponsible behaviour. However she becomes quiet after knowing about the boons. Husband and wife make up. Just then a messenger arrives telling that Duryodhana has invited Jayadradha to join him urgently in preparation for the war with Pandavas. Jayadradha prepares his army and leaves. During the war Arjuna hears of his son's death at the hands of Jayadradha and vows to kill Jayadradha before the next day's sunset. It is also achieved by the help of Krishna. Arjuna shoots an arrow cutting Jayadradha's head and dropping it in his father Vridhakshtra's hands, as Jayadradha had obtained a boon that anyone who causes his head to fall to the ground, would immediately die with his own head bursting into a 100 pieces. After the war, Yudhishtira, the new king of Hastinapura, takes out an Ashwamedha Yaga wherein Arjuna follows a sacrificial horse with his army. The horse enters the Sindhu territory. Dussala's son Suradha, who was ruling this land, dies of fright on knowing about the approaching army. But he had a small boy. Dussala takes this boy and approaches Arjuna and tells him to show mercy on the boy. When Arjuna learns that he is responsible for the death of Suradha, his nephew, he feels totally shattered. He tells Dussala, "I did not come for war, I came for peace". Now it is Dussala who is shattered. Arjuna anoints the boy as the next king of the Sindhu kingdom. Dussala tells Arjuna, and perhaps the whole world, "We need peace. Let us end this strife forever. No more, never, this war."