Dushasana

Second of the hundred

Dushasana was born from the same divided mass of flesh as his ninety-nine brothers, the portions Vyasa set in jars of ghee after Gandhari's long pregnancy. He came second, after Duryodhana, and spent his life at his brother's side. With Karna and Shakuni he made up Duryodhana's inner circle, the group that planned each move against the Pandavas. Like his cousins he learned arms under Drona.

The dice hall

When Yudhishthira lost Draupadi at dice, Duryodhana sent a servant to bring her to the hall. She sent him back with a question: had her husband lost himself before he staked her? Duryodhana then sent Dushasana. He dragged her in by the hair, wearing a single cloth, and called her a slave won at dice. Vikarna, one of his own brothers, protested and was shouted down.

At Karna's urging Dushasana began to pull away her garment, but the cloth kept renewing itself until he gave up, exhausted. Bhima swore before the assembly that he would tear open Dushasana's chest and drink his blood. When the Pandavas left for exile, Dushasana danced around them jeering "cow, cow".

Seventeen days of war

He fought through the war as one of the Kaurava commanders. On the fourteenth day, as the Kaurava lines broke before Satyaki, he fell back on Drona's division. Drona rebuked him in front of the troops, quoting back his words to Draupadi, and asked whether he had not guessed that the dice would turn into arrows. On the sixteenth day he fought Sahadeva, matched him shot for shot for a while, and was carried off the field unconscious.

On the seventeenth day Bhima found him. He struck him down, tore open his chest and drank, or seemed to drink, his blood, and both armies recoiled. Draupadi, who had worn her hair unbound since the dice hall, could tie it up again. Bhima later told Gandhari the blood had not passed his teeth.

The hand that did the deed

Dushasana has no counsel of his own in the epic and no speech in his defence. He is the instrument who does what his elder brother wants done, which is why he is remembered for one scene. Readers ask whether the greater blame belongs to him, to Duryodhana who sent him, or to the elders who watched in silence.