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Dushala - The Only Sister Of The Kauravas

Dushala – The Only Sister Of The Kauravas

We all know that there were 100 Kauravas and 5 Pandavas. The Pandavas were born to Kunti and Madri while the Kauravas were born to Gandhari with the help of Ved Vyasa. Apart from the sons of Hastinapur that fought the battle, Dushala was a daughter of Hastinapur who is not very popular among people. She is often an unknown character but her influence has had a major impact on the Kurukshetra war and the aftermath of the war.

Dushala is the name of the Kaurava daughter. She was born to Gandhari when Ved Vyasa took the flesh in her stomach and divided it into 100 parts. Actually, he had made two halves of the flesh and from one part, 100 divisions gave birth to the hundred sons and the other half was Dushala. Dushala was raised with all the comforts and luxuries of royal palatial life. She was cordial with all her brothers and did not bear any hatred towards either of the sides. She did not have any favourites either and treated them all equally.

Dushala got married to Jayadratha, the king of Sindhu. Jayadratha was a mighty ruler and was known for his war skills. However, he was a not so ideal man as he did not know how to treat women the right way. Their marriage was an unhappy one and more of a political alliance that stood by because of the interest of the two kingdoms. Jayadratha and Duryodhana were on good terms though and always stood by each other.

It was all good until Jayadratha got to know about the beauty and grace of Draupadi. The Pandavas were with Draupadi in an ashram while they were in exile. He went to Draupadi and proposed to her for marriage. Draupadi welcomed him warmly and gave him the respect of a brother in law. However, she politely refused the proposal. He abducted her. The Pandavas got to know about this deed of his and they found him. Bhima was about to kill him when the brothers decided to present the culprit to Draupadi and let her decide his fate. Considering that he was the husband of Dushala, their only sister, they shaved his head in an uneven fashion and left him. Jayadratha later got killed by Arjuna in the Kurukshetra war as he was the one who killed Abhimanyu in the Chakravyuha.

The Pandavas were already upset with widowing their only sister and causing so much pain to her by killing her other brothers and her husband. After the war, they went forward with the Indraprastha yajna where they would fight anyone who would challenge their horse. Suradha, the son of Dushala was the one to stop the horse and Arjuna had to kill him. He then realized his mistake and with a heavy heart apologized to his sister. He also appointed her grandson as the king of Sindhu and left the kingdom intact.

Thus, this was the story of Dushala. She was never involved directly in any of the war or the happenings of the war but the events caused such an extreme amount of pain and misery to her.

Click here to read about Vajra – The Tale Of A Sacrifice.

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