It was the last day of the war. Everything was over. Duryodhana was on his deathbed, defeated by Bhima who had attacked him on his thighs. Duryodhana’s life flashed in front of him. The deeds he did, the sins he had committed, and the mistakes he did. All was over for him. He had invited his own doom and slowly but gradually, he had dug his own grave. As he was dying, he lifted his three fingers. All the people around him- his troops and his servants asked him several things about food and water if he wanted anything or has any task to be done. None could understand the thoughts of Duryodhana. He was in a helpless state and he could not even speak. Life was leaving him to drop by drop and it was his last moments on earth.
Lord Krishna saw Duryodhana in his last moments and saw the three fingers raised. He said,
“Oh Duryodhana, I know what your thoughts are. You are thinking about the three mistakes that you committed that would have made you win the war. I know each of them. Let me tell you about them.
The first mistake is that you never built a fort around the city of Hastinapur and left it open for attack. I can see that you wanted to protect the palace from the attacks. However, if you would have done that, I would have sent Nakul on his horse to shatter the fort and overcome it with the strategy of fighting. When your fort would be invaded, your army would have lost morale and then it would have been the perfect time to fight.
The second mistake you made is you never made Ashwathama the commander in chief until Karna died. Ashwathama’s fury is uncontrollable and a pure annihilation of the battlefield would have been done if he was made the commander in chief. However, if you had done that, I would have picked up the weapons in order to protect Dharma and also ensure a fair fight between the two sides. Ashwathama’s fury is equivalent to Lord Shiva’s and I would have fought in order to counter it.
The third mistake is that you never asked Vidura to participate in the war from your side. If you would have done that, I would have made sure to counter each of his strategies just like I did of Shakuni. Also, it would not have ended this way if you did not go to the extent of insulting Draupadi in the court. A peaceful truce was always possible and no one would have died in this huge war.
That being said, you can rest now. You stood by your duties and never left the battle even when you thought you lost it all. Rest in peace warrior.
These were the exact thoughts of Duryodhana as he died. He was assured that he did his duties and he had done whatever possible to give a fair fight. No wonder he ends up going to heaven after he dies.
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