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DUŚŚĀSANA I A son of Dhṛtarāṣṭra.
1) His birth.
See under Kauravas.
2) Other information.
(1) He, along with his brothers, was present at the svayaṁvara of Pāñcālī. [Ādi Parva, Chapter 185, Verse 1] .
(3) He kept store and served food to the guests at the Rājasūya of Yudhiṣṭhira. [Sabhā Parva, Chapter 35, Verse 5] .
(3) He dragged Pāñcālī and stripped her of her clothes in the assembly hall of the Kauravas. (For details see under Pāñcālī).
(4) Gandharvas took him captive in Dvaitavana. (See under Kauravas).
(5) The Pāṇḍavas released the Kauravas from captivity, and Duryodhana laden with this humiliation did not desire to return to Hastināpura. He asked Duśśāsana to assume kingship and rule the subjects well. Duśśāsana rejected the offer and wept. This was a good trait in the vicious character of Duśśāsana like lightning in the midst of dark and thick clouds. [Vana Parva, Chapter 249] .
3) Duśśāsana in the great war.
(1) During the first day of the war he fought a duel with Nakula. [Bhīṣma Parva, Chapter 45, Verse 22] .
(2) He got defeated in the duel with Arjuna. [Bhīṣma Parva, Chapter 110, Verse 23] .
(3) He promised Duryodhana that he would kill Abhimanyu. Droṇa Parva, Chapter 89, Verse 24).
(4) Abhimanyu rendered him unconscious with his arrows. [Droṇa Parva, Chapter 40, Verse 13] .
(5) He got defeated by Arjuna and ran away from the battlefield. [Droṇa Parva, Chapter 10] .
(6) He fought with Sātyaki. [Droṇa Parva, Chapter 96, Verse 14] .
(7) He got defeated by Sātyaki and ran off. [Droṇa Parva, Chapter 121, Verse 29] .
(8) He defeated Prativindhya. [Droṇa Parva, Chapter 168, Verse 43] .
(9) Sahadeva defeated him in fighting. [Droṇa Parva, Chapter 188, Verse 5] .
(10) He fought with Dhṛṣṭadyumna and got defeated. [Droṇa Parva, Chapter 189, Verse 5] .
(11) On the death of Droṇa he ran away from the battle-field. [Droṇa Parva, Chapter 193, Verse 15] .
(12) Sahadeva defeated him. [Karṇa Parva, Chapter 23, Verse 18] .
(13) Duśśāsana put Dhṛṣṭadyumna in prison. [Karṇa Parva, Chapter 61. Verse 33] .
(14) He fought with Bhīma. [Karṇa Parva, Chapter 82] .
4) Death of Duśśāsana.
In the fierce fight between Bhīma and Duśśāsana at Kurukṣetra Bhīma felled him with his club and sat on his chest asking him with which hand of his he pulled Draupadī by hair, Raising his right hand Duśśāsana cried out, “This is the hand you seek for”. At this reply of his Bhīma pulled out Duśśāsana's right hand and thrashed him with it. He cut asunder Duśśāsana's chest and drank the blood which gushed out of it [Karṇa Parva, Chapter 83, Verse 8] .
5) After his death.
(1) After Duśśāsana's death Arjuna occupied his palace. [Śānti Parva, Chapter 44, Verse 8] .
(2) Vyāsa evoked the souls of the heroes who died in war and sprinkled Gaṅges water on them. Duśśāsana was one among those thus treated. [Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapter 32, Verse 9] .
(3) After death he attained heaven. [Svargārohaṇa Parva, Chapter 5, Verse 21]
6) Synonyms of Duśśāsana.
Bharata, Bharataśreṣṭha, Bharatāpasada, Dhṛtarāṣṭraja, Kaurava, Kauravya, Kuruśārdūla etc.
DUŚŚĀSANA II Another Duśśāsana, servant of the son of King Khaḍgabāhu of Saurāṣṭra is also mentioned in the Purāṇas. Khaḍgabāhu had a famous elephant, which one night broke its chains and escaped, and all the mahouts could not chain it again. People in terror of the elephant ran helter-skelter. Now, a brahmin was going that way chanting verses of the 16th Chapter of the Gītā, and even though the mahouts warned him he did not change his path. Instead he saluted the elephant by touching its cheeks and proceeded on his way unhurt by the animal. The King felt great respect for the brahmin when he was told that he owed his miraculous powers to the 16th chapter of the Gītā, and he took the brahmin with him to his palace. The King gave him 100,000 golden coins and received from him the Gītā mantra. He began reciting daily certain verses in the 16th Chapter of the Bhagavadgītā. Some time afterwards the King one day went to an open ground near his palace accompanied by soldiers and set the elephant free from its chain. Then, unheeding the entreaties of the frightened people he approached the elephant, saluted it by touching its cheeks and came away unhurt. He could act in this fashion because of his firm faith in the efficacy of the Bhagavadgītā. And afterwards he placed his son, on the throne and himself led a life of recluse repeating the Bhagavadgītā. Some Purāṇas have another version of this episode. Duśśāsana was a servant of Khaḍgabāhu's son and he attempted to catch the elephant but was killed by it. He attained salvation by hearing the 17th Chapter of the Bhagavadgītā. Duśśāsana, an idiot, betting a huge sum of money with the junior mahouts of the elephant and unheeding the warnings of several people once mounted the elephant. Children agitated the animal and Duśśāsana fell down from its back. The angry animal stamped the fool to death, and its rage having not yet subsided it threw around his bones. Duśśāsana, who ended his life thus was reborn as an elephant and was owned by King Jayadeva of Ceylon for a long time. A great friend of King Khaḍgabāhu, Jayadeva presented the elephant to him. At the sight of its brothers and other relations memory about its previous birth dawned on the elephant. And, it lived in great grief. After some days the King presented the animal to a poet pleased at his samasyāpūraṇa (filling the three lines of a stanza in tune with the fourth line given). The poet sold the elephant to the King of Mālava as it got ill with fever. In spite of the best treatment administered to it the elephant seemed to be nearing its end. Without either eating or drinking or sleeping the animal stood motionless shedding tears day and night. One day, the Mālava King visited the elephant when, to the surprise of all assembled there, the elephant spoke to the King thus: “Oh, King: if a brahmin recites the 17th Chapter of the Bhagavadgītā I will be completely cured of my illness.” Accordingly a brahmin was brought. As soon as he chanted the Gītā and sprinkled water on its head it got rid of its animalhood, ascended the divine aeroplane and shone forth like Indra. The Mālava King also began daily reciting the Bhagavadgītā and within a short time afterwards attained salvation. [Padma Purāṇa, Chapter 8] .
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