the two royal factions whose battle for
power is at the heart of the
Mahabharata, demands Drupada’s
kingdom as his preceptor’s fee
(dakshina). After Drupada is defeated,
Drona takes half of his kingdom, where-
upon Drupada swears revenge. He per-
forms a great sacrificeto give birthto a
sonwho will kill Drona. Two children
emerge from the sacrificial fire:
Dhrshtadyumna, who eventually kills
Drona; and Draupadi, who becomes the
wife of all five Pandavas. During the
Mahabharata war, Drupada fights on the
side of the Pandavas, his sons-in-law. He
is eventually killed in battle by Drona
but is later avenged by his son
Dhrshtadyumna, who kills Drona.
Duhshasana
In the Mahabharata, the later of the
two great Hindu epics, Duhshasana
is one of the hundred sons of
Dhrtarashtra, who are collectively
known as the Kauravas. The heart of the
Mahabharatais the struggle for power
between the Kauravas and their cousins
the Pandavas, and the latter are the
epic’s protagonists. Duhshasana is most
infamous for his misbehavior toward
the Pandavas’ common wife Draupadi
after the eldest Pandava, Yudhishthira,
loses everything—including Draupadi—
in a game of dice. Duhshasana drags
Draupadi into the gamblinghall by her
hairand with her garments stained by
her menstrual blood; he also attempts
to disrobe Draupadi by pulling off her
sari, but is frustrated here by the god
Krishna, who miraculously makes
Draupadi’s sari infinitely long.
Duhshasana’s behavior in this inci-
dent only fans the enmity between the
two families. Draupadi’s husband
Bhima, the Pandava brother renowned
for his physical strength, vows to avenge
this insult by ripping open Duhshasana’s
chest and drinking his blood, whereas
Draupadi vows that she will leave her
hair unbound until she can wash it in
Duhshasana’s blood. During the
Mahabharata war Duhshasana fights
with his brother Duryodhanaand is
eventually killed by Bhima, after which
both Bhima and Draupadi fulfill their
dreadful vows. As an extra measure of
revenge before killing Duhshasana,
Bhima tears off the hand that had held
Draupadi’s hair and beats Duhshasana
with his own severed limb.Durga
(“inaccessible, impassable”) A particular
form of the Hindu Mother Goddess,
although the name is often used as a
more general title for the mother god-
dess in her fierce and powerful form. As
depicted in images and pictures, Durga
rides on a lionand holds in her eight
hands the weapons of all the gods. Both
of these features correspond to the
description of the great goddess in the
Devimahatmya, the earliest and most
important mythic text used for the
worship of the Goddess as the
supreme divine power. The general
identification of Durga with this great
Goddess is underscored by the
Devimahatmya’s other common name,
the Durgasaptashati(“The 700 [verses]
on Durga”). As a form of the great
Goddess, Durga is a major divinity in the
Hindu pantheon and in modern Hindu
life. The eighth dayin the waxing and
waning halves of the lunar monthare
considered sacred to her, and her rites
are practiced on those days. Her most
important festivals are the Nine Nights
(Navaratri), which occur in both the
spring and the fall. In each of these festi-
vals Durga is worshiped in her nine
forms (Navadurga), one on each
consecutive night. The variety of
goddesses as which she is worshiped
again shows us how Durga is conceived
as the embodiment of the Goddess in all
her forms.Durgasaptashati
(“700 [verses in praise of ] Durga”)
Another name for the Devimahatmya,
the earliest and most important mythic
text for the worshipof the GoddessasDuhshasana