Duryodhana’s Family Tree

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Family

• Dhritarashtra(parent),Gandhari(parent),Duhshala(sibling)— Marriage

  Dhritarashtra married Gandhari of Gandhara, who blindfolded herself for life upon learning of her husband's blindness. Together they produced a hundred sons — the Kauravas, led by the firstborn Duryodhana — and one daughter, Duhshala, whose birth was attended by ill omens of jackals howling and fires blazing.

Allied with

• Karna

  Duryodhana crowned Karna king of Anga when all others rejected him for his low birth. This act of friendship bound Karna to Duryodhana with unbreakable loyalty, and Karna fought for the Kauravas at Kurukshetra in repayment.

Enemy of

• Arjuna

  When Arjuna revealed his skill at the tournament of princes, Duryodhana's jealousy ignited a lifelong rivalry. Before Kurukshetra, both sought Krishna's aid — Arjuna chose Krishna himself as his charioteer while Duryodhana took his army, a choice that sealed the war's outcome.

• Bhima

  Duryodhana and Bhima were childhood rivals whose hatred grew into the catastrophic Kurukshetra war. Their mace duel ended the war.

• Draupadi

  Duryodhana orchestrated Draupadi's humiliation in the Kaurava court, exposing his thigh and inviting her to sit on it as a sexual insult. Draupadi's fury and her husbands' vows of vengeance drove the Kurukshetra War.

• Krishna

  Duryodhana rejected Krishna's peace embassy before Kurukshetra and attempted to bind him in chains, provoking Krishna to reveal his cosmic form. Krishna guided the Pandavas to victory against Duryodhana's forces.

• Yudhishthira

  Duryodhana's refusal to return the Pandavas' kingdom after their exile drove the central conflict of the Mahabharata. Yudhishthira exhausted all peaceful options before reluctantly waging the Kurukshetra War against his cousin.

Slain by

• Bhima

  Bhima killed Duryodhana in a mace duel at the end of the Kurukshetra war, shattering his thighs with a forbidden below-the-waist blow.

Associated with

• Balarama,Bhima

  Balarama trained both Bhima and Duryodhana in mace combat. He cursed Bhima for striking Duryodhana's thighs, a blow forbidden in mace dueling.

• Bhishma

  Bhishma commanded Duryodhana's army for the first ten days of the Kurukshetra War despite opposing his cause. Duryodhana questioned Bhishma's commitment, suspecting the grandsire of holding back against the Pandavas he loved.

• Drona

  Drona trained Duryodhana alongside the Pandavas in Hastinapura, teaching him mace and sword. Duryodhana's devotion to his teacher secured Drona's allegiance to the Kaurava side when the war came, making the guru fight against his own greatest student Arjuna.