Jayadratha married Duhshala, the only daughter of Dhritarashtra and Gandhari, binding the Sindhu kingdom to the Kaurava cause and producing their son Suratha.
Vriddhakshatra, the aged king of Sindhu, fathered Jayadratha, who would succeed him and lead the Sindhu forces in the Kurukshetra war.
Jayadratha's enmity with Arjuna began when the Pandavas humiliated him for abducting Draupadi in the forest, shaving his head and releasing him in disgrace. Jayadratha performed austerities to Shiva and received the boon to hold back four of the five Pandavas for one day, which he used at Kurukshetra to seal Abhimanyu's doom and provoke Arjuna's fatal sunset vow.
Arjuna vowed to kill Jayadratha before sunset to avenge his role in Abhimanyu's death in the Chakravyuha. Krishna obscured the sun to lure Jayadratha out, and Arjuna beheaded him.
On the thirteenth day of Kurukshetra, Jayadratha used Shiva's boon to stand at the mouth of Drona's Chakravyuha and hold back four Pandavas while young Abhimanyu fought alone inside. Trapped without reinforcement, Abhimanyu was overwhelmed and slain by the combined might of the Kaurava warriors.
Jayadratha seized Draupadi by force during the Pandavas' forest exile, dragging her onto his chariot and fleeing toward Sindhu. The five brothers pursued, defeated his army, and Bhima dragged him back by the hair. Yudhishthira spared his life but had his head shaved in five tufts as a mark of servitude.
Humiliated by the Pandavas after the failed abduction of Draupadi, Jayadratha retreated to the Himalayas and performed severe austerities to Shiva. The god granted him a boon to hold back all Pandavas except Arjuna for a single day in battle — a power that would prove decisive at Kurukshetra.
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