Shakuni
Portrayed as an extremely intelligent, crafty and devious man, Shakuni is often credited as the mastermind behind the Kurukshetra War. Shakuni was one of the greatest illusionists.
Shakuni had three sons named Uluka, Vrikaasur and Vriprachitti. The original texts of Mahabharata mention Shakuni as personification of Dvapara Yuga.
Shakuni was born in Gandhara to its king, Subala. There is a kingdom called Gandhara. The king of Gandhara, named Subala has 100 sons and one daughter. Last son being Shakuni and the daughter is youngest called vasumathi , popularly known as Gandhari. So Shakuni grown up like any other princes and lived a princely life.
According to a Jain tradition, that contradicts the Mahabharata, while Shakuni was still a young boy, Gandhara was invaded by a Kuruprince, with (different versions of the story naming the attacker as Pratipa, Shantanu, Devavrata, or Vichitravirya).
Shakuni was also called Subalottam ( meaning the best son of subala ). He was also said to be very intelligent and was not born with a deformed leg, he breaks his thigh bone in order to always remember to destroy kaurav family as his sister who he dearly loved was married to a blind man(dhridrashtra) by their father (king of ghandhar … now khandhar in afghanistha)
It is about Shakuni’s revenge from Dhritarashtra .
Shakuni was extremely intelligent and equally devious as well.He had a sister, Gandhari, who he was very fond of. According to legend, Gandhari was a manglik.
Legend has it that Gandhari was first married off to a goat, before being married to Dhritarashtra, the blind prince of Hastinapur. He was a non-manglik and hence, her family believed that it would be safe to give her away in marriage to Dhritarashtra, once they sacrificed the goat after getting them married!
Dhritarashtra ( different versions of the story also say it was Bhishma) heard of this incident much after their marriage and was enraged, as her secret first marriage technically made him her second husband. As punishment, he decided to put Gandhari’s family in prison, including King Subala. He decided to gradually starve them to death and so, each of them was given only one fistful of rice to eat everyday. Knowing that they would not live long on this diet, Gandhari’s father asked his youngest son, Shakuni, to consume all the food given to them, so that at least he would survive to avenge their death. In order to make sure that he would forever remember to take revenge, his father twisted his leg – that gave him the permanent limp that typically characterises Shakuni.
Before breathing his last, Subala also requested Dhritatashtra to set Shakuni free and also take care of him, promising him that his son, in turn, would always take care of and protect Dhritarashtra’s sons. By that time, Dhritarashtra had a hundred sons and one daughter. He took pity on his father-in-law and agreed to fulfill the elder’s request.
It is believed that he used the thigh bones and backbone of his father’s body to create the dice, using which he was able to defeat the Pandavas in the elaborate Game of Dice that followed in the years ahead. This set of dice, it is said, had magical abilities, as his father’s soul resided within them. They would help him win all games of dice he ever played during his lifetime.
Shakuni in the darkness of the caves plotted his game. He made dies out of the thigh bones of his father. He saw to it that he had his plans straight and waited for the day when he would get out and execute his mind. He saw his brothers fight for food, beg for a bite from his plate. He saw his brothers die. Shankuni never left duroyodhna’s side till the end.
In some other versions, this story didn’t exist. Shankuni, his brothers, sons and Gandhara army fought for Duryodhana till last breath and died in Kurushetra war. Shakuni’s brothers died at the hand of Iravat, the valiant son of Uloopi and Arjuna. So his brother were in fact alive and fought for Duryodhana.
On the 18th day before war, Duryodhana convinced Shakuni to be the Commander-in-Chief of his army but he preferred Shalya.
1st Day
On the very first day of war, Shakuni, Duryodhana and Dushasana attacked Yudhishthira to kill him but they failed.
2nd Day
On the 2nd day, he got defeated by Sahadeva in an Sword Duel and by Satyaki in Archery.
4th Day
On the 4th day, he killed 5 powerful Generals of Magadha.
5th Day
On the 5th of war, he got defeated by Arjuna in Archery battle and by Dhrishtadyumna in Sword Duel.
7th Day
On the 7th day, he got defeated by Bhima in Gada-Yuddha and by Drupada in Archery.
8th Day
On the 8th day, he killed Jayadeva who was cousin of Sahadeva of Magadha.
9th Day
On the 9th day of war, he got defeated by Yudhishthira in a Spear Combat and by Abhimanyu in Archery.
10th Day
On the 10th day of war, he stopped Shikhandi from reaching Bhishma. He also defeated Shikhandi in a battle of Axe-Fighting on the same day. Shakuni also stabbed him in his stomach.
12th Day
On the 12th day, he slew king Sahadeva of Magadha. Later, he defeated Upapandavas and Virata. He also fought with Dhrishtadyumna two times, firstly he defeated him and secondly he got defeated.
13th Day
On the 13th day, Shakuni and other Maharathis attacked and killed Abhimanyu. Karna was first one who stabbed him.
14th Day
On 14th day, he fought with Nakula to save Jayadratha but got defeated. After Jayadratha’s death, he planned a Night War. In the night war he defeated Drupada, Virata and Satyaki.
17th Day
On 17th day his son Vrikaasur was slained by Nakula.
After the Game of Dice episode in the Mahabharata, the youngest of the Pandava brothers Sahadeva had taken an oath to avenge Draupadi’s insult and had sworn to kill Shakuni, the mastermind of the episode.
On the 18th day of the Mahabharata war, Pandavas attacked Shakuni, Uluka and their army. As Duryodhana and his other brothers rushed to protect their uncle, Bhima stepped in and fought the remaining Kauravas and killing many of them (except Duryodhana). Meanwhile, Nakula killed many prominent Gandharan warriors and the bodyguards of Uluka. Sahadeva fought Shakuni and Uluka and, not long afterwards, killed Uluka. Shakuni became furious and attacked Sahadeva. He broke his chariot and bow, Sahadeva ascended another chariot and fought Shakuni ferociously. After much attacks and tackles, both of them descended their chariots to settle things in a duel. Sahadeva was then able to smash an axe into Shakuni’s forehead, fulfilling his oath.
There are so many stories on the life of Shankuni. I have shared two different stories here. It is possible that more stories may also exist.
Thank you all for reading my story.