Dushasana

Dussasana (Sanskrit: दुःशासन, Duḥśāsana), also spelled as Dushasana and Dushyasana, was a Kaurava prince, the second son of the blind king Dhritarashtra and Gandhari and the younger brother of Duryodhana in the Hindu epic Mahabharata.

Etymology

The name is often derived from two elements, the Sanskrit: duh, meaning 'tough or hard to beat' and shasana, meaning "ruling or power". So the word Dussasana means 'competent or firm ruler'.

Birth and development

When Dhritarashtra's queen Gandhari's pregnancy continued for an unusually long time, she beat her womb in frustration and in envy of Kunti, the queen of Pandu, who had given birth to two of the five Pandavas. Due to her actions, a hardened mass of grey-colored flesh emerged from her womb. Gandhari was devastated, and called upon Vyasa, the great sage who had blessed her with one hundred sons, to redeem his words. Vyasa divided the flesh ball into a hundred equal pieces, and put them into pots of ghee, which were then sealed and buried in the earth for one year. At the end of the year, the first pot was opened, and Duryodhana emerged. The next one to emerge was Dussasana.