Kaurava Kula

The Kaurava Kula (“family of the Kauravas”) is the name for the hundred sons of King Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Queen Gāndhārī, led by the eldest, Duryodhana. In the Mahābhārata they are the party opposed to the five Pāṇḍavas. The name Kaurava comes from Kuru, the great forefather of the dynasty. In its widest sense, both the Kauravas and the Pāṇḍavas are Kauravas, that is, descendants of Kuru. But in the story of the Mahābhārata, “the Kauravas” means Duryodhana’s party.

The hundred sons were born from Gāndhārī in a remarkable way. After a very long pregnancy, Vyāsa told her to divide the mass she had given birth to into one hundred and one parts, place them in pots of ghee, and leave them for two years. From these came one hundred sons and one daughter, Duśśalā. Bad omens surrounded their births. The eldest, Duryodhana, was born on the same day as Bhīmasena.

The Remarkable Birth

Gāndhārī carried her pregnancy for an unusually long time, two full years, without giving birth. When she heard that Kuntī had given birth to Yudhiṣṭhira, she was overcome with emotion and struck her womb in frustration. A hard mass of flesh came out. At that very moment the ṛṣi Vyāsa arrived and told her not to throw it away. He told her to divide it into one hundred and one parts, place each in a sealed pot with ghee, and leave them for two years. At the end of that time, one hundred sons and one daughter were born: the Kauravas and Duśśalā.

Duryodhana was the first of the sons to come out. At his birth bad omens appeared: animals howled, jackals cried from the wrong direction, and the sun and moon were eclipsed. The elders, including Bhīṣma and Vidura, advised that this child foretold destruction and should not be kept. Dhṛtarāṣṭra could not follow their advice, and he kept his son.

The Hundred Names

The eldest was Duryodhana. After him came Duśśāsana, Duśśaha, Duśśalā (the daughter), Jalagandha, Sama, Saha, Vinda, Anuvinda, Durdharṣa, Subāhu, Duṣpradharṣa, Durmarṣaṇa, Durmukha, Duṣkarṇa, Vikarṇa, Śala, Satva, Suvarca, Duṣparājaya, Citra, Upacitra, Citrākṣa, Cārucitra, Śarāsana, Durmada, Durvigāha, Vivitsu, Vikaṭānana, Ūrṇanābha, Sunābha, Naṭa, Naṭāgra, Citra, Suprabha, Citrakuṇḍa, Dhanurgraha, Durmada, Dṛḍhahasta, Suhasta, Vātavega, Suvarcas, Ādityaketu, Bahvāśī, Nāgarajit, Ugrāyudha, Bhīmaratha, Raudrakarmā, Dīrghacarmā, Suvarmā, Sujāta, Durvimocana, Ayobāhu, Mahābāhu, Citrabāṇa, Citravarman, Suvarman, Durvirocana, Ayobāhu, Śravaṇa, Citrasena and others. The full list of all one hundred names is given in the family lists of the Sambhava Parva.

Their Origin Beyond This World

According to the teaching of aṃśāvatāra (partial descent), Duryodhana was an aṃśa (portion) of Kali, the ruling spirit of the Kali Yuga. Śakuni was an aṃśa of the asura Dvāpara, and the hundred Kauravas were aṃśas of various rākṣasas. Their birth in human form was the high point of a larger process. Asura forces that had been beaten in divine wars came back into the human world and had to be removed, this time by Viṣṇu’s own aṃśa, Kṛṣṇa, working through the Pāṇḍavas.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Sambhava Parva, Chapters 107–110