Duḥśāsana Vadha

The Duḥśāsana Vadha is the killing of Duḥśāsana by Bhīmasena on the seventeenth day of the Kurukshetra war. It is told in Chapters 82-83 of the Karṇa Parva of the Mahābhārata. It fulfils Bhīma’s most terrible vow. In the dice hall, Duḥśāsana dragged Draupadī by her hair and tried to disrobe her. Bhīma then vowed that he would tear open Duḥśāsana’s chest with his bare hands and drink his blood, and that he would not call himself a son of Pāṇḍu until he had done so. The killing took place before the armies of both sides. Bhīma’s blood-drinking struck awe and terror into every witness.

Background: the vow

In the Dyūta Parva of the Sabhā Parva, Yudhishṭhira lost everything in the dice game, and Draupadī was brought into the assembly as a stake. At Duryodhana’s command, Duḥśāsana dragged Draupadī into the court by her hair. She was in her monthly period and wore a single garment. He tried to disrobe her before all the elders and kings. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa protected her by his divine grace, but the act of adharma had been done.

From that moment Bhīmasena made his vow before the assembly. He would tear open Duḥśāsana’s chest with his own hands, drink the blood from it, and offer the puṇya (merit) of the act to his ancestors. He said he would not call himself a man, a son of Pāṇḍu, until it was done. He renewed this vow again and again through the thirteen years of exile and the seventeen days of war.

The duel (Chapter 82)

On the seventeenth day, in the middle of the general battle, Bhīma and Duḥśāsana at last came face to face. The two warriors fought directly. Bhīma’s attack was terrible. He struck Duḥśāsana with a heavy blow of his mace and knocked him from his chariot to the ground. As Duḥśāsana lay fallen, Bhīma got down from his own chariot.

The killing (Chapter 83)

What followed was the vow kept exactly as sworn. Bhīma put his foot on Duḥśāsana’s chest and pinned him to the earth. He tore the arm from Duḥśāsana’s body with his hands. Then he split open the chest.

The Mahābhārata describes what happened next. Bhīma cupped the warm blood flowing from Duḥśāsana’s chest in his hands and drank it. He drank with satisfaction and tasted it again and again. He said aloud that none of the drinks the world praises compared with the taste of this enemy’s blood. Not mother’s milk, not honey, not ghee, not divine waters, not fine liquors.

Warriors on both sides who saw this fell back in horror. Weapons dropped from their hands. Men shut their eyes in fear. Many cried out that Bhīma was not a man but a rākshasa. The forces of both armies trembled. Even Karṇa, watching from a distance, was shaken.

After drinking, Bhīma rose, cupped more blood in his hands, and called out in a great voice that was heard across the battlefield:

“Here, O lowest of men! I drink your blood now. Call out again, ‘cattle, cattle!’ as you called us in the sabhā. We who know only suffering will dance in answer to your call. This is the result of what Śakuni, Duryodhana and Karṇa planned together. This is payment for the dice game, for the poisoning, for the snakes, for the Lākshāgṛha (the house of lac), for the exile, for the dragging of Draupadī by her hair. You are the root cause of all that pain. I have kept the first of my two vows. The second, to kick Duryodhana’s head with my foot, I will keep before the Kauravas.”

After this speech, covered in blood and roaring like a lion, Bhīma stood victorious over the slain Duḥśāsana. He then spoke to Kṛshṇa and Arjuna, declared his vow kept, and announced that he would keep the second vow about Duryodhana.

The ten sons of Dhṛtarāshṭra (Chapter 84)

After Duḥśāsana’s death, ten of his brothers, sons of Dhṛtarāshṭra, came together to avenge him and surrounded Bhīma with arrows. Their names were Nishaṅgī, Kavacī, Pāśī, Daṇḍadhāra, Dhanurvana, Alolupa, Sahu, Shaṇḍa, Vātavega and Suvarcase. All ten were great mahārathas (chariot-warriors), fierce with anger at their brother’s death.

Arjuna stepped in. With ten broadhead arrows (bhalla) he killed all ten at the same moment and sent them to Yama’s realm.

Duryodhana’s response

Duryodhana saw his brother’s death from a distance and was shattered. The Mahābhārata describes him standing still and unable to move, like a man whose heart had stopped. The rest of the Kaurava forces fell into shock. Śalya came to Karṇa and urged him not to lose heart at the sight. He said that Karṇa must now face Arjuna with all his strength.

The second vow

Bhīma’s vow had seemed extreme to many who heard it, for it spoke of a man drinking his enemy’s blood. Its source was the attempted public disrobing of Draupadī. What Bhīma had promised about Duḥśāsana, he had also promised about Duryodhana himself. The second vow, to kick Duryodhana’s head, was still to be kept.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Karṇa Parva, Chapters 82-83 (the duel and the killing)
• Mahābhārata, Karṇa Parva, Chapter 84 (the ten sons of Dhṛtarāshṭra)
• Mahābhārata, Sabhā Parva, Dyūta Parva (the background of the vow)