Shakuni and his role in Mahabharat.....

Shakuni was one of the Dushta Chathushtaya which includes Duryodhana, Dushasana, Karna & Shakuni himself. Those 4 were responsible for all Adharmas in Mahabharat. Shakuni tried every trick in the book possible to hurt Pandavas But was he enemy of Pandavas or Kauravas.

Shakuni's original name is Subalottam, son of King Subala, who was ruler of Gandhar. Subala had 100 sons, where Shakuni was the youngest & he had a daughter called Vasumati which later got renowned by name of Gandhari.

Gandhari also had a boon of having 100 sons like her mother.

A great astrologer said Gandhari had one dosha in her Kundali that first husband will have short life. Often remedies for such doshas are arka vivah (marriage to a tree), but Gandhari was married to a male goat & later they sacrificed that male goat to release her from that dosha, Bhishma approached Subala for his daughter to be married to the Prince of Hastinapur. Subala was very happy to hear that, he said I am very well aware of Prince Pandu & his glory. Bhishma clarified that he wasn't talking about Pandu but he was talking about Prince Dhritshatra.

Now Subala was disheartened to hear Dhritshatra's name as Dhritshatra was blind by birth. When news reached Gandhari she felt sympathy for Dhritshatra & she not only accepted the proposal but also agreed to be blindfolded for rest of her life, to understand husband's pain better. In those days marriage proposals were more like strategic alliances between two kingdoms to avoid conflicts. Hence Subala could not reject the proposal coming from a powerful kingdom & headed by mighty Bhishma.

Shakuni was very angry with Bhishma, as he loved his sister very much, After the marriage, Gandhari gave birth to 100 sons & a daughter Dushala, as per the boon which she had received. Dhritshatra was not chosen as the King because he was blind but he firmly believed his sons were the true heirs of the throne. Hence, he wanted Duryodhana as King. Once during childhood games, there was a fight between Duryodhana & Bheema. During the verbal spat, Bheema said to Duryodhana that you are a son of a goat. Hearing this, Duryodhana immediately ran to his father to confront about the truth, Bhishma was also shocked to hear this.

After investigation they found out that Gandhari was indeed married to a goat and Dhritshatra had married to a widow. As per Vedas, when a lady gives birth to child from a boon or curse, they always belong to her first husband. So now technically 100 Kauravas were son of goat. Dhritshatra got very angry on this, he immediately ordered Bhishma to imprison Subala and his sons for lying to Hastinapur & hiding a truth that Gandhari was a widow.

Subala & his sons were imprisoned in Hastinapur. They were feed only 1 grain of rice per meal as punishment. This continued for few days, now the family was starving, Subala immediately realised that slowly he & his sons will die due to starvation, so he said atleast one amongst us must survive to take revenge frm Bhishma & Dhritshatra for this gruesome act. So he decided to take a test.

He gave piece of bone to each son & asked them to pass a thread through it, all failed except Shakuni who tied thread to an ant & he tied the grain of rice to another end. Ant went through the bone to get that grain of rice. Subala ordered entire ration should be feed to Shakuni, Shakuni ate all the food feed to them by Dhritshatra, slowly his brothers started dying. Subala asked Shakuni to eat dead corpse of his brothers to gain strength. Shakuni ate their hearts and livers. Then Subala hit Shakuni on his feet with cane stick which broke his bone.

Shakuni asked why would u do that, Subala answered that every time you walk, you will feel a pain & that pain will make you realise that you have to take revenge. When all his sons died, Subala requested Dhritshatra that Shakuni to be spared as a heir of Gandhar who will be loyal, After similar requests frm Gandhari & Subala, Dhritshatra agreed to release Shakuni. Before Subala died, he asked Shakuni to make dice out of his bones. He said my soul be present in those dice & they will follow your every command, which made Shakuni unbeatable in game of dice.

After his release Shakuni earned his loyalty by impressing Gandhari & Duryodhana. Instead of returning to Gandhar as ruler, Shakuni decided to stay in Hastinapur to ensure Duryodhana becomes the King. Shakuni knew sons of Pandu were more powerful than sons of Dhritshatra. Shakuni did everything possible to make Pandavas suffer like burning of Lakshyagraha, tricked Yudhistir to play the game of dice, forced Pandavas to exile, refused to accept the completion of exile, forced them into the battlefield. He knew Pandavas would someday finish Kuru Clan.

Shakuni had poisoned Duryodhana's mind by forcing him to opt for a war rather than looking for compromise with Pandavas. Shakuni was not a great warrior but he was a master tactician which every team would love to have. He fought with sword & archery, he defeated few warriors.

In the Mahabharata war, slowly all brothers of Duryodhana had died had the hands of Bheema. Later even Dushasana fell & on 17th day Karna fell while fighting with Arjuna. Duryodhana was losing this battle. On 18th day, Sahdeva defeated & killed sons of Shakuni in battlefield, Then final face-off between Shakuni & Sahdeva started. Shakuni knew this was the moment he was waiting for. Dhritshatra had lost 99 sons & he also lost his son in law Jaydrat, his revenge on Dhritshatra was complete. The task assigned to him by Subala now stands as fulfilled.

Before the battle, Shakuni said that there was no bigger honour for him to die on the battlefield as Kshatriya warrior. Then he immediately fired several arrows at Sahdev, Sahdeva countered Shakuni & eventually killed Shakuni to fulfil his oath he had taken for Draupadi's revenge.

It is believed that after death Shakuni got a place in heaven, as he was focused on the revenge assigned to him by his father Subala. Shakuni became a reason behind the sacred war, where Dharma triumphed over Adharma.

Dhritshatra was more cunning & responsible for many misdeeds.