The 100 Kauravas
The Hundred Brothers
The hundred sons of Dhritarashtra and Gandhari, born from a single boon in one of the most amazing birth stories in Hindu lore. All hundred fought and fell at Kurukshetra.
- Sanskrit/Telugu name: కౌరవులు
- Also known as: Kauravas, Sons of Dhritarashtra, Dhartarashtras
- Weapons: Maces, Bows, Swords
- Symbols: Hundred pots, Serpent banners
Story
Queen Gandhari once served the sage Vyasa with such devotion that he granted her a boon: she would have one hundred sons. But her pregnancy went on for an impossibly long time — and when she heard that Kunti had already given birth to Yudhishthira, she struck her own womb in frustration and delivered only a hard mass of flesh. Vyasa arrived calmly and told her not to despair: he divided the mass into a hundred and one pieces and placed each into a pot of ghee, and in time each pot opened to reveal a baby — a hundred boys, and one girl named Dushala. The eldest was Duryodhana, born to the howling of jackals, an omen that made Vidura beg the king to give the child up; Dhritarashtra, of course, could not. The brothers had wonderfully varied names — Dushasana, Vikarna, Chitrasena, Durmukha, and dozens more — and Vikarna is remembered fondly as the one Kaurava who stood up in the dice hall and protested Draupadi's humiliation. All one hundred brothers fought for Duryodhana at Kurukshetra, and Bhima kept his terrible vow to defeat every single one. Telugu kids often hear the pot-birth story with wide eyes — some grandparents even joke, with a wink, that it sounds like ancient science fiction.
Fun fact
There were actually one hundred and one babies in the ghee pots — everyone forgets the Kauravas had a little sister, Dushala.