We Indians consider the texts like Ramayana and Mahabharata as religious and sacred texts and that is why it is not surprising that we consider characters from these epics like Rama, Krishna, or Hanuman as our Gods. But there are some characters in these great epics who often attract our attention. One such character is Shakuni of the epic Mahabharata.

While we usually discuss how Shakuni manipulated Duryodhan leading to the Kurukshetra war, we hardly talk anything about Shakuni's life. Shakuni might have earned your loath but, he will always be an essential part of Indian history. Because not many have the power or knowledge to win kingdoms, through a mere dice game.

Background of Shakuni

In Mahabharata, Shakuni also known as Saubala. He was the son of Subala, the King of Gandhar (modern Afghanistan and Pakistan). He became of the King of Gandhar after the death of his father. He was the root of all the conspiracies of Duryodhana against the Pandavas, which finally resulted in the Kurukshetra War. His sister Gandhari was the wife of Kuru king Dhritarashtra.

Gandhari's marriage with Dhritarashtra

According to the events of Mahabharata, when Sakuni was young, once Bhishma approached King Subala with a marriage proposal for Shakuni's sister Gandhari's, to the blind Kaurava prince Dhritarashtra. But Gandhari was married to a goat prior to her marriage to Dhritarashtra. 

Gandhari's horoscope said her husband will die as soon as she marries. So his father got her married by a tree on the advice of his royal priest and sacrificed/cut the tree to nullify the defect. After doing this, the fault of being widowed was removed from Gandhari's horoscope. When Bhishma approached King Subala with a marriage proposal for Gandhari's, to the blind Dhritarashtra, he agrees immediately as he thought his daughter would be the queen of Hastinapur. But Shakuni was not happy with his father's decision.

Shakuni's extremely loved his sister Gandhari. Since her childhood, Gandhari preferred to have well-lit places all the time because she was petrified of the dark. But after her marriage with Dhritarashtra, being a dutiful wife of the blind king, she voluntarily blindfolded herself which meant she had to live every second of her life in absolute terror because of the darkness due to her blindfold. This didn't go down well with Shakuni. who constantly advised her to take off her blindfold. Hence he expresses the anger he felt for the injustice that Gandhari had to go through.

Hastinapur-Gandhara war and Shakuni's vow

After the marriage when Dhritarashtra came to know about Gandhari's first marriage and that she was a widow before, he became very angry and attacked Gandhara. His point was, what King Subala did was unrighteous (Adharma), and he was not a worthy king. He was declaring war against King Subala to restore righteousness (Dharma) to Gandhara. But only Shakuni knew that it was a pure power-grab disguised in the name of restoring dharma.

Shakuni, his father, his 99 brothers, his uncles, and cousins were imprisoned by the Hastinapur army. While in the prison only one grain of rice was given to each captive. Knowing that Shakuni is the youngest and wisest among them, everyone gave all their grains to Shakuni so that he can survive. Eventually, all of Shakuni's imprisoned family members died. Shakuni vows his revenge on his dying father that he will destroy Kuru clan for their deeds. Seeing this his father gave him the boon that he will be a great politician and will defeat other people with his political genius. He advised him to make two dice from his thigh bones, that will never lose him a game, as his (Shakuni's father's) soul will enter the dice to make it roll to whatever number Shakuni wants.

Conspiracies after freedom

Observing the death of Gaandharva clan, Dhritarashtra ordered to release Shakuni. At that time Shakuni stabbed in his own left leg so that he can remember his vow. This made him cripple for the rest of his life. Shakuni's main enmity was with Bhishma and Dhritarashtra. First, who had brought the proposal of Gandhari and Dhritarashtra's marriage and second who was responsible for the injustice that Gandhari had to go through, and the death of his brothers and father.

Shakuni was the mastermind behind most of the conspiracies in Mahabharata. As a far-sighted man, his plan was much bigger than causing plight to the Pandavas. he wanted a full-scale civil war between the Kuru clan, which would destroy the whole clan, fulfilling his revenge. And for this, he mainly worked for inciting hatred between the Kauravas and Pandavas. Although he often failed in his tricks against the Pandavas he never lost faith in his own abilities to destroy the lineage of Kuru. As a result, his plans culminated in the largest war in history.

The main conspiracies of Shakuni which incited Kurukshetra war:

1. Bhima's murder attempt
Shakuni had an agenda to influence negatively the adolescent Duryodhana against his cousins, the Pandavas. Because of this Duryodhana developed hostility and hatred towards them and especially for Bhima as Duryodhana saw and experienced the might of Bhima.

Shakuni's advised the adolescent Duryodhana to kill Bhima. Shakuni fed him that if he could kill Bhima then he can imprison Yudhishtira and Arjuna and rule Hastinapur. So Duryodhana mixed poison into Bhima's food twice. But Bhima first saved by Nagas and then by Yuyutsu simultaneously.

2. Lakshagriha conspiracy
He hired Purochana, who was the chief architect of Hastinapura and a friend of Shakuni and Duryodhana, to kill the Pandavas. As per Shakuni's instructions, Purochana built a really beautiful palace in Varnavrata out of only materials that could catch and spread fire easily. It was mainly made out of wax and twigs. He called the palace as Lakshagriha (House of wax).
 
Meanwhile, Shakuni convinced the Pandavas and Kunti to visit Varanavata where Purochana welcomed them grandly. After 10 days, during the night, Purochana set fire on the palace. The Pandavas woke up to realize that this had been another evil plan of Shakuni. But they managed to escape the fire of Lakshagriha with the help of Vidura who sent a miner to dig a tunnel beneath the palace before. The tunnel led the Pandavas to the bank of river Ganga.

3. The game of Chausar
On the occasion of Rajasuya yagnya, Shakuni planned the game of  Chausar (the game of dice) between Kauravas and Pandavas. He challenged Yudhisthira for a game on behalf of Duryodhana. Shakuni chose this occasion because, as a Kshatriya, Yudhishthira wouldn't refuse the challenge during Rajasuya Yagnya. 

He helped Duryodhana to win Yudhishthira's Kingdom, his brothers- Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, Sahadeva, Yudhishthira himself, and at last Draupadi too. On Duryodhana's order, Dussasana tried to undress Draupadi but Krishna saved her. This humiliation of Draupadi led the Kuru clan to the war.

4. Putting king Shalya in Duryodhana's debt
Before the war, he advised Duryodhana to feed King Shalya's army and put Shalya in his debt, making it compulsory for him to fight on the side of Kauravas. Because Shalya was maternal Uncle of Nakula & Sahadev and he wanted to join Pandavas' in the Kurukshetra war.
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As a master conspirator, he knew his enemies so well. Hence he feared no one, except Krishna, whom he always considered as an obstacle. Only Krishna had the strength and influence to foil his evil plans. Krishna was a clever diplomat and statesman, and he was the only person who matched Shakuni's cunning and intelligence. The only difference between Shakuni and Krishna was- Shakuni only wanted to avenge his family and Krishna wanted to show that righteousness (Dharma) will always triumph over the unrighteousness(Adharma).

Shakuni's role in the Kurukshetra War

After the game Chausar (The game of dice), Sahadeva, the youngest of the Pandavas had taken an oath to avenge Draupadi's humiliation and had sworn to kill Shakuni, who was the mastermind of that incident.

Shakuni had three sons named Vriprachitti, Uluka, and Vrikaasur, Uluka and Vrikaasur fought in the Kurukshetra war alongside their father.

1st Day of the war
On the very first day of the war, Shakuni attacked Yudhishthira along with Duryodhana and Dushasana to kill him but they failed.

2nd Day of the war
On the 2nd day, he got defeated by Sahadeva in a Sword Duel but Sahadeva did not kill him at that time but seriously injured him. He also got defeated by Satyaki in Archery on the same day.

3rd Day of the war
On the 3rd day, Shakuni did not take part in the war as he was injured on the previous day. That day the duo of Abhimanyu and Satyaki defeated the Gandhara forces of Shakuni.

4th Day of the war
On the 4th day, he became more furious and attacked the Magadha Army. In the process, he killed 5 powerful Generals of Magadha.

5th Day of the war
On the 5th day, he challenged Arjuna but got defeated in the Archery battle. Later that day he tried to overpower Dhrishtadyumna in Sword Duel but failed.

7th Day of the war
On the 7th day, he challenged Bhima for Gada Yuddha (Mace fight) despite knowing that Bhima was the greatest Macefighter. But he got defeated by Bhima in Gada-Yuddha. Later he engaged in an Archery dual by Drupada (father of Draupadi and Dhrishtadyumna) but defeated.

9th Day of the war
On the 9th day of the war, he planned to capture Yudhistira and attacked him. But got defeated by Yudhishthira in a Spear Combat and by Abhimanyu in Archery.

10th Day of the war
On the 10th day, Shikhandi (Daughter of Drupada) tried to reach Bhishma to get his revenge. But Shakuni stopped him from reaching Bhishma. He defeated Shikhandi in a battle of Axe-Fight and stabbed him in his stomach. But king Virata interfered with the dual in order to save Shikhandi.

12th Day of the war
On the 12th day, he killed king Sahadeva (Son of Jarasandha) of Magadha. Later, that day he defeated Upapandavas and King Virata. After this, he became more confident and fought with Dhrishtadyumna two times. At first, Shakuni overpowered him, but after,  Shakuni got defeated.

13th Day of the war
Shakuni played a crucial part on the 13th day of the war. This was the second most emotional day after the death of Bhishma on the 10th day.  When Abhimanyu (Son of Arjuna) broke Dronacharya's Chakra Vyuha and reached the center, Shakuni attacked Abhimanyu along with other Maharathis which includes Dronacharya, Dushasana, Karna, Ashwatthama, Duryodhana, and Kritavarma (Abhimanyu's teacher) at the same time. Karna was the first one who stabbed Abhimanyu from behind after cutting his bow, following the order of Dronacharya. After a fierce battle, Durmasana (Son of Dushasana) killed the exhausted Abhimanyu in a mace fight by crushing Abhimanyu's skull. This whole fight was against the rules of the war as the unarmed Abhimanyu was attacked by multiple warriors at the same time. Killing Abimanyu enraged Arjuna, which led to more destruction in the Kurukshetra war.

14th Day of the war
On the 14th day, Shakuni fought with Nakula to save Jayadratha but got defeated. After Jayadratha's death, he planned a night war. In the night war, he defeated Virata, Drupada, and Satyaki.

17th Day of the war
On 17th day Shakuni's son Vrikaasur was killed by Nakula.

18th Day - Death of the witty

On the 18th day before the war, Duryodhana tried to convinced Shakuni to be the Commander-in-Chief of the Kaurava army but he preferred King Shalya. Shakuni knew that being the maternal uncle of Nakula & Sahadeva, Pandavas will not harm Shalya. So he can lead the army for a longer time. With this intention, he suggested the same to Duryodhana. 

That day on the battlefield Pandavas attacked Shakuni, his son Uluka, and their army. Seeing this Duryodhana and other Kaurava brothers rushed to protect their uncle and cousin, but Bhima stepped in and fought the Kauravas and killing many of them (except Duryodhana). Meanwhile, Nakula killed many prominent Gandharan warriors. He killed the bodyguards of Uluka, giving Sahadeva a chance to kill him (Uluka). 

By seeing this Shakuni became furious and attacked Sahadeva. Shakuni broke Sahadeva's chariot and bow, but Sahadeva climbed on another chariot and fought Shakuni ferociously. After many attacks and tackles, both of them descended their chariots to settle things face to face in a duel. Sahadeva smashed an axe into Shakuni's forehead and fulfilled his oath.

Shakuni's Memorial

It is true that negative characteristics were dominant in him, but he too had some positive elements. These positive elements in his character are recognized by a community in Kerala, India. At Pavitreshwaram in Kollam District of Kerala, there is an ancient temple dedicated to Shakuni. The main offering of the temple is silk and coconut. In this ancient temple, there is a throne which believed to have been used by Shakuni.



As Shakuni was the main antagonist in Mahabharata, he often portrayed as an extremely intelligent, crafty, and devious man. He was one of the greatest illusionists. But he will always be remembered for his determination, and love for his family, for which he never went back to his own prosper kingdom of Gandhara and stayed in Hastinapur for the end of his life, to avenge the unrighteousness happened to his family.