Duhshasana is one of Dhrtarashtra's hundred sons, known collectively as the Kauravas, in the Mahabharata, the later of the two major Hindu epics.
The fight for dominance between the Kauravas and their cousins, the Pandavas, is at the core of the Mahabharata, and the Pandavas are the epic's heroes.
After the oldest Pandava, Yudhishthira, loses everything—including Draupadi—in a game of dice, Duhshasana becomes renowned for his disobedience against the Pandavas' common wife Draupadi.
Duhshasana takes Draupadi into the gaming hall by her hair and her clothing, which are soiled by her monthly blood; he also tries to disrobe Draupadi by ripping off her sari, but is thwarted by the deity Krishna, who magically extends Draupadi's sari indefinitely.
Duhshasana's actions in this incident only serve to exacerbate the animosity between the two families.
Bhima, Draupadi's husband and a Pandava brother known for his physical prowess, pledges to revenge the insult by tearing open Duhshasana's chest and consuming his blood, while Draupadi vows to keep her hair unbound until she may bathe it in Duhshasana's blood.
During the Mahabharata battle, Duhshasana fights his brother Duryodhana and is finally murdered by Bhima, who thus fulfills both Bhima and Draupadi's awful promises.
Before murdering Duhshasana, Bhima cuts off the hand that had been holding Draupadi's hair and beats Duhshasana with his own severed limb as an added measure of vengeance.
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