Shakuni. - The maternal uncle of Duryodhana, the epic's adversary, in the Mahabharata, the later of the two major Hindu epics.
In the Mahabharata, Shakuni's most famous occurrence occurs
as a dice player versus Yudhishthira, the oldest of the five Pandava brothers
who are the epic's heroes.
Shakuni is described in the epic as the finest dice player
in the universe, but Yudhishthira is passionate but entirely untrained.
As Yudhishthira continues to lose, he bets more and larger
amounts in an attempt to recoup his losses.
Yudhishthira wagers himself and his brothers after losing
his family's kingdom and all their belongings, and after losing this bet, he
wagers and loses their common wife, Draupadi.
As a consequence, Draupadi is paraded around the assembly
hall by Shakuni's nephews, Duryodhana and Duhshasana, her garments smeared with
her menstrual blood, escalating the enmity between the two factions.
Duryodhana's father, King Dhrtarashtra, is shocked by the
treatment and restores the Pandavas' freedom.
The Pandavas then agree to go into exile for twelve years
and live secretly for the thirteenth, under the proviso that if they are found
in the thirteenth year, the cycle would start all over again.
Shakuni fights on his nephew's side in the Mahabharata battle,
but is finally murdered by Sahadeva, the fourth Pandava brother.
