Why did Duryodhana not listen to the advice of his mother, Gandhari ?
Why did Duryodhana not listen to the advice of his mother, Gandhari ?
Duryodhana rejected Gandhari's plea for peace because he was overpowered by greed, anger and pride.
Reasons for ignoring the advice:
- Greed for the kingdom — Duryodhana was unwilling to share sovereignty over the Kuru territory with the Pandavas and coveted undivided control of Hastinapura.
- Anger and ego — His long-standing jealousy and enmity towards the Pandavas clouded his reason, exactly the two vices (greed and anger) his mother warned would "drag a man away from his profits."
Result: Blinded by these passions, he chose war over dharma and artha, and ultimately lost both the war and his life.
Marking Scheme
- 11 mark: greed / ambition for undivided control of the kingdom, unwilling to share with Pandavas.
- 21 mark: anger, jealousy, pride/ego towards the Pandavas overriding reason.
- 3Full credit if answer references the vices (greed and anger) named in the source.
Hint
Focus on the two vices Gandhari names — greed and anger — plus Duryodhana's desire for undivided kingship.
Quick Oral Answer
Duryodhana ignored his mother because greed for the undivided kingdom and his anger and pride towards the Pandavas overpowered his judgement, leading him to choose war over peace.
Analysis & Explanation
This extract is drawn from the Mahabharata, used by historians as a source for reconstructing early social norms and kinship relations.
Concept:
- The passage illustrates the ideal of a wise ruler who controls his senses, contrasted with Duryodhana, who does not.
- Gandhari links good kingship to conquering "greed and anger" — a moral-political lesson embedded in the epic.
Exam trap:
- Students often narrate the whole war story. The question asks only why Duryodhana refused — stick to greed, anger and pride as evidenced in the source.
Wider significance:
- Historians treat such didactic passages cautiously: they reveal the values a text promotes, not necessarily what actually happened.
Common Mistakes
- 1Retelling the entire Kurukshetra war narrative instead of stating the specific reasons for refusal.
- 2Ignoring the vices named in the passage (greed and anger) and giving vague answers like 'he was evil'.
- 3Confusing Gandhari's advice with Krishna's peace mission, blurring the source's actual content.
Interesting Facts
The Mahabharata, with about 100,000 verses, is one of the longest epics in the world and was traditionally attributed to the sage Vyasa.
Historian V.S. Sukthankar led a project at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune, that took 47 years (from 1919) to prepare a critical edition of the Mahabharata.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What two vices does Gandhari warn against in this passage?
Gandhari warns against greed and anger, saying they 'drag a man away from his profits' and that a king who conquers these two enemies conquers the earth.
Which NCERT theme does this source belong to?
It belongs to Theme 3, 'Kinship, Caste and Class', where the Mahabharata is studied as a source for early Indian social history and kinship norms.