You will be surprised to know that Shakuni had no enmity
with Pandavas. He was enemy of Kauravas. Yes. He was the one who was behind the
events which led to Mahabhaarata and ultimately got all Kauravas killed.
Interesting. Isn’t it?
Two Incidents made
him for what he is known today.
Who was Shakuni:
He is recognized as most venomous villain of Indian history / mythology. Subal,
the king of Gandhar also had 100 children. Among them one was Gandhari (who
became Mother of Kauravas & Wife of Dhritrashtra) & youngest son was Shakuni.
He was the reason of developing enmity between Kaurava and Pandvas since their
childhood.
Incident 1: Ancestators of Kaurvas had put
Shakuni, his father and brothers in Jail. For survival, they used to get only one
grain of rice. This way all of them could have died so they all decided to give
their grain to the youngest of them: Shakuni. Eventually, all died but Shakuni was
alive. He came out of jail using his wit and was having revenge in his mind.
Few believe that reason of sending them behind bars was: Ancestators of Kauravas wanted to conquer Gandhar state and hence put the king and all sons behind bars after victory.
According to others:
Gandhari was cursed that her first husband would die. So she was married to an animal
first and then she was married to Dhritrashtra. When Dhritrashtra and his
family came to know that Gandhari was married earlier, furiously, they sent Gandhar King
and all his sons (including Shakuni) behind bars.
Incident 2: Bhishma
Pitamah had asked Gandhar King for her daughter Gandhari for marriage of
Dhritrashtra. Gandhar King agreed without thinking further. However, later family and Shakuni came to know that Dhritrashtra is blind from
birth and to support him, his sister had also blindfolded herself till death,
he became furious and decided to take revenge.
The thoughts of revenge coming out of these incidents made a
mama, the Shakuni Mama. Although he was also killed in Mahabhararta with
Kauravas.
What we learn: Wisdom>Power. Wisdom if used in
wrong direction can be harmful to oneself.
More about the Mamashri: He was killed by Sahadeva on last day of war. Sahadeva took
oath to kill him after Draupadi’s insult.
Shakuni’s dice were made from his father’s bone as asked by his father to him. Thus dice always obeyed and showed what Shakuni would ask for. Some believe dice were of ivory and Shakuni was expert in creating illusion and thus created illusion of required numbers on dice.
Because we see good even in bad, Shakuni has a temple in his name in Kerala.
Shakuni’s dice were made from his father’s bone as asked by his father to him. Thus dice always obeyed and showed what Shakuni would ask for. Some believe dice were of ivory and Shakuni was expert in creating illusion and thus created illusion of required numbers on dice.
Because we see good even in bad, Shakuni has a temple in his name in Kerala.