#dushala

She is the youngest child of Gandhari, her beloved daughter.

Most probably taking advantage of the pall of grief cast over the elders of the Kuru family after the presumed death of Kunti and her sons in Varanavat, Duryodhana marries her off to Jayadratha, the king of Sindh-Sauvira, one of his newfound friends, in an attempt to impress Jarasandha, while fighting under whose flag they had met each other in the first place.

In my understanding, there can be very few other reasons why the rest of family would have accepted the only sister of one hundred and five, frankly, illustrious brothers to be given up as the third wife to a the then-leader of a half-oligarchical territory.

Jayadratha hardly respects the jewel of the Kurus, entrusted to him with such love and anticipation, as the next time we see him him is only about a year later, at Draupadi's swayamvara, trying to marry her. In almost every subsequent swayamvara to which we readers are privy, we will see this man as a loyal contender each time.

Even when the Pandavas are exiled to the forest, he tries again to kidnap Draupadi and take her home with him, turning back, incidentally, from his way towards yet another swayamvara.

Even Yudhishithra and Draupadi are more concerned, it seems, about Dushhala's feelings and her future that any of her actual brothers.

When her husband in killed in Kurukshetra, the politics of Sindhu is thrown into a chaotic disarray, with ministers plotting to take over instead of Jayadratha's heirs. Instead of backing down and fading into oblivion, Dushhala launches a coup against these plotters as well as her co-wives, and manages to put her son Suratha on the throne, with her ruling alongside him.

When, some years later, Arjuna comes to conquer them, in the name of Yudhishthira, guarding the horse of their ashvamedha, her son becomes extremely agitated and passes away suddenly. Again, she is thrown back to square one, as the ministers she had quashed begin to raise their heads again. Knowing her brother's prowess, she, under the guise of fighting him, throws them all like cannon fodder right into the terrifying oncoming storm that is Arjuna.

Once they are annihilated, she walks into the battlefield, holding her infant grandson in her arms, her son's corpse in tow. She stands before her brother for the first time after she had watched him leave for Varanavat, and asks him just one question, beyond all moral questions, as she holds out the baby for Arjuna to hold, "You have killed my husband, my son is dead because of you. Now, would you like to finish the job?"

Brother and sister break down, Arjuna begging for her mercy and forgiveness, even as he tries to explain the circumstances to his sister who does understand it, but still finds it difficult to forget. Finally, Arjuna declares Dushhala's grandson to be the next monarch, anointing him with the holy waters right there, also crowning Dushhala herself as the Queen-Regent of Sindhu and Sauvira.

Arjuna leaves immediately, without caring to even settle the matter of allegiances for the yajna, not willing to spend even a second longer dredging up those painful memories. Dushhala remains as the reigning monarch of these two kingdoms, independent of the control of Hastinapura.

Petty younger siblings who get overlooked gossiping about everyone. Dushala will always be the sanest one.

Hellluuuuu

SEE EXACTLY WHAT I KEEP SAYING

Like no wayy all 99 of them were hardcore Pandava haters

There must have been some brothers who were like Vikarna and were good, some who were neutral about everything

Frrrr they definitely talked shit about Duryodhan and his boyfriend

Like from Mahabharat we know Karna was a big ass bully towards Vikarna, bro was legit getting bullied by that corn ass motherfucker

And Duryodhan did nothing to stop Karna from BULLYING HIS OWN FUCKING BROTHER

So we know how little Duryodhan actually cared about his own brothers (unless they were bitch ass like him)

Vikarna was probably the one that was brave enough to protest and call out the bullshits, but he wasn't brave enough to rebel against Duryodhan clearly

Maybe because Duryodhan and his gang of dick brothers bullied the nice ones or younger ones perhaps?

There were probably some brothers who weren't brave like Vikarna to publically say anything to Duryodhan or Karna but they were probably gossiping among themselves

Yututsu too

Like I'm sure he was bullied. Duryodhan didn't stop Karna from bullying Vikarna his own brother, so yeah he wouldn't have stopped anyone from bullying his half brother

He was probably the cornered one out and always got left behind or discriminated against because of his birth

(I was literally having a talk with @stxrrynxghts and @dharagalaxias about this, how Yuyutsu's childhood probably was)

Lol for real Dushala my darling deserves a better family... And a better husband... She was probably the pookiest and nicest too

She must have been so alone and sad when she got married to the most bitch ass man ever 😔

Chapter 7 is up!

Excerpt:

[Arjuna] catches up to Karna at the landing and together, they make their way down the hallway. The smoke is somehow worse this time around, and every step feels like the last. There’s no sniping – neither of them have the breath to spare, but they keep throwing dirty glances at each other. The fire, instead of dying down, has grown even bigger, and little flakes of ash and wood float about in the air.  Karna peers into one of the rooms on the left, and Arjuna hears him wince. The door has collapsed, and a bar of wood burns diagonally across, making it impossible to get inside. Arjuna pokes his head behind Karna’s shoulder, waits for his stinging eyes to adjust. Through the pall of smoke, he makes out a prone figure sprawled on the ground, clad in white.

Doing this for Dushala and Mandavi

Dushala

Headcanon A:  realistic

She resents both her brothers and her cousins for the war equally, since the answer of who the guilty party was makes little difference to her.

Headcanon B: while it may not be realistic it is hilarious

She's angry when Draupadi asks them to spare Jayadratha's life, and for not ridding Dushala of him.

Headcanon C: heart-crushing and awful, but fun to inflict on friends

Not all of the Kauravas were awful to the core, and she was particularly close to those brothers

Headcanon D: unrealistic, but I will disregard canon about it because I reject canon reality and substitute my own.

Dushala shares the regency of Sindhu with her daughter-in-law for her infant grandson.

Mandavi

Headcanon A:  realistic

She and Bharata are a marriage of convenience, born of Ayodhya having four princes and Mithila having four princesses, and it's not they lose most of their family that in their grief, they come together.

Headcanon B: while it may not be realistic it is hilarious

Mandavi is a patron of the arts, a passion she shares with her mother-in-law, and she and Kaikeyi take pleasure in whispering behind their hands of the more ludicrous paintings that come before them.

Headcanon C: heart-crushing and awful, but fun to inflict on friends

She and Sita had a little spat the night before she was re-exiled, bought on by Sita's pregnancy hormones, and the next time Mandavi sees her, she asks the earth to swallow her up.

Headcanon D: unrealistic, but I will disregard canon about it because I reject canon reality and substitute my own.