I can prove that if divine weapons and astras are not a factor then this Duryodhan guy was a better archer than Laxman, Parshurama, Karna etc.
My belief is that Duryodhan was always at his best when he was using archery not maces or club's/bludgeons. And it is a very serious claim.
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How Suyodhan did against Bheem.
1st time.
[quote]
"Aiming a terrible shaft blazing as Death's rod, the Kuru king, excited with rage struck Bhimasena between his two breasts. Deeply pierced therewith, and greatly pained, he sat down on the terrace of his car. And while seated on the terrace of his car, he swooned away. Beholding Bhima thus unmanned, the illustrious and mighty car-warriors of the Pandava army, headed by Abhimanyu could not bear it. And those warriors then, with great steadiness, showered on thy sons' head a thick down-pour of fierce shafts. Then the mighty Bhimasena, regaining consciousness, pierced Duryodhana."
[End]
Note - the kuru king here is clearly Suyodhan (aka "Duryodhana")
2nd time.
[Quote]
"king Duryodhana then excited with wrath, rushed towards Bhimasena, that chastiser of foes. Taking up a large bow he covered the son of Pandu with a thick shower of arrows. And filled with rage, and aiming a sharp crescent-shaped shaft winged with feathers, he cut off Bhimasena's bow."
"That mighty chariot warrior, noticing an opportunity, quickly aimed at his adversary a whetted shaft capable of riving the very hills. He struck Bhimasena in the chest. Deeply pierced with that arrow, and exceedingly pained, and licking the corners of his mouth, Bhimasena of great energy caught hold of his flag-staff decked with gold."
"Beholding Bhimasena in that cheerless state, Ghatotkacha blazed up with wrath like an all-consuming conflagration. Then many mighty car-warriors of the Pandava army, headed by Abhimanyu and with wrath generated (in their bosoms), rushed at the king shouting loudly.
[End]
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3rd time.
[Quote]
"Duryodhana then, O sire, excited with wrath, cut off Bhimasena's bow with a razor-faced arrow and pierced Bhima himself with ten shafts in return. Then the mighty Bhimasena, taking up another bow, quickly pierced the king with seven keen shafts. Displaying great lightness of hand, Duryodhana cut off even that bow of Bhima. The second, the third, the fourth, and the fifth, bow that Bhima took up were similarly cut off. Indeed, O king, thy son, proud of his prowess and desirous of victory, cut off Bhima's bow as soon as the latter took up one. Seeing his bows repeatedly cut off, Bhima then hurled, in that battle, a dart made wholly of iron and hard as the thunder. That dart blazing as a flame of fire, resembled the sister of Death. The Kuru king, however, in the very sight of all the warriors and before the eyes of Bhima himself, cut in three fragments that dart, which coursed towards him through the welkin with the splendour of fire and dividing it, as it were by a straight line such as is visible on the head of a woman parting her tresses."
[enD]
Note: after this bheem used a mace to beat duryodhan off but in arrows its clear who was better. So as a archer Suyodhan is superior to Bhima.
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========
Bheem's archery feats against Karna.
Day 15:
"Then Bhima, mad with rage, sped eight shafts at Karna, and his standard and bow, and leathern fence, O Bharata. The mighty Bhimasena, that slayer of hostile heroes, with the greatest care, O Bharata, cut off, with those keen shafts, the standards, the bow, and the leathern fence of Karna."
Day 17:
"His eyes red with rage and the desire of revenge, the son of Pandu, insensate with wrath, and impelled by the desire of slaying the Suta's son, fixed on his bow an excellent shaft of great impetuosity, capable of bearing a great strain."
"Forcibly drawing the bow-string to his very ear, the son of the Wind-god, that great bowman, filled with wrath and desirous of making an end of Karna, sped that shaft. Thus sped by the mighty Bhima, that shaft, making a noise loud as that of the thunder, pierced through Karna in that battle, like the Vajra itself piercing through a mountain."
"Struck by Bhimasena, O perpetuator of Kuru's race, the Suta's son, that commander (of thy forces), sat down senseless on the terrace of his car. The ruler of the Madras then, beholding the Suta's son deprived of his senses, bore that ornament of battle away on his car, from that fight."
Dhritrashtra's question.
{quote}
"Beholding, however, that son of Radha now defeated by Bhima in battle, what did my son Duryodhana next do?"
{end}
Note - whether their was a useless vijay bow (of weak warriors like parshurama) or not in karna's hand (since his fans say he didnt use it before the Bhargava Astra incident) does not matter. Because Bheem never used his divine bow (vayavya dhanush) in this conflict.
Point is Karna had parshuram's chariot and a good bow, he was a son of surya and clearly lost this duel. When did Suyodhanji ever get knocked out unconscious by a arrow of Bheem?
Also understand that i have chosen to exclude the 14th day where karna got completely dominated and trounced like abhinandan did by pakistanis.
====
Duryodhan vs Nakula.
Day 15
{Quote}
"Duryodhana, however, afflicting Nakula with showers of shafts and resisting him on every side, caused him to turn back."
{End}
Day 17
{quOte}
"With a couple of broad-headed arrows, then, he cut off the bows of both those warriors; and then he suddenly pierced each of the twins with three and seventy arrows. Taking up then two other beautiful and foremost of bows, those two brothers, poured upon their cousin, ceaseless showers of terrible shafts like two masses of clouds, pouring rain upon a mountain. Thereupon thy son, that great car-warrior, O king filled with rage, resisted those two great bowmen."
{eNd}
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{Quote}
"Beholding on the other hand, the prowess of thy son, the great car-warriors all regarded the twin sons of Madri to be in the presence of Death. The commander of the Pandava army, the mighty car-warrior Dhrishtadyumn proceeded to that spot where Duryodhana was."
{End}
======
The Yudhisthir matter.
Basically - though Duryodhan always got beaten once he met king Yudhisthir in wars their is also one fact which is that Duryodhan actually put up a fight before being defeated by him.
Day 16.
{Quote}
"Then king Duryodhana, in that encounter, O sire, with a broad-headed arrow whetted on stone, cut in twain the bow of the virtuous monarch. Filled with rage, Yudhishthira could not brook that insult. Casting aside his broken bow, with eyes red in wrath, Dharma's son took up another bow at the head of his forces."
{End}
Logic; Here Suyodhan cut one bow that Yudhisthir held.
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Yudhishthir's achievements in war.
He was able to counter a group attack of namard Karn.
{quote}
"Yudhishthira, however, once more pierced Karna with thirty arrows. And he struck Sushena and Satyasena, each with three arrows. And he pierced everyone of the protectors of Karna with three straight arrows."
{end}
Inconclusive duel between Susharma and Yudhishthir;
"And having slain such numbers, that fierce and mighty warrior, Yudhishthira, with weapons upraised, rushed against Susarman. And rushing impetuously at Susarman, that foremost of car-warriors, king Yudhishthira, assailed him with vollies of shafts. And Susarman also, in great rage, quickly pierced Yudhishthira with nine arrows, and each of his four steeds with four arrows."
[End]
Duryodhan told Susharma to save bhishma's life;
[Quote]
Suyodhan, beholding the prowess of Partha in battle, quickly proceeded towards those kings, and addressing them as also the heroic and mighty Susarman stationed in their van "Exerting your best, ye all, united together, and accompanied by your troops, protect in battle the grandsire, of Bharata's race, who is proceeding against the hostile army."
[End]
====
Karna vs Duryodhan.
Note; ironically even the eldest beta of Pritha (kunti) is not much of a match for Suyodhana.
Karna fails to kill a ordinary elephant.
[Quote]
"There, O Bharata, elephants, assailed with arrows by Karna, fled away on all sides in fear and caused a great agitation on the field of battle."
[End]
Logic - if any elephant was dead how did they use their feet for fleeing the battlefield? They were clearly alive because karna's arrows were not fierce or strong.
==
Duryodhan had a feat against arjun.
1st (virat war).
"And cut by that arrow, the warm life-blood gushed out profusely from the wound. And the blood trickling down his body shone beautifully like a wreath of golden flowers. And struck by Duryodhana with the shaft, the swift-handed Arjuna of unfailing strength, swelling with rage, pierced the king in return, taking up arrows that were endued with the energy of snakes of virulent poison."
Logic - he injured a vulnerable part of arjun's body. A achievement that Karna's father Surya & brother Yamraj failed to do in Khandava-Daha.
About Krishna, the fact is Krishna was busy fighting with a real man like Indra at that time so he couldnt aid Arjuna against those 2 eunuch's (surya & yamaraj).
Duryodhan certainly was a better archer than Kripacharya, Parshuram, Laxman etc.
==
Suyodhan's flaw;
He had a weakness toward's celestial weaponry.
Even Nakul's younger brother defeated him due to it once.
{quote}
"The high-souled Sahadeva, however, quickly approaching their and invoking without loss of time a celestial weapon, pierced Duryodhana with twenty arrows. Thus pierced by Sahadeva, the Kuru king, covered with blood, looked beautiful, like a huge elephant of split temples. Beholding thy son deeply pierced with many arrows of great energy, that foremost of car-warriors, the son of Radha, filled with rage, rushed to that spot."
{end}
No retaliation from Duryodhana was mentioned here.
Therefore this incident is certainly a black mark on his career as a warrior.
=========
ANOTHER INTERESTING FACT.
The power of his arrows could split the mountain peak which Lord Hanutati was lifting in Ramayan.
Proof:
"The force of the heroic Duryodhana's shafts .... would break down the very mountains."
What did Lord Hanutati bring from the mountain region?
{Quote}
"Taking that mountain-peak, which looked like a dark rainy cloud, that Hanuman jumped up into the sky."
{End}
Comment:
It's not even the full mountain so just a mere peak which is on the top, that tiny peak can easily be torn apart by Duryodhans arrow.
===
NOTABLE FACTS ABOUT SUYODHAN THE ARCHER.
1ST FACT: Although prince Nakula was already defeated and injured on the 15th day by king suyodhan immediately in the next day (16TH DAY) he had a big fight with karna and was able to cut two bows from that gandu karna's hand. But he failed to ever cut a bow that Suyodhan held in his hands.ššš this proves that (duryodhan is SSJ2 level, Nakul & Karna are both SSJ1 level).
2ND FACT: Bheem on the 14th night (before getting extremely hurt) was dominated by Suyodhan in a arrow encounter. However on the 15th day he succeeded in cutting a bow of Karna despite already being injured by other warriors (like guru Drona, Alayudha, Suyodhan etc). A fresh bheem is pushed back by Duryodhan, while a tired wounded bheem is able to overpower Karna.
3RD FACT: Duryodhan swooned Bheem with arrows knocking the man out, something that not even Bhishma, Karna etc were able to do in arrow fight's with Bheem.
4TH FACT: Karna failed to slay any elephant on day's 16 and 17 but Suyodhan killed a elephant with arrows pretty much every day of the war.
5th FACT; Suyodhana took part in combat for days one till eighteen even on the 14th night. He participated longer than chutiya bhishma.
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6th FACT; Mahabali Suyodhan very rarely got knocked out by arrows in a battle compared to lundchoosers like Karna.
7th FACT: Duryodhan was able to perform well by using normal arrows, he did not need to rely on divine astras and nuclear missile type weaponry like gandu Parshurama & chutiya Laxman of Ramayan.
8th FACT: Duryodhan is well respected as a archer by Ashwathama, even Krishna said his arrow could break a mountain.
9th FACT; Suyodhan respected his wife/wive's and never traded them with infantrymen of the enemy's army but Karna disrespected all his wives and offered to trade them with foot soldier's in the pandav army on day 17.
======
END"S.
Morals of this post, do not present a archer as a mace fighter. This Duryodhan being a pupil of Balram is not as impressive as Arjun being the disciple of Yamadev (who was immortal). Also Yama respected women unlike gandu Balramji.
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Also "amit pachori" was a better actor (for "duryodhan's" role) than Puneet Issar. My only reason for giving Puneet any respect is because he put amitabh bachchan in a hospital.
Conclusion - duryodhan was superior to Balram, Laxman, Parshurama, Hanuman, Karna, Bhishma, Nakul and Suryadev.
Chandragupt Maurya took away the kingdoms of all hindus in northern india, but Duryodhan only took away the kingdom of one hindu family (the Pandava's) by using dice as a item.
Underrated actors who protraid Suyodhana on TV;
1 - "Aryan Vaid" (in Ekta's Mahabharat).
2 - NT Rama Rao (in a south indian movie).
3 - Amit Pachori (in dwarakdeesh sri krishn).
4 - Georges Corraface (in peter brooks play).
5 - Arpit Ranka (in Starplus, he kind of saved the tvbharat from being totally boring).
6 - Shaleen Bhanot (though this guy was overrated he was good to watch at certain times in Sony TV).
7 - Om Puri (in Bharat Ek Khoj, the fifth and sixth episode's were centered on Mahabharat).
8 - Deepak Jethi (in sahara's Draupadi television show).
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Unfortunately people only focus on Puneet Issar.
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