By Bharathi

Bharathi is a Chennai based writer and editor whose childhood passion for writing transformed into a career in this field. She is the author of the story "The fall of the first son" from the Unsung Valour and "Subhadra - The auspicious one" from Aryaa anthologies.

We all know that Duryodhana was the eldest of the Kaurava brothers. But mostly we don’t think about the age difference between them all. Since there were 100 brothers and one sister, it is not possible that each was born a year apart and still all of the brothers took part in the Kurukshetra battle. So, what was the age difference then?

Gandhari gets a boon from Vyasa that she will have 100 sons. She conceived but even after two years had passed, she had not yet borne her children. Kunti had given birth to Yudisthira by then and in anxiety, Gandhari hit herself hard and delivered a mass of flesh.

VedaVyasa divided the mass of flesh into 101 parts. Duryodhana was born first on the same day as Bheema was born to Kunti. Over the span of the month following that, the other 100 brothers were born and so was their sister, Dushala. 

During Gandhari’s pregnancy, Dhritarashtra had a son by a Vaishya maid. This son was Yuyutsu, who was very close in age to Duryodhana. Interestingly, it is Yuyutsu who ended up as the caretaker of Hastinapur when the Pandavas left for Mahaprasthan.  

The age gap between the 100 Kauravas was just a month. Duryodhana was the oldest of Gandhari’s sons, followed by Dushasana and then the rest.