There is a popular belief that after all the commanders of Duryodhan’s army died and Duryodhan was about to face the remaining Pandava army, he went to see his mother Gandhari. Gandhari asked Duryodhan to wash himself and then appear in front of her without wearing any clothes. On the way Shrikrishna intervened and advised him to at least cover himself some bit out of shame before appearing in front of his mother. He was a grown up now and not a child. Duryodhan took Shrikrishna’s advice and covered his thigh with a leaf. 

When he appeared in front of Gandhari, she opened her eyes for the first time since she got married to Dhritarashtra. The amount of power she had accumulated through her penance made Duryodhan’s entire body of Vajra, except the thigh region that remained covered. 

If you read the Mahabharata of Vyasa Dev, it gives another explanation for Duryodhan’s strong upper body. 

During Pandava’s exile Duryodhan wanted to gloat over their misery and planned Ghoshyatra. On the way he encountered a few Gandharva, who got into a fight with him. Karna and other warriors accompanying Duryodhan fled from the battle, while Duryodhan got captured by the Gandharvas. 

When Yudhishthir found out about this, he sent his brothers to rescue Duryodhan. Following his brother’s orders Arjuna and Bhima rescued Duryodhan from the Gandharvas. 

Duryodhan felt so ashamed that he was rescued by his enemies and he wanted to commit suicide. When Demons living in Patal-lok saw that Duryodhan was planning to die, they got worried and ordered Rakshasi Kritya to bring Duryodhan to Patal-lok. This is what the Demons tell Duryodhan.

They asked Duryodhan to give up the idea of suicide and go ahead with the fight against Pandava and also  promised their help to him.

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