Women in Mahabharata - Dushhala
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.
This is how Mahabharata ends her story and this is how I choose to remember her.
