Shakuni was the youngest son of king Subala of Gandhar. He was dear to the king due to his prowess. Gandhari, the princess of Gandhar, was known for her beauty through the length and breadth of Aryavrata. So, Bhishma went over to Gandhar seeking Gandhari’s hand for Dhritrashtra. But his proposal was rejected. Bhishma threatened to annihilate the entire kingdom of Gandhar. As a result, King Subala had to yield to Bhishma’s suggestion.
Seeing the crisis Gandhari was first married to a he-goat. Later on, the he-goat was killed. As a matter of fact, Gandhari was actually a widow. She was married to Dhritrashtra. When Dhritrashtra learnt about Gandhari’s widowhood, he was infuriated. King Subala along with his family was imprisoned for telling a lie. All of them were given food meant for one person only. Then how could they all satisfy their hunger? It was a planning to starve them to death. So, King Subala decided that the food be given to Shakuni alone so that he might survive.
One by one Subala’s all sons died. Subala instigated Shakuni to take revenge. After the death of Subala Duryodhana saw that only Shakuni was left. So, he requested his father to pardon him. Instead of returning to his country, Shakuni decided to stay in Hastinapur. Soon Shakuni endeared himself to one and all and became the guardian of the Kauravas. Duryodhana made Shakuni his minister. Shakuni poisoned the ears of Dhritrashtra and Duryodhana against the Pandavas and this paved the way for the battle of the Mahabharata.Shakuni’s tactic was sure to destroy not only the Pandavas but also the Kauravas.
Shakuni controlled Duryodhana mentally. He wished to see Duryodhana become king of Hastinapur so that he might destroy the Kuru dynasty with Duryodhana’s help.
When Duryodhana returned from Indraprastha insulted, Shakuni added fire to the insult heaped on him by Draupadi. So, he planned a game of dice taking useful advantage of the situation. Shakuni told Duryodhana about his plan and revealed that the latter could avenge his insult by defeating the Pandavas. For this, Duryodhana had to persuade his father.
Shakuni was lame of one leg. But he was adept at throwing dice. The digit that he wished to appear on his dice came, much to the chagrin of one and all. In fact, he had charmed dice. His dice knew very well the movements of his fingers.
