Why was Duryodhana not considered the next in line to be the king?

I have been watching Mahabharat since my childhood but i never thought about this question. Now i think that Duryodhan was right to claim the throne as he was the elder son of the elder kuru king. Please throw light on this topic as i am really confused.

I'll give this a try.

First off, the Kuru dynasty always believed in Karma over birth.

Duryodhana was extremely hotheaded while Yudhishthira naturally tended to think before act, this is what made him more worthy.

Remember the bird's eye test? In that, although Yudi did not pass the test for an ace archer, his observation was: he saw the bird, the trunk of the tree, the squirrels, the other birds and also the ants crawling on the ground.

In a mere few seconds he had noticed and processed the entire ecosystem of that tree. This was a very clever metaphor on the part of Vyasa which showed us the 'yogyata' of Yudhishthira as a King who would be able to keep a close eye on every little detail in the entire kingdom.

Duryodhan would not stand a chance there. Dury was a great warrior and a good administrator, but Yudi was a born "Manager" and the King needs to be vigilant everywhere and not just on the battleground; the king needs to make people do what they do best, and not jump in and do everything himself (that was one of Dury's shortcomings).

And even if we look at the eldest son rule, the rule is not for the eldest son of the eldest brother, but the rule stands by the "eldest" brother, which was Yudi again.

I hope I could help. 😳

Yudhishtar was elder than duryodhan and one who is eldest will become king and yudhishtar is eldest

Though gandhari become pregnant before kunti and drithrastra is elder than pandu and vidhur

But still

Duryodhan born after 2 years pregnancy of gandhari and yudhishtar already born before duryodhan

So technically yudhishtar deserve to become king not duryodhan

Btw technically it was karn deserve to king as he is eldest among both pandav and kaurav but due to living with bad company he lost opportunity

Originally posted by: proteeti

I'll give this a try.

First off, the Kuru dynasty always believed in Karma over birth.

Duryodhana was extremely hotheaded while Yudhishthira naturally tended to think before act, this is what made him more worthy.

Remember the bird's eye test? In that, although Yudi did not pass the test for an ace archer, his observation was: he saw the bird, the trunk of the tree, the squirrels, the other birds and also the ants crawling on the ground.

In a mere few seconds he had noticed and processed the entire ecosystem of that tree. This was a very clever metaphor on the part of Vyasa which showed us the 'yogyata' of Yudhishthira as a King who would be able to keep a close eye on every little detail in the entire kingdom.

Duryodhan would not stand a chance there. Dury was a great warrior and a good administrator, but Yudi was a born "Manager" and the King needs to be vigilant everywhere and not just on the battleground; the king needs to make people do what they do best, and not jump in and do everything himself (that was one of Dury's shortcomings).

And even if we look at the eldest son rule, the rule is not for the eldest son of the eldest brother, but the rule stands by the "eldest" brother, which was Yudi again.

I hope I could help. 😳

Oh this is the scene. I thought jo Raja hoga uska bada beta hi Raja banega. Now i understood. Thanks Dear😊

Originally posted by: surabhi01

Yudhishtar was elder than duryodhan and one who is eldest will become king and yudhishtar is eldest

Though gandhari become pregnant before kunti and drithrastra is elder than pandu and vidhur

But still

Duryodhan born after 2 years pregnancy of gandhari and yudhishtar already born before duryodhan

So technically yudhishtar deserve to become king not duryodhan

Btw technically it was karn deserve to king as he is eldest among both pandav and kaurav but due to living with bad company he lost opportunity

Oh yes karn deserve to be king as he is eldest son..he was elder than even yudhisthir..

But may be no one would accept it as he was son of Kunti only..I mean she give him birth before marrying pandu..

Through pandu is not biological father of other Pandavas but he consider them as their child..that's why they considered as his sons..

Even pandu was not biological father of Yudhistsr been and Arjun.. Kunti call devtas and have Yudhistsr bheem and Arjun

Infact pandu was not biological of any pandav

But yes after death of pandu 5 pandav did ate some flesh of his father so that pandu quality also come inside in all pandav

Karna's eligibility is out of question here, but there is no way Karna would have been able to become the King of Hastinapura, because he was not, and would never have been a part of the Kuru family.

Kunti first came across Karna (the point where she decided to keep it a secter again) at the Ranga bhoomi. By that point Pandu was already dead and gone.

The only way Karna could have been the King of Hastinapura if Pandu had adopted him. Since he was Kunti's kaanin child, nobody but Pandu OR Vasudev/his brothers had the right to adopt him. Even if Kunti wanted she could not make it happen. 😳

He was a potential candidate for the throne, it was because some uncle in the family thought he was a bad omen because owls and jackals howled at the time he was born he was not considered future hier and yudi was given benefit of 'virtue by birth'

My opinion, may be right or wrong, is that Duryodhana did have a strong claim on the throne.

He was the eldest son of the eldest son of Vichitraveerya, as he mentioned. If Dhritarasthra was not blind, then he definitely would be the uncontested king and being his son, Duryodhana did have a claim.

However, Yudhisthir was elder to him and he was the son of the last coronated king. Dhritarasthra was never crowned after Pandu died. He acted as the interim representative until the next king could be chosen.

Also, I am not sure if this is entirely true, but most believe that Yudhisthir had the public favour and that is something that cannot be ignored.

Duryodhan could be right but As Kunti birth already 2 sons before Gandhari and second Duryodhan was violent and was already in bad company of shakuni . And they wanted a King not a kansa ! Who could be soft but not his actions .