Duryodhana attempted Prayopavesa (dying by not taking food) after he was humiliated by Pandavas rescuing him & his retinue, before Mahabharata war

I learned through my ongoing reading of Mahabharata by Kamala Subramaniam that Duryodhana wanted to do Prayopavesa! I either had not read this in my earlier Mahabharata (abridged versions) readings or had forgotten about it.

Firstly, what is prayopavesa? From the wiki page, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayopavesa ,"Prayopavesa (Sanskrit: प्रायोपवेशनम्, IAST prāyopaveśanam, literally resolving to die through fasting)[1][2] is a practice in Hinduism that denotes the suicide by fasting of a person who has no desire or ambition left, and no responsibilities remaining in life.[3]" 

[References:

1. Monier-Williams, Monier (2008) [1899]. Monier Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary. Universität zu Köln. p. 708. Retrieved August 21, 2011. abstaining from food and awaiting in a sitting posture the approach of death

2. "Prayopavesa". Orientalia. Archived from the original on 2013-07-06.

3. "Hinduism - Euthanasia and Suicide". BBC. 2009-08-25.]

--- end wiki extract ---

While the Pandavas were on exile (due to plot by Duryodhana and his supporters), Duryodhana and others wanted to humiliate the Pandavas who were dressed in simple attire (barks and deer skin) and lived very modestly while in exile in the forest, by visiting them with their retinue including Duryodhana's brothers and their wives, and his army. Duryodhana wanted to show off his and his relatives wealthy and comfortable lives to the Pandavas, and gloat over the hardships the Pandavas faced.

Indra who was Arjuna's father knew of these intentions of Duryodhana and so sent Chitrasena, the gandharva, along with soldiers to lure Duryodhana and retinue into a fight and defeat them, which is what happened. After defeating Duryodhana and retinue which included Radheya/Karna, Chitrasena had Duryodhana and his brothers tied up and carried away, along with women of Duryodhana's retinue.

On coming to know of Duryodhana's plight, Yudhishtira ordered Bheema, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva to fight with the gandharvas and free Duryodhana, his brothers and the womenfolk. Bheema was very reluctant to do so as he was enjoying the plight of Duryodhana and others who had tricked the Pandavas and forced them into exile. But eventually Bheema followed Yudhishtira's order. The Pandavas overcame the gandharvas and Chitrasena, their chief, revealed himself to Arjuna, who was his friend. Then Chitrasena explained how Indra had ordered him to do this, to thwart Duryodhana's bad intentions against the Pandavas.

Chitrasena then said that he will surrender his prisoners to Yudhishtira as Yudhishtira had sent the other four Pandavas to fight the gandharvas.

On them going to Yudhishtira, Yudhishtira released all the prisoners. Yudhishtira looked at Duryodhana with "gentleness and pity" and told him, "Duryodhana, do not ever do such a stupid thing again. Spite never brings you happiness. Please go back to your kingdom. I wish you well."

Duryodhana felt extremely humiliated by this and went away with his face cast down.

Duryodhana asked his army to proceed to Hastinapura but stayed back in a lonely spot. He was joined later by Radheya (who later gets known as Karna). Duryodhara tells Radheya, "... We were taken to the presence of Yudhishthira. It was left to him to decide what was to be done about us. Radheya, can you think of anything more humiliating than that? ... I stood, bound hand and foot, with all my brothers and all our women. And I was forgiven by my enemy, my sworn enemy. I had hoped to defeat them in war. If I could not, I had hoped for the heaven which a man attains when he dies on the field of battle. That would have been glory for me."

Duryodhana says later, "I will starve and die on this spot. This is the only way. How can I live after getting my life back by the kindness of my enemies? I have been sorely insulted. I have always been proud, jealous of my honour. The Pandavas will laugh at me. I cannot bear it. I will die. That is the only way for me."

Radheya and others who had joined them by now tried to dissuade Duryodhana from doing prayopavesa (fasting to death) but Duryodhana did not listen to them. They moved some distance away from Duryodhana while he sat in meditation during the night. 

But during his meditation at night, Duryodhana felt that he was being told that he should not die and that he will rule the world. So in the morning when Radheya came to him asking him again to give up prayopavesa, Duryodhana agreed, and returned to Hastinapura with Radheya and others.

Ravi: I found it quite fascinating that Duryodhana seriously considered prayopavesa before Mahabharata war. Duryodhana is a strange character in Mahabharata - a prince full of flaws but with some praiseworthy traits as well. Duryodhana was noted for being a courageous warrior and also for being very magnanimous towards some persons. However his negative traits overshadowed the praiseworthy traits, and led to not only his death & destruction but also of his brothers and his supporters in the Mahabharata war.

[I thank Wikipedia and author Kamala Subramaniam and publisher of Mahabharata, and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above extract(s) from their website/book (short extracts from Mahabharata book) on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]