Why did Krishna give his army to Duryodhan instead of refusing him to help?
Sri Krishna always portrayed himself as a neutral entity without taking side of either Pandavas or Kauravas although he knew that Pandavas were on the side of Dharma & Kauravas were the erring party. Just before the start of Mahabharata, all Indian kings were given an option to choose between Pandavas or Kauravas. Sri Krishna was the Yadava Chieftain with a huge Yadava army at his disposal & naturally both Pandavas & Kauravas wanted him to be on their side along with his army.
In the case of the Kurukshetra war, Duryodhana was advised by his uncle Shakuni to seek Krishna’s help as Shakuni perfectly knew Krishna's capabilities. Shakuni knew in case Krishna goes to the Pandava's side, then definitely they would win. However Pandavas too wanted Krishna and hence Arjuna approached Krishna for His help. So before Arjuna reached Krishna, Duryodhana had already reached and found Krishna to be sleeping. Seeing him asleep, Duryodhana went and sat next to Krishna’s head without disturbing Him. After that Arjuna reached and he sat near Krishna’s feet. After sometime when Krishna woke up, He saw Arjuna sitting near His feet and started talking to Him. After that (externally) He realized even Duryodhana also had come. Then He asked both of them to express their desires but gave the chance to Arjuna as Krishna saw Arjuna first.
Lord Krishna actually wanted to join the side of the Pandavas as they were His true devotees and were on the side of the dharma unlike the Kauravas. However He had to help Duryodhana also as Duryodhana too went to seek His help. Hence Lord Krishna misguided Duryodhana saying “On one side I am going to join alone without any of my army that too without picking any weapon. And on the other side my army comprising of Narayani sena will be there.” As Duryodhana was not a devotee and didn’t know the real identity of Lord Krishna, he was mislead to prefer the army as he felt Krishna alone without any weapon is worthless. On the other hand, Arjuna being a great devotee knew perfectly well the true potential of Lord Krishna. So as soon as Lord Krishna asked Arjuna to express his desire, Arjuna said the following:
When Duryodhana heard that, he felt delighted internally as he felt Narayani sena would be more productive than Krishna. So he accepted Narayani sena.
The rest is history.
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