UPAPANDAVAS – THE LOST SONS OF PANDAVAS

Mahabharata, the epic, as was brought to us by Sri Anant Pai’s Amar Chitra Katha and later by Sri B.R. Chopra’s epic television series, did not do justice to the second generation of Pandavas and except Arjun’s son Abhimanyu and Bhim’s son Ghatotkach, nobody finds a mention till the unfortunate 18^th night after the slaying of Duryodhan when Ashwathama killed all the five sons of Draupadi along with Dhrishtadyumna and Shikhandi when they were fast asleep. This naturally left me yearning for more and so I did some research.  I went through the version written by Vishnu Sitaram  Sukhthankar, published by the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in Pune, "Mrutyunjay" by Shivaji Sawant and 'Yuganta' by Iravati Karve and “Jaya” by Devdutt Pattanaik and now I can tell you something about them.

Draupadi had five sons. Their order of birth is Prativindhya, son of Yuddishtir, Shatanika, son of Nakul, Sutasoma, son of Bhima, Srutsena, son of Sehdeva and Srutkarma, son of Arjun. This is because Pandu had two queens Kunti and Madri so to balance both the generations after Yudhishthira, who is the eldest son of Kunti, it was Nakula's turn, the eldest son of Madri to enter Draupadi's chambers. After him came Bhima, second son of Kunti and after him came Sahadeva, second son of Madri. Arjuna was last as he was the last son of Kunti. All five of them fought the battle of Kurukshetra on the side of the Pandavas, and all were single Rathis as said by Bhishma and they find only fleeting mentions during the battle.

Prativindhya,Yudhishthira and Draupadi's son was the eldest of the Upapandavas. Some folklore holds him as the Avatar of Chitraratha the Gandharva. In the Kurukshetra War, on the 15th day, he stopped Ashwatthama's advance towards Dronacharya to disprove the news of his death. He killed Chitra, the king of the Abhiras, on the 16th day. In the Indonesian Mahabharata, there is reference to "the son of Yudhishthira and Draupadi" dying to save his father against Drona on 12th day of the battle. Now this complicates the situation because then who killed Chitra and who was killed by Ashwathama?

Shatanika, Nakula and Draupadi's son was the second of the Upapandavas. He was named after a famous Rajarshi in the Kuru lineage who had that name and he was considered to be an avatar of Visvadevas. He being the second youngest in the Kurukshetra War was also nominated as a deputy commander-in-chief of forces under Dhrishtadyumna, in charge of Vyuha planning. He killed the Kaurava king / ally Bhutakarma on the 12th day of war.

Sutasoma, Bhima and Draupadi's son was the third of the Upapandavas. He played a major role in the battle by nearly killing Shakuni. Sutasoma, on the 15th day, stopped the advance of the mighty Kaurava Vivismati, towards Dronacharya, thus isolating him. He was favored by Arjuna, who gave him a bow, and horses for his chariot.

Srutsena, Sahadeva and Draupadi's son was the fourth of the Upapandavas. In the Chatahurdi analysis of the Mahabharata, he was defeated by Shakuni during the battle; he killed Shala, the younger brother of Bhurishravas on the 14th day of the war. He also killed Dushasana's son in the war, thus avenging his cousin Abhimanyu's death, in which Dushasana’s son was also involved.

Srutkarma, Arjuna and Draupadi's son was the youngest of the Upapandavas. His horses were supposed to bear the colour of kingfishers. He fought against Dushasana and Ashwatthama in the battle. He also killed king Chitrasena on 16th day of the war along with his brother Prativindhya. 

On the 11 th and 14th day of war all five brothers were single handedly defeated by Karna's son Vrishasena. However on the night of the last day of the war Ashwatthama killed all the five Upapandavas during their sleep. In some versions of the story he believes them to be the five Pandava brothers; in others, he purposefully attacks the Pandavas' heirs in order to hurt the Pandavas emotionally.

In the Jataka tales version of the Mahabharata, Sutasoma, Prativindhya, Shrutakarma, and Shatanika are also shown as wounded not dead. Then whom did Ashwatthama kill? In this version it is implied that Ashwatthama killed other children, like: Yaudehya, Sarvada and Nirmitra along with Dhrishtadyumna and Shikhandi. Some legends mention only the 5 brothers, sons of Draupadi,  as Upapandavas, but that would be unfair because they had other illustrious brothers too.

Yaudheya (Devaka) was Yudhishthira's son by Devika. Yaudheya founded the Yaudheya dynasty. That tribe's coins from 1st century AD reveals they believed they were descended from Yudhishthira just as the Malavas were thought to be Bhima's desendants and Arjunayanas were thought to be Arjuna's descendants.

Sarvada, Bhima's son by Valandhara.

Nirmitra, Nakula's son by Karenumati.

Arjun had 4 sons

Iravan from Ulupi, the Naga Princess born during his 12 year exile. He is is regarded to have fought quite valiantly in the Kurukshetra war. He battled the princes of Gandhara (brothers of Shakuni) and defeated several others as well.

Babruvahana from Chitrangada, the princess of Manipura, was again born during Arjun's 12 year exile. He was the only surviving son of Arjuna after the war and its aftermath as he did not participate in the great war. He was heavily encouraged by Ulupi in archery and emerged as a great warrior and a good king. When Arjuna wandered into his kingdom while following the horse during the Aswamedha Yagna, Babruvahana challenged him, battled him and killed him. Arjuna was later revived by Ulupi using a gem stone.

Shrutakirti or Shrutkarma from Draupadi, born after Arjuna’s 12 year exile

Abhimanyu from Subhadra, Krishna’s sister was one of the greatest warriors of the second generation in the Mahbhrata and a legendary figure. He was the incarnation of Varchas, the son of Soma. He was the husband of the Matsya kingdom's princess, Uttara, and the father of Parikshit, who was born after his death. Trained in the martial arts by his father Arjuna and uncle Sri Krishna and the latter’s son Pradyumna, he matured into a great warrior at an early age and was only 16 when he fought in the battle of Kurukshetra.

Abhimanyu inherited both courage and fighting ability from his father, Arjuna, and his grand-father, Lord Indra. He was considered to be an equal to his father owing his prodigious feats. In the absence of Sri Krishna and Arjuna, Abhimanyu was obliged to break through the cakravyuha, the wheel-formation of the Kaurava army. Though he fought valiantly, he was surrounded by a multitude of Kaurava warriors including Drona, Karna, Kripacharya, Ashwatthama, Duryodhana and Dushasana. He was killed in this battle as he was ignorant of the technique of extricating himself out of that cakravyuha. However, before laying down his life, he fought bravely against the greatest of the Kaurava warriors who only managed to kill him unfairly. 

Abhimanyu's son, Parikshit was the sole heir to the Pandavas and succeeded Yudhishira to the throne. It is also for King Parikshit, that the holy Bhagavata Gita was first recited. 

Ghatotkacha was the son of Bhima and Hidimba. His maternal parentage made him half-Rakshasa / Asura, and gave him many magical powers that made him a formidable fighter in Kurukshetra. He got his name from his head, which was shaped like a pot. He made himself and his followers available to his father Bhima at any time; all Bhima had to do was to think of him and he would appear. Like his father, Ghatotkacha primarily fought with the mace. His wife was Ahilawati and his son was Barbarika.

In the Mahabharata, when Ghatotkacha was summoned by Bhima to fight for the Pandavas, invoking his magical powers he wrought great havoc in the Kaurava army. In particular after the death of Jayadratha, when the battle continued on past sunset, his powers were most lethal. Badly bruised and battered by him the Kaurava leader Duryodhana appealed to his best fighter, Karna, to kill Ghatotkacha as the whole Kaurava army was coming close to annihilation due to his ceaseless strikes from the air. Karna possessed a divine weapon, or shakti, granted by the God Indra. It could be used only once, and Karna had been saving it to use on his arch-enemy, the best Pandava fighter, Arjuna. He had to use that on Ghatotkacha. This is considered to be the turning point of the war. After his death, the Pandava counselor Krishna smiled, as he considered the war to have been won for the Pandavas now that Karna no longer had a divine weapon to use in fighting Arjuna. 

Ghatotkacha’s son Barbarika too was an interesting character. When before the war Krishna asked how long the war will last Bhishma said 20 days, Dronacharya said 25, Karna thought 24 and Arjuna opined 28 days, but Barbarika said 1 minute! He had a boon from Lord Shaiva, Teen Ban or three arrows. By the first he could mark all the things that were his target, by the second he could mark all those targets he wanted to save and by the third he could destroy the rest. Lord Krishna killed Barbarika before the war but that is another story!

But by the end of the battle of Kurukshetra it was known to all that Karna was the eldest son of Kunti and the eldest brother of the Pandavas. It is only fair to talk about his sons along with the Upapandavas.  

Vrishasena was the eldest son of Karna. He had successfully staved off a challenge from Nakula during the Kurukshetra war and even unseated him from his chariot. Nakula then mounted the chariot of Bheema. When he saw Arjuna nearby, he called out to him and urged him to kill Vrishasena. Arjuna then requests Krishna, his charioteer, to go towards Vrishasena. "I will slay him under his father's gaze", he said. Vrishasena was undeterred by Arjuna's reputation as the foremost archer of the time. He showered Arjuna with many arrows and some of them pierced his arms. But when he targeted Krishna and pierced him on his arms, Arjuna was enraged. He called out Karna in anger, "You killed my son Abhimanyu in an unfair combat. Today, I will kill your son". He then shot ten arrows at Vrishasena weakening him even as his father Karna watched on helplessly. The next four razor headed arrows, cut off Vrishasena's bow, his two arms and then his head. 

Vrishaketu was the only son of Karna to survive the Kurukshetra war. The Pandavas then took him under their wing. Vrishaketu accompanied Arjuna in is military campaigns against Sudhava and Babruvahana. He also participated in the Ashwamedha Yagna conducted by the Pandavas. Arjuna had great affection to Vrishakethu. Krishna too was affectionate to him. Vrishaketu is believed to be the last mortal on earth to understand and know the use of  Brahmastra, Varunastra, Agni and Vayuastra. This knowledge died with him as Krishna ordered him not to reveal it to any person

Karna’s wives Vrushali and Uruvi again fails to find a mention in the epic. Kavita Kane in ‘The Outcast’s Queen’ narrates the story of the Mahabharata’s much loved hero Karna through his wife Uruvi’s perspective. Many of us perhaps know little or nothing about Karna’s wives, family life and children and the effect war of Kurukshetra had on them. Not many of us know about Vrushali, Karna’s first wife and their 7 children! 

Except Ghatotkacha and Abhimanyu the other Upapandavas did not get a fair deal in Mahabharatas just as the 98 brothers of Duryodhana and Dushashana.