+* Pandava parivar *+

Originally posted by: _Vrish_

 

Okay, re-reading both Sabha Parva and Vana Parva, I don't find any references of Jarasandha's daughter being Sahadeva's wife, although I do recall reading about it elsewhere.  I'll see if I find references to it.

 

Nakula's Chedi wife - was her name Nirmitra?

Nakula's son through his Chedi wife was Naramitra. The wife's name was Karenumati. Sahadeva's other wife was Vijaya and their son was Suhotra.

Yudhisthir had another wife named Charu - is anything known about her?  Who did Yudhisthir marry, other than Draupadi?

 

From what is given in SB, Yudhisthira's other wife was Pauravi and had a son Devaka  from her. In some places I have read that his second wife was Devika and his son thru her was Yaudheya.

Also, Arjun, from what I could gather, had only 3 wives aside from Draupadi - Subhadra, Uloopi & Chitrangada.  Any others?

 

Also, Abhimanyu married Uttara, and according to some accounts, Balarama's daughter Vatsala, but is there any record of who the other Pandava princes married?  Ghatotkacha had a son Anjanparva (killed by Ashwatthama on night 14), so who was his wife?  Did Draupadi's sons ever get to marry anybody?  How about Iravana?  I'm guessing Babruvahana did marry and continue his own dynasty in Manipur?

Edited by varaali - 12 years ago

No, strangely enough, Abhimanyu was born to Subhadra before Prativindya was born to Draupadi.  He was not exactly the eldest of the Pandava-putras either - Ghatotkacha was, or Iravana was, if Ghatotkacha is not counted.  Only Abhimanyu & Ghatotkacha were married: Ghatotkacha had a son Anjanparva, who was killed by Ashwatthama on day 14.  There is nothing about whether Iravana had any sons or not, or whether Draupadi had any grandchildren, or whether the Pandavas had surviving sons from their other wives (I doubt they did)

Originally posted by: _Vrish_

No, strangely enough, Abhimanyu was born to Subhadra before Prativindya was born to Draupadi.  He was not exactly the eldest of the Pandava-putras either - Ghatotkacha was, or Iravana was, if Ghatotkacha is not counted.  

vaarali

Thanks for filling me in.  One nitpick that I do - unlike Vyasa, I don't refer to any of the Pandavas as Kurus, even though technically they were from that dynasty.  Particularly after the war, b'cos if the Pandavas were Kurus, they would have waited for Dhritarashtra's death b4 taking over.  However, since all the Kuru elders had fought and died in the war, particularly Bheeshma, Dhritarashtra didn't have any moral rights left to remain on the throne, and abdicated, and the Pandavas took over.  I therefore refer to all of them as Pandavas, never as Kurus or Kauravas.

Yeah, logically, by the time Arjun returned, Draupadi should have given birth to Satsoma and been ready for him.  But didn't happen that way - see the cited reference below about the birth of Abhimanyu and Draupadi's sons.

I overlooked your part about Jalandhara earlier.  Now that you mention it, I recall having read about her in a book 'Who's who in Mahabharat' by one Subhas Majumdar.  As you mention, she was Bhanumati's sister, and she did have a special respect for Bhima, and whenever he visited, she'd tend to him and address him as 'Shri Vrikodhara'.  But she never actually married him, as per this account, so they didn't have any children.  If her marriage to Bhima was shown in any serial, I'd certainly be interested in whether they sourced it, or made it up - unfortunately not unthinkable for TV producers 🤢

Your understanding of the second generation hierarchy is correct, except for Abhimanyu & Prativindya.  In Haranaharana Parva, it's clearly mentioned

Then Subhadra, the favourite sister of Kesava, gave birth to an illustrious son, like Puloma's daughter, (the queen of heaven) bringing forth Jayanta. And the son that Subhadra brought forth was of long arms, broad chest, and eyes as large as those of a bull. That hero and oppressor of foes came to be called Abhimanyu. And the son of Arjuna, that grinder of foes and bull among men, was called Abhimanyu because he was fearless and wrathful. And that great warrior was begotten upon the daughter of the Satwata race by Dhananjaya, like fire produced in a sacrifice from within the sami wood by the process of rubbing. Upon the birth of this child, Yudhishthira, the powerful son of Kunti, gave away unto Brahmanas ten thousand cows and coins of gold. The child from his earliest years became the favourite of Vasudeva and of his father and uncles, like the moon of all the people of the world. Upon his birth, Krishna performed the usual rites of infancy. The child began to grow up like the Moon of the bright fortnight. That grinder of foes soon became conversant with the Vedas and acquired from his father the science of weapon both celestial and human, consisting of four branches and ten divisions.

"Endued with great strength, the child also acquired the knowledge of counteracting the weapons hurled at him by others, and great lightness of hand and fleetness of motion forward and backward and transverse and wheeling. Abhimanyu became like unto his father in knowledge of the scriptures and rites of religion. And Dhananjaya, beholding his son, became filled with joy. Like Maghavat beholding Arjuna, the latter beheld his son Abhimanyu and became exceedingly happy. Abhimanyu possessed the power of slaying every foe and bore on his person every auspicious mark. He was invisible in battle and broad-shouldered as the bull. Possessing a broad face as (the hood of) the snake, he was proud like the lion. Wielding a large bow, his prowess was like that of an elephant in rut. Possessed of a face handsome as the full-moon, and of a voice deep as the sound of the drum or the clouds, he was equal unto Krishna in bravery and energy, in beauty and in features. The auspicious Panchali also, from her five husbands, obtained five sons all of whom were heroes of the foremost rank and immovable in battle like the hills. Prativindhya by Yudhishthira, Sutasoma by Vrikodara, Srutakarman by Arjuna, Satanika by Nakula, and Srutasena by Sahadeva,--these were the five heroes and great warriors that Panchali brought forth, like Aditi bringing forth the Adityas. And the Brahmanas, from their foreknowledge, said unto Yudhishthira that as the son of his would be capable of bearing like the Vindhya mountains the weapons of the foe, he should be called Prativindhya. And because the child that Draupadi bore to Bhimasena was born after Bhima had performed a thousand Soma sacrifices, he came to be called Sutasoma. And because Arjuna's son was born upon his return from exile during which he had achieved many celebrated feats, that child came to be called Srutakarman. While Nakula named his son Satanika after a royal sage of that name, in the illustrious race of Kuru. Again the son that Draupadi bore to Sahadeva was born under the constellation called Vahni-daivata (Krittika), therefore was he called after the generalissimo of the celestial host, Srutasena (Kartikeya). The sons of Draupadi were born, each at the interval of one year, and all of them became renowned and much attached to one another. And, O monarch, all their rites of infancy and childhood, such as Chudakarana and Upanayana (first shave of the head and investiture with the sacred threads) were performed by Dhaumya according to the ordinance. All of them, of excellent behavior and vows, after having studied the Vedas, acquired from Arjuna a knowledge of all the weapons, celestial and human. And, O tiger among kings, the Pandavas, having obtained sons all of whom were equal unto the children of the celestials and endued with broad chests, and all of whom became great warriors, were filled with joy.'"

I'll read up more on Vijaya and Suhotra later - don't have that book w/ me @ the moment.

On your conjecture about Kunti not welcoming the other bahus aside from Panchali & Subhadra, that's b'cos they were the only ones brought to her: Arjun didn't bring Uloopi & Chitrangada w/ him to Indraprastha.  When Nakula married Karenamati, she obviously lived in Indraprastha, b'cos when the Pandavas were in exile & Krishna, Dhrishtadyumna and others visited them, at the end, it's mentioned that Dhrishtaketu, taking his sister w/ him, left for Chedi

And consoling Yudhishthira, Krishna set out for Dwaraka on his car resplendent as the sun and unto which were yoked the horses Saivya and Sugriva. And after he of the Dasharha race had departed, Dhristadyumna, the son of Prishata, also set out for his own city, taking with him the sons of Draupadi. And the king of Chedi, Dhrishtaketu also, taking his sister with him set out for his beautiful city of Suktimati, after bidding farewell to the Pandavas. And, O Bharata, the Kaikeyas also, with the permission of Kunti's son possessed of immeasurable energy, having reverentially saluted all the Pandavas, went away.

Ignore the inaccuracies about Drishtadyumna being the son of Prishatha - he was his grandson.

So all the wives of the Pandavas, except Hidimba, were recognized as Pandavas, and so were their sons.  Even Ghatotkacha was recognized by Draupadi as a son, even though he didn't have rights to live in Indraprastha.  Iravana was introduced to the Pandavas @ the start of the war - Arjun never saw him b4.

None of the Pandava sons survived the war (Babruvahana not considered here).  If you recall, when Ashwatthama sent his Brahmashira, he aimed it @ the seed of the Pandavas.  If the Pandavas had any sons left, he'd have aimed it @ them.  I dunno why the weapon didn't go towards Babruvahana - maybe b'cos technically, he was not a Pandava?  But at any rate, had any of the Pandava sons still been alive, that weapon would have killed them.  Chances are likely that those other sons either died in battle, or were killed by Ashwatthama on the 18th night.  I too wish the circumstances under which they fought & died were given.

Note, also, that the above hierarchy is based on Pandu.  If it was based on Yudhisthir, Prativindya would have been first in line to the throne, and Yaudheya next.
Edited by _Vrish_ - 12 years ago

Thanks,once again,  Vrish.

vaarali

It is unclear.  My initial reading was first Abhimanyu, then the others, but from the way it's written, Draupadi could well have given birth to Prativindya, and been pregnant w/ Satsoma @ the time Subhadra came to her.  The way the above is written doesn't rule that out.

That brings me to another question.  You may have heard of a story about how Arjun was narrating to Subhadra how to exit a chakravyuha, but it being pretty boring for a pregnant woman, she fell asleep, and Abhimanyu never got to learn it, w/ fatal consequences.  If that was there, shouldn't it have been there in the above cited section?  I checked out Abhimanyuvadh parva, but even that didn't have such a story.  So I wonder - where did it originate?

As for Chitrangada, her father had been raising her as a prince, and I think her tomboyish attributes might have been what attracted Arjun to her.  So had she given birth to a daughter, that daughter too might have been raised as a prince, but it would have been some burden on the dynasty.  Incidentally, after the Ashwamedha yagna, Chitrangada lived w/ Arjun in Hastinapur, but when the Pandavas decided to retire, she returned to Manipur, Uloopi returned to her watery kingdom in Nagaland, while the other Pandava wives remained w/ Parikshit.

That brings up another question.  During the vanvaas, I understand, the Pandava queens had to go to their maaykas and raise their sons to prepare for the war.  But at the end of it all, why did only Draupadi accompany the Pandavas in their journey to heaven?  Parikshit was 36 years old, so presumably old enough to rule.  So all the queens of the Pandavas - Devika, Hidimba, Uloopi, Chitrangada, Subhadra, Karenmati and Vijaya - all should have accompanied their husbands on that final journey, no?  Uttara could have been left in company of Parikshit.  (In the ACK, after Arjun enthroned Vajra, he left Subhadra w/ him to take care, but in the Mahabharata, it's mentioned that she and other queens stayed on w/ Parikshit.  In which case, even if all the Yadava queens had ended their lives, Vajra's mother - be it Rochana or Usha - should have stayed w/ him, no?)  Any idea why the Pandava queens chose/agreed to stay on w/ Parikshit?
Edited by _Vrish_ - 12 years ago