Lesser Known Character of Mahabharat
As you all know Mahabharat is the world’s biggest epic with largest number of characters. There are so many stories and each story will have characters that not known to all. But all the characters have been devised in such a fashion that they have purpose in the main story as well as they offer enormous knowledge and philosophy about life that we all human have to emulate to lead a pious life!
Kritavarma – Yadav Warrior
One such character is Kritavarma. He is a Yadav warrior and chieftain who assisted Aswattama in the massacre of the Pandava camp; waited at the gate along with Kripa and slaughtered those that tried to escape.
Kritavarma, the son of Hridika, was from the clan of Yadavas. He was a partial incarnation of the Maruts. He also was present in the svyamvara of Draupadi.
Contemporary of Lord Krishna
Kritavarma was a very brave yadav warrior and a contemporary of Lord Krishna. Even though he was a devotee of Krishna he still was not in good terms with Krishna and was one of the few people who plotted to kill Krishna father in law Satrajit .
Kritavarma was a friend of the Kauravas and led the Narayani Sena in the war .He was one of the three people from the Kaurav group who survived the war. He helped Aswatthama in killing the panchal warriors and draupadi sons on the 18th day of the war. After the war he came back to his kingdom but later during the final destruction of yadavas was killed by satyaki .
Story of Kritavarma
Kritavarma was an important Yadava warrior and chieftain, and a contemporary of Krishna. He finds mention in several ancient Sanskrit texts including the Mahabharata, the Vishnu Purana, the Bhagavata and the Harivamsa.
He was born in the Andhaka clan of the Yadavas, and some sources describe him as a brother of Hrithika, who was the great grandfather of Krishna, but this seems unlikely. Though he is depicted as a devotee of Krishna in the Vishnu Purana, apparently he was not in good terms with Krishna, and was one of the conspirators who plotted to kill Satrajit, Krishna’s father-in-law during the Syamantaka Jewel episode.
During the great battle at Kurukshetra, Kritavarma was an ally of the Kauravas against the Pandavas and lead the Yadava army (also called the Narayani Sena). He was one of the three survivors of the entire Kaurava army and had helped Ashwatthama in carrying out his heinous night time massacre of Panchala warriors, in which the latter had slaughtered among others, Dhrishtadyumna (the Pandava commander-in-chief), Shikhandi and the five sons of Draupadi. The event is described in the Sauptika Parva of the Mahabharata. He returned to his kingdom after the war and was later killed by Satyaki in Dwarka during the final destruction of the Yadavas, as we find in the Mausala Parva of the Mahābhārata.
Clash of the Yadavas
After 36 years of the great war, the Yadavas were having a merry party. The war had shown the differences among the Yadavas. Krishna and Satyaki were on Pandava side; whereas Kritvarma fought on Kauravas side; Balarama on the other hand remained nuetral. Krishna as a Yadav leader had kept the Yadav united.
But now in this party, the differences came to surface yet again. Kritavarma lashed out at Satyaki for killing an unconscious Bhurishravas. And Satyaki criticized Kritavarma for helping Ashwathama to kill the sleeping warriors of Pandava camp. The arguments led to a serious quarrel and Satyaki killed Kritavarma. Kritavarma’s supporters killed Satyaki and Pradyumna who came to help him. Seeing his son slain, Krishna too joined the fight and killed a few Yadavas.
Soon he saw that there was no end to it. He sent Daruka to Hastinapur, asking Arjun to come to Dwaraka for help. Krishna went to his palace, asked his father Vasudev to look after the women folk and retired to the forest. Tired, grieving Krushn was resting under a tree, when he was killed by a hunters arrow. Upon Krishna’s death, Balarama went mediatating and he too expired during the meditation.
Arjuna arrived in Dwaraka and learnt of Krishna’s death. This was a great blow for him. Grieving Vasudev too died after Arjuna arrived. Arjuna then held a meeting in the Sudarshana hall, with the available ministers, and Yadav princes. He gathered the subjects of Dwaraka, Yadav women and children, and started off to Indraprastha with some soilders accompaning him.
On the way Abhir tribes attacked this caravan. The Abhir’s kidnapped many Yadava women. Arjun with his scant army was unable to save the women and defeat the Abhirs. Dejected, he continued his journey with the remaining Yadav women and children, subjects, army and the riches of Dwarka.
Arjuna established Ushneek (son of Samba) in the kingdom of Kashyapur, (near Multan, Pakistan). He continued to rule Kashyapur after his maternal uncle. (His desendants ruled until Nabi Mohammed defeated Devendra the last king in early 7th century. Devendra’s son Asvapati was forced to Islam. Another son Gajpati came to Surat and established a small kingdom there.)
Arjuna established the son of Kritavarma, Bali at the city called Marttikavat. and the son of Satyaki, Yuyudhani on the banks of Sarasvati. He also installed, Vajra the great-grandson of Krishna on the throne of Mathura. After the coronation, Krishna’s wives retired to the forest.
Satyaki & Kritavarma
One day, the Yadavas gathered on the beach. They were drunk and lost their senses. They started teasing one another, bringing up the gory pasts and gruesome mistakes of each other. All of them started blaming each other by remembering their gruesome pasts and the blunders they have made in the Kurukshetra war.
Satyaki (also known as Yuyudhana) had fought alongside Pandavas in the battle of Kurukshetra. On the other hand Kritavarma was on the Kauravas side.
Drunk Satyaki laughed at and insulted Kritavarma for killing the Pandava army in midst of their sleep.
Pradyumna, son of Krishna applauded Satyaki for this. In response, Kritavarma taunted Satyaki by saying that he had slain the armless Bhurishravas in cold blood. Satyaki then narrated the incident when Kritavarma tried to kill Satrajit.
He reminded Kritavarma of how he and Ashwathama killed Pandavas sons in their sleep. Enraged Satyaki rushed towards Kritavarma and cut his head off. The friends of Kritavarma jumped on Satyaki and a great riot followed.
Innocent Pradyumna was also killed in the fight. Since they have come to the seashore for a pleasure, they did not carry any weapons along with them. They saw the long grown grass in abundance along the seashore.
They picked up the grass stems and beat and killed each other. Those grass stems are nothing but blades made with the powder of the same lump of iron born to Samba. Thus the curse of sages and Gandhari fructified.
The entire Yadava clan was eliminated except Krishna. Also his charioteer Daruka and Babhru were the only survivors. They both approached Krishna and informed him that all Yadavas were killed and whereabouts of Balarama are not known.
Hearing this, Krishna told Daruka to immediately go to Hastinapura and inform Dharmaja about the mass massacre of Yadavas and bring Arjuna here. Accordingly, Daruka rushed towards Hastinapura in a chariot.
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