Parīkshit’s Birth

Parīkshit was the only heir who lived on from the Pāṇḍava and Kuru line. His father Abhimanyu died in the war at Kurukshetra, and Parīkshit was born afterwards. Aśvatthāmā loosed a brahmāstra, a weapon of Brahmā, against the unborn child, and Bhagavān Kṛshṇa saved him.

The Mahābhārata tells this in the Aśvamedhika Parva (Chapters 60–70). It gives Kṛshṇa’s report of the war to his father Vāsudeva, the news of Abhimanyu’s death, the cries of grief of Vāsudeva, Subhadrā, Kuntī and Uttarā, and Kṛshṇa’s satya-kriyā (an act of truth) that brought the lifeless child back to life. The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa tells it in its first skandha (Chapter 12).

The account in the Mahābhārata

Vāsudeva’s question and Kṛshṇa’s report of the war (Chapter 60)

After the war at Kurukshetra, Kṛshṇa went back to Dvārakā. His father Vāsudeva had heard people speak of the “most wondrous great war”. He asked his son, who had seen it all with his own eyes, to tell it in full. He asked how the war went day by day, how the Pāṇḍavas fared against Bhīshma, Karṇa, Kṛpa and Droṇa, and how the other warriors of many lands and many weapons fought and fell.

Kṛshṇa gave his father a short account of the eighteen days of the war:

• Bhīshma led for ten days and fell to Śikhaṇḍī and Arjuna.
• Droṇa led for five days and was killed by Dhṛshṭadyumna.
• Karṇa led for a short time and died on the second day of his command.
• Śalya was killed by Yudhishṭhira, and Śakuni by Sahadeva.
• Duryodhana fled to the Dvaipāyana lake and was killed by Bhīmasena.
• Last, Aśvatthāmā killed the sleeping Pāṇḍava camp at night. Only the five Pāṇḍavas, Kṛshṇa and Sātyaki lived among their side.

Kṛshṇa told his father that the war, from Bhīshma’s command to the last deaths, had lasted eighteen days. The Vṛshṇis who had gathered there were struck with grief and sorrow (Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 60).

Vāsudeva’s grief and the news kept back (Chapter 61)

In his report the wise and mighty Kṛshṇa passed over the death of Abhimanyu on purpose. He did not want to cause his father Vāsudeva unbearable grief. But Subhadrā remembered the death of her own son in that war. She cried out, “Kṛshṇa! Tell also of the killing of Abhimanyu!” and fell to the ground. When Vāsudeva saw her fall, he too was overcome and fell senseless.

When he woke, in deep grief for his grandson, Vāsudeva said to Kṛshṇa: “Puṇḍarīkāksha! Destroyer of foes! You are known on this earth as one whose word is true. Till now you have not told me of the death of my daughter’s son. Tell me truly, O Kṛshṇa, how your nephew, whose eyes were like your own, was struck down by the enemy before his time. … Did the enemy throw aside the rules of war and kill him? Was his face made ugly in battle? … My little grandson always used to say, even as a child, how eager he was to prove himself against Droṇa, Bhīshma and the mighty Karṇa.”

Kṛshṇa answered his weeping father: “His face was not disfigured in battle, and he never turned his back on a fight, however hard to cross. He killed hundreds and thousands of kings in their hosts. Then, through the treachery of Droṇa and Karṇa, he fell into the power of Duḥśāsana’s son. … He has surely gone to svarga (heaven). Give up your grief. Those whose buddhi is perfect do not melt away under sorrow” (Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 61).

Subhadrā’s grief and Uttarā’s cry (Chapter 61)

When Subhadrā learned of Abhimanyu’s death, she grieved like a kurarī bird and went to Draupadī. She cried: “Āryā! Where are all our little sons? I wish to see them.” Then she turned to Uttarā: “Bhadrā! Where has your husband gone? Tell me at once when he will come back. … O Abhimanyu! All your uncles, the great mahārathas, are well and safe. They ask after you, who came here eager for battle. Why do you not answer me today, though I call you again and again?”

Kuntī heard this cry and gently comforted Subhadrā: “O Yadunandinī! The boy dear to Vāsudeva, to Sātyaki and to his father Arjuna has fallen in battle by the decree of time. Such is the nature of mortal life. Do not grieve. Your son, whom no one could hold back, has reached the highest state. Watch over Uttarā with care. She is garbhavatī (with child), and she of good nature will soon bear him a son.”

Kuntī then arranged the śrāddha (rite for the dead) for Abhimanyu. With Subhadrā she gave rich gifts to the brāhmaṇas (Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 61).

Vyāsa’s prophecy (Chapter 62)

At Hastināpura, Uttarā was crushed with grief for Abhimanyu and would not eat for many days. The child in her womb began to be lost. It withered inside her even as it lived. Vyāsa saw this with his divine sight. He came to Kuntī and to Uttarā and said: “This great sorrow must be put aside. O yaśasvinī (famous one)! By the power of Vāsudeva and by my own word, a son of great tejas will be born to you, who will rule the earth after the Pāṇḍavas.”

Vyāsa turned to Yudhishṭhira and Dhanañjaya (Arjuna) and said the same: a great-souled grandson would be born, who would rule the earth up to its ocean borders in keeping with dharma. “This is sure to come true. Do not grieve.” Yudhishṭhira was comforted and gave up his sorrow. Vyāsa then urged Yudhishṭhira toward the Aśvamedha mahāyajña (great fire ritual) and vanished (Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 62).

The child is born lifeless (Chapter 66)

Vāsudeva and the Vṛshṇis were at Hastināpura. They had come at the same time as the Pāṇḍavas, who were returning with the treasure of Marutta. Then Parīkshit was born, “he who would in time destroy the enemies of his father”. But the text says plainly that the newborn, struck by the brahmāstra, lay without motion, like a corpse (śavam). The birth brought joy and grief in the same moment. The glad cries of the people who had gathered fell suddenly silent when they saw this.

Kṛshṇa was troubled in mind and hurried with Sātyaki into the antaḥpura (women’s quarters). There Kuntī ran to him weeping and cried: “Vāsudeva! Mighty-armed one! Devakī bore in you a son who is a refuge for us all. This whole family now rests upon you. Keśava! Hero of the Yadus! Your nephew’s son has been born dead, struck by Aśvatthāmā’s weapon. Bring him back to life! When the aishīka weapon was loosed, you gave your word: ‘I shall bring back to life the son of Kirīṭī’s [Arjuna’s] son.’ Here he lies, dead. Look at him. Uttarā, Subhadrā, Draupadī and I all look to you. The lives of Yudhishṭhira, Bhīma, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva now rest upon you” (Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 66).

Subhadrā’s plea (Chapter 67)

Subhadrā then spoke, weeping: “Puṇḍarīkāksha! Look at this child of Dhanañjaya’s line. The whole Kuru line has died out, and now this child, its last remnant, lies as if his own span of life too had run out. The ishīkā weapon aimed by Droṇa’s son struck Uttarā, Vijaya and me alike. It has broken and lodged in my own heart, for I cannot bear to see him whom I carried with his father. … You yourself said to Aśvatthāmā, when he was killing the unborn children of the Pāṇḍus: ‘Wretch! I shall defeat your wish. I shall bring Kirīṭī’s grandson back to life.’ I heard those words, and knowing your power I now beg you: let the son of Abhimanyu live! If you do not make that blessed word true while you still live, Kṛshṇa, count me as one already dead” (Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 67).

The Sauptika Parva also records Kṛshṇa’s earlier vow to bring Arjuna’s grandson back to life.

Uttarā’s lament (Chapter 68)

Kṛshṇa went into the delivery room and looked over the arrangements with satisfaction. Draupadī went ahead to tell Uttarā that “Madhusūdana, your father-in-law, unconquered anywhere, is coming.” Uttarā held back her tears and waited. Then, seeing Govinda come near, she wept aloud, and her grief moved all who saw it:

“Deva of the lotus eyes! Look at us, left without this little one. Abhimanyu and I have both become as the dead. Jewel of the Vṛshṇis! Madhusūdana! I beg you, bring my son back to life, scorched by the weapon of Droṇa’s son. If Dharmarāja, or Bhīmasena, or even you, Puṇḍarīkāksha, had said only ‘let this ishīkā not kill his innocent mother’, I would have died instead, and he would never have come to this. … What good is there in my living on, now that Droṇa’s son has destroyed every hope I had placed in this child? … In battle Abhimanyu died a kṛtaghna‘s death like his own father’s, going to Yama’s house. I vowed that I would follow Kṛshṇa quickly when Abhimanyu fell in battle. Cruel and clinging to life as I am, I have not done so. If I go to him now, what will Abhimanyu say to me?” (Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 68).

Kṛshṇa’s satya-kriyā and the revival (Chapter 69)

Overcome with grief, Uttarā fell to the ground, holding the dead child. Kuntī saw this and cried out again, and all the Bhārata women wept aloud together. After a while Uttarā came to herself. She took the child in her lap and spoke to him: “Rise, child! Bow to this Kṛshṇa, as you once saw your own father bow to him.” The women lifted her up, and Uttarā gathered her courage (dhairya) and bowed on the ground to Puṇḍarīkāksha on the child’s behalf.

Kṛshṇa heard her lament. He touched water and, with a pure mind, drew back the brahmāstra that had struck the child. Then, before the whole assembly, in a voice meant to be heard by the entire world, he spoke his satya-kriyā:

“Uttarā! I do not speak falsehood. This shall come true. Here, before all these people, I shall bring him back to life. If I have never spoken false even in jest, if I have never turned back from battle, let this child live! If dharma, and above all the brāhmaṇas, are dear to me, let this son of Abhimanyu, born dead, live! By that truth by which I have never in victory left the path of righteousness, let this dead infant live! If satya and dharma stand firm within me always, let this son of Abhimanyu, this dead child, live! If Kaṃsa and Keśī were killed by me in keeping with dharma, by that truth let this boy live again!”

As Vāsudeva spoke these words, the child began little by little to stir and move (Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 69).

The naming (Chapter 70)

The moment Kṛshṇa drew back the brahmāstra, the birth chamber blazed with light. The rākshasas who had gathered there vanished, and a voice from the sky cried “sādhu, sādhu!” The blazing weapon went back to Brahmā. The child stirred with growing strength. Kṛshṇa gave the infant rich jewels, and so did the Yādavas who had gathered. It was Kṛshṇa who gave the child his name:

Satyasandha Janārdana said: since this son of Abhimanyu was born at the very hour of the near destruction (parikshaya) of the family, let his name be Parīkshit.

The child grew from that day, and even as a month-old infant he gave joy to all who saw him. At the same time the Pāṇḍavas reached Hastināpura with the treasure of Marutta, and the whole city was decked out to celebrate both the birth and their return (Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 70).

The account in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa

The setting

Uttarā, daughter of King Virāṭa and wife of Abhimanyu, was with child when the war at Kurukshetra began. Abhimanyu fell in the war and left her a widow, carrying the only heir to carry on the Pāṇḍava line. After the war Aśvatthāmā loosed a brahmāstra at the unborn child to put out this last hope. The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa says that Bhagavān Kṛshṇa entered the womb and shielded the child with his Sudarśana Cakra before the birth, so that the child was never harmed.

The child was born in spite of the brahmāstra, by pure divine grace, and there was no natural or human reason for his survival (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 1st Skandha, Chapter 12).

The birth

The child was born at an auspicious hour, with the best positions of the stars and planets. Yudhishṭhira (Dharmarāja) carried out all the jātakarma birth rites with great care and devotion. He called many brāhmaṇas and astrologers and honoured them with rich gifts of gold, cows, clothes and land, in thanks that the family line had been kept alive.

The brāhmaṇa astrologers studied the child’s marks and the positions of the stars and planets at his birth. They made these prophecies:

• He would be a great devotee of Bhagavān Vishṇu.
• He would be a truth-teller like Rāma.
• He would protect his people with the devotion of Śibi.
• He would be a giver like the great Bharata, from whom Bhāratavarsha takes its name.
• He would be a warrior like both the Arjunas, Kārttavīryārjuna and the Pāṇḍava Arjuna.
• He would be unbeaten and unmoved like the ocean.
• He would bear the troubles of his people with the patience of the earth.
• He would have the calm of Brahmā.
• He would have the grace and open hand of Bhagavān Śiva.
• He would protect his people as Bhagavān Vishṇu himself does (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 1st Skandha, Chapter 12).

The two names

The child received two names.

Vishṇurāta means “given by Vishṇu”, “protected by Vishṇu”, “the gift of Vishṇu”. The name told the plain truth of his survival. No human or natural means had saved this child. Only the direct act of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa had kept him alive in the womb while a brahmāstra burned the space around him. The name Vishṇurāta is not found in the account of the Aśvamedhika Parva.

Parīkshit means “the examiner”, “the one who examines”. The name came from the way the infant, and later the growing child, behaved. He looked carefully at every person who came near him, studying each face and form, as if he were searching for someone. The elders understood that he was looking for the shining being he had seen in the womb, the form of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa who had come to protect him. That form had left a mark on his mind that he could not put into words and could not forget. He kept examining each new person to see whether this was that being (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 1st Skandha, Chapter 12).

After the birth

The Pāṇḍava line had lost all five sons of Draupadī, and Abhimanyu had already died. Only this one child lived to carry on the line. In the Bhāgavata account, Parīkshit’s search for Bhagavān Kṛshṇa lasted all his life. It ended in his prāyopaveśa (fast unto death) on the Gaṅgā, where he heard the whole Bhāgavatam from Śuka Maharshi.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva (Anugītā Parva), Chapters 60–70: Chapter 60 (Kṛshṇa’s report of the war), Chapter 61 (Vāsudeva’s grief; Subhadrā’s cry; Kuntī’s comfort), Chapter 62 (Vyāsa’s prophecy), Chapter 66 (the lifeless birth; Kuntī’s plea), Chapter 67 (Subhadrā’s plea), Chapter 68 (Uttarā’s lament), Chapter 69 (Kṛshṇa’s satya-kriyā), Chapter 70 (the naming)
• Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva (Kṛshṇa’s earlier vow)
• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 1st Skandha, Chapter 12