Upaplava

Upaplava, also called Upaplavya, is a city in the Matsya kingdom. It was the headquarters of the Pāṇḍavas in the time just before the Kurukshetra war. From here the Pāṇḍavas sent Kṛshṇa to Hastināpura as their ambassador, in a last effort to keep the peace.

Place and role

Upaplava lay in the Matsya kingdom. The Pāṇḍavas had finished twelve years of forest exile and one year of living unknown at the court of Virāṭa. They then gathered at Upaplava with their allies to ask for the return of their kingdom.

The Udyoga Parva of the Mahābhārata records much diplomatic activity at Upaplava.

• The allies of the Pāṇḍavas gathered there: Drupada, the Matsya king, the Kekaya brothers and others.
• Sañjaya came to Upaplava as the messenger of Dhṛtarāshṭra.
• Kṛshṇa left Upaplava as the last peace ambassador of the Pāṇḍavas to Hastināpura.

Upaplava in the Strī Parva

In Chapter 25 of the Strī Parva, Gāndhārī speaks to Kṛshṇa as she walks over the battlefield. She says: “On the day you left Upaplava without achieving peace, that was the day my sons truly died.”

She means the moment when the peace embassy came back from Hastināpura to Upaplava without success. Duryodhana had refused to give even five villages. From that moment the war could not be avoided. Her words make Upaplava the marker of the last moment when peace was still possible.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Strī Parva, Chapter 25
• Mahābhārata, Udyoga Parva