Candrasena the Kaurava

Candrasena was a warrior on the Kaurava side. He fought on the eighteenth day of the Kurukshetra war, when Śalya led the Kaurava army. The Śalya Parva names him in the fierce fighting between Yudhishṭhira and Śalya. There Yudhishṭhira struck him down with seventy arrows.

The eighteenth day

On the eighteenth day, Yudhishṭhira was fighting hard against Śalya, the last Kaurava senāpati (army commander). Many Kaurava warriors pressed on him from all sides. In this crush, Candrasena came within reach of the arrows of Dharmarāja Yudhishṭhira. Chapter 13 of the Śalya Parva records that Yudhishṭhira struck Candrasena with seventy (saptati) arrows and wounded him badly.

The Śalya Parva says nothing more about Candrasena. His name comes only in a quick list of the men Yudhishṭhira aimed at in the height of the fighting on the eighteenth day.

This Candrasena is a different man from Candrasena of Ujjayinī. That Candrasena is a king in the tradition of the Pradosha-māhātmya.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Śalya Parva, Chapter 13