Gada, the Vṛshṇi Hero
Gada was a hero of the Vṛshṇi line of the Yādava clan. He was the younger brother of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa. The Udyoga Parva names him among the Vṛshṇi warriors who came with Balarāma to Kurukshetra. He died in the slaughter at Prabhāsa, which the Mausala Parva tells.
At Kurukshetra
In Chapter 157 of the Udyoga Parva, Balarāma comes to Kurukshetra with the Vṛshṇi warriors. They include Cārudeshṇa, Gada and Sāmba. The Pāṇḍavas and Kauravas stand ready for war.
Balarāma would not take a side. Duryodhana was his student in gadā-yuddha (mace fighting), and the Pāṇḍavas were on the side of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa. He left for the tīrthas (holy places) on the Sarasvatī, on a pilgrimage, and did not join the war.
Gada and the other Vṛshṇi warriors stayed with the Pāṇḍava army. By then most of the Vṛshṇi forces, the Nārāyaṇī senā (army), had already been given to Duryodhana.
Death at Prabhāsa
The Mausala Parva tells how the Vṛshṇis were destroyed at Prabhāsa. When the set hour for the destruction of the Yādavas came, Gada was among the kinsmen at the drinking feast on the seashore. He sat near Bhagavān Kṛshṇa and Balarāma.
A drunken quarrel broke out and turned into mutual slaughter. Every hand took up the eraka grass, which turned into the iron mushala (club) that had been laid under a śāpa (curse). Gada fell in the killing that swept away the Bhojas, Vṛshṇis and Andhakas.
Bhagavān Kṛshṇa saw Gada lying on the ground, and he also saw the deaths of his own sons. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa bears the Śārṅga bow, the cakra and the gadā. In his anger he finished the destruction of the rest of the Yādava line. This fulfilled the śāpa of the brāhmaṇas and the will of Kāla.
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Udyoga Parva, Chapter 157
- Mahābhārata, Mausala Parva, Chapter 3