Jayatsena of Magadha
Jayatsena was the king of Magadha, the great kingdom of the east. He fought on the Kaurava side in the Kurukshetra war. He is a different person from Jayadratha of Sindhu-Sauviraka. On the tenth day of battle he fought Bhīmasena and struck him with eight arrows. The fight ended with his sārathi (charioteer) knocked off the chariot and his horses running away, and Jayatsena had to retreat.
Who he was
Jayatsena was the king of Magadha. The most famous earlier ruler of Magadha was Jarāsandha, the powerful king whom Bhīmasena killed before the Rājasūya. Jayatsena was among those who joined the Kaurava side when the war could no longer be avoided.
He is not the same as Jayadratha of Sindhu-Sauviraka, the son-in-law of Dhṛtarāshṭra. The names sound alike, but Jayatsena of Magadha is a separate person. The Mahābhārata, Bhīshma Parva, tells of him.
The tenth day: Jayatsena and Bhīmasena
The tenth day was the last day of Bhīshma’s command. On that day Jayatsena came to fight Bhīmasena, the strongest of the Pāṇḍava warriors in body. Jayatsena struck Bhīma with eight arrows, one after another. But the fight did not go well for him. His sārathi was knocked from his place, and the horses, with no one to guide them, ran from the field. His chariot could no longer be controlled, and Jayatsena had to retreat. The Bhīshma Parva tells this.
On the battlefield: the Strī Parva, Chapter 25
In Chapter 25 of the Strī Parva, Gāndhārī looks over the fallen and stops at Jayatsena of Magadha. She says: “Janārdana! Look there. The king of the Magadhas, Jayatsena, lies fallen, and his wives, with beautiful eyes and fine throats, beat their breasts and weep.”
Gāndhārī says that the sound of their grief reaches her ears and her heart. Their loose clothes and ornaments show how suddenly a royal house has been broken. These women were used to beds of fine silk, and now they roll on the bare ground in the depth of their sorrow.
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Bhīshma Parva, Chapters 43–122
- Mahābhārata, Strī Parva, Chapter 25