Uttamaujas

Uttamaujas was a brave prince of the royal house of Pāñcāla. He was a mahāratha (a great chariot-warrior) and fought for the Pāṇḍavas in the war at Kurukshetra. In the Svargārohaṇa Parva of the Mahābhārata, Yudhishṭhira names him among the warriors he longed to see.

Warrior of Pāñcāla

Uttamaujas belonged to the line of Drupada, king of Pāñcāla. He stood among the foremost of the Pāṇḍava army. The Mahābhārata almost always names him together with Yudhāmanyu.

The two were given the vital duty of guarding the wheels of Arjuna’s chariot. This duty needed both courage and constant watchfulness in the thick of battle. As a mahāratha of proven courage, he took his place among the champions who stood for dharma at Kurukshetra.

In the Svargārohaṇa Parva

Yudhishṭhira went up to Svarga (heaven) and looked for the heroes who had given their lives in the war. He grieved that he did not see some of them among the devas gathered there. Among those he named and longed to see were Yudhāmanyu and Uttamaujas, the brave brothers-in-arms. He also named the son of Rādhā and the other mighty warriors who had given their bodies to the fire of battle for his sake.

His longing shows the deep bond between the king and the men who fought and fell in his cause. It is part of the sequence in which he went to seek out even Naraka (hell) rather than stay apart from his companions.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Svargārohaṇa Parva, Chapter 2