Vṛddhakshatra

Vṛddhakshatra was a king and a man of great tapas (austerity). He was the father of Jayadratha, the king of Sindhu. He had won a vara (a boon) with a terrible result. Anyone who caused the severed head of his son Jayadratha to fall to the ground would have his own head burst into a hundred pieces at once.

On the fourteenth day of the Kurukshetra war, Arjuna killed Jayadratha. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa arranged that the arrow carried Jayadratha’s head to the lap of Vṛddhakshatra, who sat in meditation in a forest far from the battlefield. When Vṛddhakshatra rose, the head fell to the ground, and his own head burst.

Identity and the vara

Vṛddhakshatra was the father of Jayadratha of Sindhu. Through his austerities he had won a vara from the devas about his son. The vara said that any person who caused Jayadratha’s severed head to fall to the ground would have his own head burst into a hundred pieces at that moment. The vara was meant to guard Jayadratha by keeping his enemies from killing him.

How the vara was fulfilled

On the fourteenth day of the Kurukshetra war, Arjuna hunted Jayadratha across the whole battlefield. He raced against the setting sun to keep his oath: to kill Jayadratha before nightfall, or else enter the fire.

The sun seemed to set. This was the māyā of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, who hid the sun for a time with his Sudarśana Cakra. Jayadratha came out into the open, thinking himself safe.

Kṛshṇa told Arjuna to shoot at Jayadratha’s head with such force that the arrow would carry it through the air to the place where Vṛddhakshatra sat in meditation and drop it into his lap. Arjuna understood and loosed the arrow. Jayadratha’s head was cut off, and the arrow carried it through the air. It landed in the lap of Vṛddhakshatra as he sat in meditation.

When Vṛddhakshatra finished his meditation and rose, the head slipped from his lap and fell to the ground. At that moment his own head burst into a hundred pieces, just as the vara said.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Droṇa Parva, Chapters 72–73