Kṛtavarman

Kṛtavarman was a warrior of the Yādava line, of the Bhoja branch and of the Hārdikya clan. He was a mahāratha (great chariot warrior) of the Bhoja-Vṛshṇi alliance. He was a companion of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa in the Yādava court and later became a general of the Kaurava army in the Kurukshetra war. He is also called Hārdikya and the son of Hṛdika.

He appears in the Mahābhārata in several places: at the dice game, at the marriage of Abhimanyu and Uttarā, in the night raid on the Pāñcāla camp, in the meeting with Dhṛtarāshṭra and Gāndhārī, in the quarrel at Prabhāsa where he was killed, and in the final account of where the heroes went.

At the marriage of Abhimanyu and Uttarā

When the thirteen years of exile of the Pāṇḍavas were over, Kṛtavarman came to Upaplavya in the Matsya kingdom for the marriage of Abhimanyu and Uttarā. He came with the great Yādava company led by Vāsudeva Kṛshṇa and Balarāma. Sātyaki, Akrūra and Sāmba were also in it. The gathering at Upaplavya was both a feast for the marriage and the start of the Pāṇḍavas’ formal talks to win back Indraprastha. (Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapter 72.)

At the dice game

In the Dyūta Parva of the Sabhā Parva, Duḥśāsana tried to pull off Draupadī’s garment in the full assembly. Kṛtavarman is named among those who turned away their eyes in shame. He is named together with Bhūriśravas, as warriors of true honour who could not approve of what they saw. His silence was one of shame, not of taking part. (Mahābhārata, Sabhā Parva, Dyūta Parva, Chapter 68.)

In the Sauptika Parva

After Duryodhana fell in the club fight, three Kaurava warriors were left: Kṛtavarman, Aśvatthāmā and Kṛpācārya. The three fled together to the forest. Kṛpa argued at length against Aśvatthāmā’s plan to attack the sleeping Pāñcāla camp. Kṛtavarman said simply that he would follow Aśvatthāmā wherever he led. This agreement let the plan go forward.

During the night raid, Kṛtavarman stood at the outer exits of the camp together with Kṛpa. He did not go in to kill. That work was done by Aśvatthāmā alone, under the entry (āveśa) of Mahādeva, that is, Bhagavān Śiva. Kṛtavarman’s task was to see that no one escaped. All night, as warriors woke to the slaughter and ran towards the gates of the camp, Kṛtavarman and Kṛpa cut them down at every exit. By dawn not one man of the great Pāñcāla-Sṛñjaya army had escaped. (Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapters 2–8.)

The three then rode to the dying Duryodhana and told him what had been done. Duryodhana heard Aśvatthāmā’s account and said he was satisfied, as happy as Indra at that moment. He died in peace. (Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapter 9.)

Meeting Dhṛtarāshṭra and Gāndhārī (Strī Parva, Chapter 11)

Chapter 11 of the Strī Parva has the last scene with Kṛtavarman in that parva. After the night raid on the Pāñcāla camp, the three Kaurava survivors, Aśvatthāmā, Kṛpācārya and Kṛtavarman, met Dhṛtarāshṭra and Gāndhārī on the road. The royal party was going from Hastināpura to the battlefield. The three wept, and with grieving voices they said, “Your son did deeds of great difficulty and has gone to Indra’s realm with all his followers. We three alone remain of Duryodhana’s whole host.” Kṛpācārya then spoke to Gāndhārī and comforted her. He said her sons had died as warriors should, having fought without turning their backs, and had won the worlds that the righteous earn.

They told of the Sauptika massacre, the night raid on the Pāñcāla camp. They asked leave to go, and said they lacked the strength and numbers to face the Pāṇḍavas in battle. Dhṛtarāshṭra gave them leave, and they walked around him in respect. Then the three parted. Kṛtavarman went to his own kingdom (svarāshṭra). The Strī Parva says that as they left, each of the three looked back at Dhṛtarāshṭra again and again. They carried the weight of what they had done, and they went with fearful hearts.

The quarrel at Prabhāsa and his death (Mausala Parva, Chapter 3)

In the thirty-sixth year of Yudhishṭhira’s reign, the Yādavas held a drinking feast at Prabhāsa. There the old enmity that Kṛtavarman had earned in the Sauptika night raid came to its end. The drunken Sātyaki taunted him before the assembly. He blamed him for killing warriors in their sleep, as if they were dead men, together with Aśvatthāmā. Pradyumna agreed with the rebuke.

Kṛtavarman was stung. He answered with a scornful gesture of the left hand. He threw back the taunt that the Yādavas had mercilessly killed the armless Bhūriśravas. The quarrel over the Syamantaka gem was recalled, and Satyabhāmā wept before Bhagavān Kṛshṇa. The enraged Sātyaki sprang up and, in the very presence of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, struck off Kṛtavarman’s head with his sword.

His death was the first blow of the mutual destruction of the Yādavas, which Kāla and the curse of the brāhmaṇas had ordained. The Bhojas and Andhakas rose at once to avenge him, and the whole clan turned on itself, using the cursed mushala (iron club). Arjuna later settled his surviving people at Mārtikāvata. (Mahābhārata, Mausala Parva, Chapters 3 and 7.)

Return to the Maruts (Svargārohaṇa Parva, Chapter 5)

In the final account of where the heroes went, Sauti (Ugraśravas) says that Kṛtavarman, the son of Hṛdika, was taken back into the Maruts at the end of his life on earth. The Maruts are the storm devas, and he had been a portion of them. So the Hārdikya warrior, though the night raid and his death at Prabhāsa cast a shadow over his story, went back at last to the company of the wind devas from whose splendour he had been drawn.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapter 72
• Mahābhārata, Sabhā Parva, Dyūta Parva, Chapter 68
• Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapters 1–9
• Mahābhārata, Strī Parva, Chapter 11
• Mahābhārata, Mausala Parva, Chapters 3 and 7
• Mahābhārata, Svargārohaṇa Parva, Chapter 5