Māteśvara

Māteśvara was a warrior on the Kaurava side who fought in the great battle of Kurukṣetra. The Śalya Parva of the Mahābhārata names him once, on the eighteenth day of the war, when Sātyaki struck him with two arrows.

The eighteenth day

On the eighteenth day of the Kurukṣetra war the fighting around Śalya, the last Kaurava senāpati (commander), was fierce. Many warriors on both sides exchanged blows in quick succession. The Śalya Parva (Chapter 13) records that Sātyaki, also called Yuyudhāna, the great Vṛṣṇi warrior who fought for the Pāṇḍavas, aimed at Māteśvara. In the middle of this fight he struck him with two sharp arrows called nārācas.

Māteśvara appears only in this one verse. Nothing more is recorded about his lineage, his kingdom, or what happened to him after Sātyaki’s attack. He is one of the many warriors of both armies whose names the Mahābhārata keeps in its account of the eighteenth day.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Śalya Parva, Chapter 13