Rukmāratha

Rukmāratha was the son of Śalya, the king of Madra. He fought on the Kaurava side in the war at Kurukṣetra. On the thirteenth day, Abhimanyu killed him inside the Cakravyūha, the wheel-shaped battle formation. Abhimanyu struck him with one bhalla (a broad-headed arrow) and cut off his jewelled head from his shoulders in a single stroke.

Family

Rukmāratha was the son of Śalya, the great king of Madra. Śalya was the maternal uncle of the Pāṇḍava twins Nakula and Sahadeva. Even so, Śalya had been bound to the Kaurava side by a stratagem of Duryodhana. Rukmāratha therefore took his place on the Kaurava side in the great war.

His death at the hands of Abhimanyu

On the thirteenth day of the war, the Kaurava army formed the Cakravyūha, following the plan of Droṇa. Among the Pāṇḍava warriors, only Abhimanyu knew how to enter it. He entered and cut through rank after rank of the Kaurava army.

Rukmāratha met Abhimanyu in battle inside the formation. He attacked Abhimanyu bravely. But Abhimanyu answered with the speed and skill that had already overcome many older commanders that day. With a single bhalla, an arrow whose wide blade could make the deepest cuts, Abhimanyu struck Rukmāratha at the neck. His head, decorated with a warrior’s ornaments, was cut off at the shoulders and fell at once. Rukmāratha died on the spot.

The Mahābhārata tells this in the Droṇa Parva, Chapter 38.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Droṇa Parva, Chapter 38