Śveta, Son of Virāṭa
Śveta was the eldest son of Virāṭa, the king of Matsya. He fought on the side of the Pāṇḍavas at Kurukṣetra. On the first day of the war he defended his father Virāṭa against the Kaurava attack. Bhīṣma Pitāmaha killed him that day with divine weapons. He was one of the first great warriors to fall in the war.
Who he was
Śveta was the son of Virāṭa and so a prince of Matsya. This is the kingdom where the Pāṇḍavas lived through their ajñātavāsa (the year of hidden life). He was the senior prince. In the Virāṭa Parva, Uttara is named as his younger brother. Uttara was Arjuna’s charioteer in the Uttara Gograhaṇa (the rescue of the cattle).
The Pāṇḍavas came out of their year of hiding, and the alliance with Matsya was settled. Virāṭa and his sons, Śveta and Uttara among them, then joined the Pāṇḍava side at Kurukṣetra. Virāṭa and Drupada held the two flanks of the Pāṇḍava army in the Vajra-Vyūha (a battle formation).
The battle on Day 1
The armies met on the first day with great force. Bhīṣma led the Kauravas in the Śākatavyūha (a battle formation) and pressed on the Pāṇḍava side. Virāṭa came under threat. Śveta ran to defend his father. He fought several Kaurava warriors at once to keep Virāṭa from harm.
Śveta fought with great courage and skill, and he held back the Kaurava advance in his part of the field. Then he came face to face with Bhīṣma Pitāmaha, the grandsire of the Kurus. Bhīṣma struck Śveta down with divine weapons, and Śveta fell on the first day of the great war.
His death was a heavy loss for the Pāṇḍavas so early in the war.
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Bhīṣma Parva, Chapters 43–45
- Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva (the year of hidden life and the Uttara Gograhaṇa)