Suśarman

Suśarman was the king of Trigarta, a kingdom that stood with the Kauravas. In the Virāṭa Parva of the Mahābhārata he led the southern cattle raid on the Matsya kingdom of King Virāṭa. The Kauravas planned this raid to find the Pāṇḍavas, who were living in hiding during their ajñātavāsa (the year of living unknown). Suśarman captured King Virāṭa in battle. Bhīma and the disguised Pāṇḍavas then defeated him and took him prisoner. Yudhiṣṭhira told them to let him go.

The Trigarta cattle raid

Suśarman was an ally of Duryodhana and the Kauravas. Duryodhana’s council made a plan of two raids on the cattle of Matsya, to bring out any Pāṇḍavas who might be hiding there. Suśarman offered to lead the first strike from the south.

His raid was meant to draw Virāṭa and his main forces away from the capital. The Kaurava grand army would raid from the north at the same time. If a warrior of rare power came out to defend Matsya from either side, he would show who the Pāṇḍavas were (Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapters 25–27).

The battle with Virāṭa

Suśarman raided Virāṭa’s southern cattle herds in great strength and drove off large numbers of animals. Virāṭa rode out from Virāṭanagara with his main army to defend his kingdom. Suśarman’s forces fought powerfully. In the thick of the fight, Suśarman captured King Virāṭa himself and carried him away in his chariot. With their king taken, the Matsya army began to waver (Virāṭa Parva, Chapters 29–30).

Defeat and capture

Yudhiṣṭhira saw how the battle had turned and urged Bhīma to rescue Virāṭa at once. The disguised Pāṇḍavas, Yudhiṣṭhira, Bhīma, Nakula and Sahadeva, entered the battle. Bhīma fought with great power and drove into the Trigarta forces. Suśarman’s army broke and fled. Suśarman himself was captured and brought before Yudhiṣṭhira as a prisoner (Virāṭa Parva, Chapters 31–33).

Yudhiṣṭhira’s mercy

Bhīma was inclined to be severe with the prisoner. Yudhiṣṭhira, who is known for his compassion in dharma, ordered Suśarman to be released. He set one condition: Suśarman must accept Virāṭa as his superior and must live truthfully from then on. Suśarman was freed, his life spared by the mercy of the Dharmarāja (Yudhiṣṭhira), and the Trigarta forces withdrew (Virāṭa Parva, Chapters 33–34).

Death in the Śalya Parva

Suśarman went on fighting on the Kaurava side through the Kurukṣetra war. On the eighteenth day of the war, told in the opening chapters of the Śalya Parva, Arjuna killed him. He had captured Virāṭa in the cattle raid and had lived through that day only by Yudhiṣṭhira’s mercy. He met his end on the eighteenth day of the war.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapters 25–27, 29–30, 31–33, 33–34
• Mahābhārata, Śalya Parva, opening chapters