Vṛṣasena

Vṛṣasena was the son of Karṇa, the king of Aṅga. He fought on the Kaurava side in the Kurukṣetra war. Arjuna killed him on the seventeenth day, in front of his father. The Droṇa Parva, the Karṇa Parva, the Udyoga Parva, the Strī Parva and the Āśramavāsika Parva all speak of him.

Lineage

Vṛṣasena was a son of Karṇa, one of the chief Kaurava commanders at Kurukṣetra. The name Vṛṣasena comes from Vṛṣa, one of Karṇa’s names (the word means a bull). He fought under his father’s example, in the line that comes from Bhagavān Sūrya. The Droṇa Parva does not give his mother’s name. The Strī Parva calls Karṇa’s wife “Vṛṣasena’s mother” (vṛṣasena-mātā).

Before the war

In the Rathātiratha-Saṃkhyāna of the Udyoga Parva, Bhīṣma counts Vṛṣasena as a ratha (a chariot-warrior of the lower rank) among the Kaurava forces.

In Dhṛṣṭadyumna’s battle assignment (Udyoga Parva, Chapter 164), Abhimanyu is named as Vṛṣasena’s opponent.

In the Droṇa Parva

In the early days of the war under Droṇa’s command, Vṛṣasena showed courage and is named among the notable warriors (Chapter 16).

On the thirteenth day, in the Cakravyūha battle, Vṛṣasena came against Abhimanyu inside the formation. Abhimanyu quickly broke his bow and wounded his horses with exact arrow-fire. This drove Vṛṣasena back from the fight for a time. Abhimanyu was fighting many commanders one after another inside the Cakravyūha (Chapters 40–41).

After Droṇācārya fell on the fifteenth day, the Kaurava army began to flee. Vṛṣasena withdrew from the field, leading ten thousand chariots and three thousand war-elephants, in service of Duryodhana’s cause. He is named among the chief Kaurava leaders who fell back: Śakuni, Karṇa, Śalya, Kṛpācārya, Kṛtavarman, Ulūka, Duśśāsana, Vṛṣasena, Suśarman and at last Duryodhana. The forces of the Bhojas, Kaliṅgas, Araṭṭas and Bāhlīkas also withdrew with Kṛtavarman’s group (Chapter 193).

The seventeenth day

On the seventeenth day, Vṛṣasena guarded the rear of his father Karṇa’s chariot. He protected Karṇa’s position from attack from behind while Karṇa pressed forward in the great duel with Arjuna.

Vṛṣasena fought with great energy and skill. He met Nakula directly. He broke Nakula’s bow, killed his horses and broke his chariot, so that Nakula had to fight on foot. He wounded Nakula badly with arrows. Then he turned on Bhīma, Arjuna and Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa together with showers of arrows, and the Kauravas admired him for it (Karṇa Parva, Chapter 84).

His death at the hands of Arjuna

Arjuna saw Nakula in distress and drove toward Vṛṣasena. Before the attack, he called to Karṇa so that Karṇa would hear and understand: “Karṇa! Six mahāratha-s joined together, Droṇa, you, Kṛpa, Aśvatthāmā, Bṛhadbala and Kṛtavarman, and killed my son Abhimanyu when he was alone, with no chariot and no weapons. You watched, and you took part. Now, before your eyes, before Duryodhana and before all the warriors gathered here, I will kill Vṛṣasena. Guard him if you can.”

Vṛṣasena fought back bravely. He struck Arjuna on the right shoulder and wounded Kṛṣṇa with nine arrows, and he kept on fighting with great force. But Arjuna did not waver. First he shot ten arrows that struck Vṛṣasena’s vital points. Then, calm and steady, he shot two arrows. One cut off Vṛṣasena’s right arm and the other his left. A third arrow struck his head and cut it from his body. Vṛṣasena fell from his chariot like a great tree cut down on a mountain peak.

Karṇa saw his son die. The Mahābhārata describes tears pouring from his eyes and his heart broken. His grief turned at once to rage. He drove his chariot at full speed straight toward Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa. This began the last phase of their great duel, which ended with Karṇa’s own death (Karṇa Parva, Chapter 85).

The Karṇa Parva records that Arjuna killed Vṛṣasena in front of his father Karṇa. This killing is one of Arjuna’s answers to his grief for Abhimanyu, who died in the Cakravyūha on the thirteenth day. Vṛṣasena had taken part in the attack on Abhimanyu.

Gāndhārī’s lament in the Strī Parva

In Gāndhārī’s long survey of the battlefield, Chapter 21 is given to her lament for Karṇa. She sees Karṇa’s body, fallen like a great tree torn up by a storm. She sees his wives gathering around him in grief, with their hair loose, weeping together.

Among them she notes Karṇa’s wife, Vṛṣasena’s own mother, lying on the ground beside Karṇa’s body and crying piteously. The Strī Parva calls her “Vṛṣasena’s mother” (vṛṣasena-mātā). She had lost both her husband and her son on the same day of battle. Arjuna killed Vṛṣasena earlier on the seventeenth day, and Karṇa was killed soon after in the duel that followed.

Reunion at the Gaṅgā

In the Āśramavāsika Parva (Chapter 32), Vyāsa called up the whole host of the fallen at the Gaṅgā. Vṛṣasena rose among the warriors together with his brothers. They were young again and free of enmity. For one night he met Karṇa, his father, once more, and then he returned to his loka.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Udyoga Parva, Rathātiratha-Saṃkhyāna Parva and Chapter 164
• Mahābhārata, Droṇa Parva, Chapters 16, 40–41 and 193
• Mahābhārata, Karṇa Parva, Chapters 84–85
• Mahābhārata, Strī Parva, Chapter 21
• Mahābhārata, Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapter 32