Babruvahana

Manipura was a kingdom in India. It was ruled by a king named Chitravahana. He had a daughter named Chitrangada, whom he named after the Madhulika flower. For multiple generations, the dynasty did not have more than one heir. Since Chitrasena did not have any other heir, he trained Chitrangada in warfare and rule. Chitrangada was well-versed in warfare and acquired the skills to protect the people of her land. The account is described in Rabindranath Tagore's play Chitra,[1] where Tagore depicts Chitrangada as a warrior dressed in male clothes.[2] Arjuna fell in love with her on account of her honesty and courage. They had a son named Babruvahana, whom Chitra reared up after Arjuna left them.[3]

Mahabharata loses mention of Chitra and her kingdom for several chapters. On the other side, the Pandavas went through various ordeals and finally winning the war against the Kauravas. Yudhishthira became the king of Hastinapura. His mind was restless since he always felt bad about killing his own kith and kin during the war. On the advice of sages, he conducted Ashvamedha yagna, where a decorated horse would be sent across the kingdom and wherever it goes unopposed, the land would be acquired by the king who sent it. Arjuna was tasked to take care of the horse. When Arjuna went to Manipura with the wandering sacrificial horse of the Aswamedha, Babruvahana captured the horse, which, by tradition, meant war against the Pandavas. Arjuna tried to persuade Babruvahana to leave the horse as there was no enmity between Manipura and Hastinapura. Babruvanahana agreed with Arjuna but informed him that he wished to kill Arjuna for his Guru Dakshina.[3]

Arjuna hugs Babruvahana, Drupadi and Chitrāngadā watch them.

Arjuna, reluctant to fight a young boy, left and informed a small troop of his army to convince Babruvahana to give the horse back. Babruvahana defeated the army. He also defeated Bhima and killed Vrishaketu. Knowing this, Arjuna got enraged as Vrishaketu was very dear to him, more than Abhimanyu, as he was his elder brother Karna's son and took an oath to kill Babruvahana or immolate himself if he gets defeated. Arjuna fought with Babruvahana and went on the upper hand. Babruvahana defeated Arjuna and killed him. To kill Arjuna, Babruvahana used the divine weapon. This divine weapon would kill any person-even monstrous demons. Repenting his deed after knowing Arjuna's identity, he was determined to kill himself, but he obtained from his stepmother, the Naga princess Uloopi, a gem called Nagamani which restored Arjuna to life with the help of Krishna. Arjuna, however, repented that he wouldn't be able to live with the remorse due to Vrishaketu's death, as he was the one who had ordered Vrishaketu to engage in battle and thinking about the reaction of Subhadra. Krishna, however, promised that he would restore Vrishaketu to life. After Vrishaketu was revived by Krishna, Babruvahana asked Vrishaketu to forgive him (which he did). Vrishaketu admired Babruvahana's skill in war. Then, the Pandavas, Uloopi, Chitrangada, Babruvahana, Drupadi and the armies returned to Hastinapura.[3]