In the great Indian epic Mahabharata, the Upapandavas are said to be the five sons born to Draupadi from the each of the Pandava brothers. They fought valiantly in the war between Pandavas and Kauravas from the side of their fathers, but were killed in the end by Ashwathama, who went on a rage after the death of his friend Duryodhana and father Dronacharya. The five brothers were Prativindhya, Satanika, Sutasoma, Srutasena and Srutakarma.

Prativindhya was the eldest of the Upapandavas. He was the son of Draupadi and Yudhisthira. He was also the crown prince to the throne of Hastinapura. He is believed to be the incarnation of Chitraratha, who was a Gandharva. As a baby, Prativindhya was left in Ekachakrapura and he later battled his uncle Arjuna during Yudhisthira’s Rajasuya Yajna. In the Indonesian version of the Mahabharata, it is said that his son Kalimshada succeeds Dhritarashtra as the king of Hastinapura, and marries a princess from Kuntibhoja’s family. Indraprastha is inherited by his sister’s son. During the battle of Kurukshetra, he was 24 years old, and fought alongside his father and uncles.

Satanika was the son of Draupadi and Nakula. He was the second of the Upapandavas. He was considered to be one of the avatars of Visvadevas, and was named after a famous king of the Kuru lineage. He along with his brother Prativindhya was appointed as one of the deputy commander-in-chiefs by Dhrishtadyumna. He killed an ally of the Kauravas, king Bhutakarma.

Draupadi and Her Sons - The Story of Upapandavas
The Upapandavas

Sutasoma, the son of Darupadi and Bheema, was the third Upapandava. He was a brave and talented warrior, who almost killed Shakuni during one of the battles. He was the favourite of Arjuna, and was given a bow and horses for his chariot by Arjuna. Srutasena was the son of Draupadi and Sahadeva, and the fourth Upapandava. He had killed Shala, the younger brother of Bhurishravas, in one of the battles of Kurukshetra.

Srutakarma was the youngest of the Upapandavas and the most pampered. He was the son of Draupadi and the great warrior Arjuna. He was very young at the time of the battle, but his young age and inexperience did not stop him from facing battled hardened warriors like Dushasana and Ashwathama in the war. It is said, that the horses of his chariot bore the colour of the kingfishers.

A very disheartened and broken Ashwathama sat under a large tree after the death of his friend Duryodhana and the defeat of the Kauravas on the last day of the war. He got the idea of attacking the Pandavas at night after seeing an owl attacking the crows which had attacked it in the day time. He saw this as a sign and started formulating plans for the death and downfall of the Pandavas, who were the reason behind his pain and suffering.

He gathered the last remaining warriors from the side of the Kauravas- Kritavarma and Kripacharya, and attacked the Pandava camp on the night of the last day of war, day 18. He killed many skilled and prominent warriors like Shikhandi and Dhristadyumna while they were sleeping. As Kritavarma and Kripacharya were positioned at the entrance of the camp, those who tried to flee the wrath of Ashwathama were hacked down by them.

He saw five figures sleeping in the dark and thought them to be the Pandavas, so he ended up killing them. But it turned out that the Upapandavas were sleeping over there instead of the Pandavas, and he accidentally killed them.  In some versions of the story, it is said that he purposefully killed the Upapandavas so that the Pandavas won’t be left with any heirs.

This led to Parikshit, the grandson of Arjuna and son of Abhimanyu to succeed Yudhisthira to the throne of Hastinapur. In the Jataka tales version of the Mahabharata, Parikshit was mentored and trained by Prativindhya, Shrutasoma, Sutasoma, and Satanika. In this version, it is said that Ashwathama killed the other children of the Pandavas, like Yudhisthira’s son through Shaivya, Bhima’s son by Jalandhara, Sarvaga, and Nirmitra, the son of Nakula by Karenumati.

The story of the Upapandavas does not end here. The most interesting aspect of their story begins long before the Pandavas or Kauravas were born, many years ago.

Markandeya was one of the greatest devotees of Lord Shiva. He was destined to die at the age of 16, but Lord Shiva was so pleased with his devotion that he stopped Yama Raj, the God of Death, from taking Markandeya with him. He also granted him the boon of immortality. Markandeya is the author of Markandeya Purana, which has stories from the Mahabharata. The Purana is in the form of a dialogue between Jaimini, a student of sage Ved Vyasa, and four birds who were considered to be Dronacharya’s sons- Pingaksha, Sumukha, Vibodha and Suputra.

The birds tell the story of the Upapandavas, who had to die at a very young age even though they had Lord Krishna’s protection.

There was a just and noble king in the Treta Yuga, called King Harishchandra. Once when he was on a hunt, he heard someone calling for help. He stopped the hunt immediately and rushed to the place from where the cries were coming. Over there, he saw sage Vishwamitra deep in meditation, and realized that someone was trying to stop his penance by unfair means. The sage broke his meditation angrily and Harishchandra told him the whole story.

The sage was still angry at Harishchandra for disturbing him, so he asked him for alms. The king said he could have anything that he wanted. Vishwamitra asked for his kingdom and all his wealth. Having no attachment for worldly desires, the king readily agreed. Vishwamitra also asked him to leave the kingdom with his family.

Harishchandra and His Family Are Sold Into Bondage and Separated
Harishchandra and His Family Are Sold Into Bondage and Separated

The king did so, but had to face many hardships. His family was sold as slaves. The king worked for a man who worked at a funeral ground, and tended to dead bodies. His wife was sold to another family where she worked as a maid. Their son, Rohitashwa died after being bitten by a snake. The story ended with the king performing a yagna, which resulted in the king and queen attaining salvation and their son being brought back to life.

However, the sage was not happy with all this. Just when he was about the hit the king with his rod and destroy him, the people of the kingdom, who were filled with wrath, and the gods watching from heaven, who did not like Vishwamitra’s attitude, tried to stop him. Angrily, the five Vishwa Devas appeared over there and accused the sage of being inhuman for treating the king that way, and disrespected him.

The sage could not bear the insults and cursed the five Vishwa Devas. He picked up some water from his kamandalam and cursed the Devas to be born as humans. He also told them that they won’t have children or get a chance to get married. They will only be able to return to the heavens as celestial beings after their death.

Thus, these five Vishwa Devas were born as Prativindhya, Sutasoma, Srutakarma, Satanika and Srutasena, the five Upapandavas. They were killed by Ashwathama because of the curse given by Vishwamitra, and they went back to the heavens as celestial beings and became the Vishwa Devas again, after their death.

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