Chitrangada (wife of Arjuna)
Chitrangada ( Sanskrit चित्रांगदा , citrāngadā f.) Is in the epic Mahabharata the daughter of King Chitravahana and one of Arjuna's wives. She had a son with him named Babhruvahana .
Marriage to Arjuna
In the course of a year-long pilgrimage, Arjuna also came to the Kingdom of Manipur during his wanderings . While visiting King Chitravahana there, he saw his beautiful daughter Chitrangada and fell in love with her. When he asked the king for her hand, the king told him the story of his ancestor Prabhanjana, who was childless and undertook difficult ascetic exercises in order to have children. Eventually the god Shiva appeared to him and granted him the favor that each of his descendants would have exactly one child. Unlike his ancestors, however, Chitravahana had a daughter and therefore declared her a "putrika". This meant that only a son born of her could become his heir to the throne, and no one else.
Arjuna agreed, married Chitrangada and spent three happy years with her. After she gave birth to a son, he said goodbye to her with a warm hug and continued his wanderings.
literature
- Citrāngadā. In: MMS Shastri Chitrao: Bharatavarshiya Prachin Charitrakosha (Dictionary of Ancient Indian Biography, in Hindi), Pune 1964, p. 213
- The Mahabharata of Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa. translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli, Calcutta 1883-1896