Chitrangada (son of Shantanu)
Chitrangada ( Sanskrit चित्रांगद , citrāngada m.) Was a king in ancient India. In the Mahabharata he is the son of Shantanu and Satyavati and heir to the throne of Shantanu after his death.
Chitrangada in the Mahabharata
At the request of Queen Satyavati, Chitrangada's half-brother Bhishma installed him as his heir to the throne in the Kuru kingdom after Shantanu's death . Chitrangada was a great warrior who defeated many powerful enemies and asuras . But finally the king of the Gandharvas challenged him . There was a violent three-year battle between the two warriors. In the end, Chitrangada lost and was killed by the Gandharva king. After completing the burial ritual, Bhishma immediately installed Chitrangada's younger brother Vichitravirya as heir to the throne, even though he was still a child. Like his older brother, Vichitravirya died childless, which is why her half-brother Vyasa, at Satyavati's behest, fathered offspring for the dynasty in a levirate marriage .
literature
- Citrangada in: MMS Shastri Chitrao, Bharatavarshiya Prachin Charitrakosha (Dictionary of Ancient Indian Biography, in Hindi), Pune 1964, p. 213
- JAB van Buitenen, Mahabharata , Volume 1, The University of Chicago Press, 1973