About
Hridika — Andhaka Chief and Father of Kritavarma
Hridika · Hridika Andhaka · Hridika Bhoja
Hridika is a Yadava chieftain of the Andhaka clan, son of Svayambhoja, and the father of Kritavarma — one of the foremost warriors of the Kurukshetra War. He belongs to the seventh generation of the Bhajamana line, descending through Viduratha, Rajadhideva, Shami, Pratiksatra, and Svayambhoja. Hridika is recorded as a devoted follower of Krishna and as a man of considerable standing among the Yadava clans. He is attested across a wide range of sources: the Mahabharata (Adi Parva), the Harivamsha, the Vishnu Purana, the Bhagavata Purana, the Matsya Purana, the Brahmanda Purana, and the Vayu Purana.
✦ The Name
The name Hridika is derived from the Sanskrit hridaya, meaning heart, with the suffix -ika indicating either possession or association. The name thus carries the sense of one who belongs to or is characterized by the heart — suggesting qualities of sincerity or deep feeling. Variant spellings in English transliteration include Hridika, Hridika, and Hridika, all representing the same figure.
✦ Lineage
- Father: Svayambhoja — son of Pratiksatra, who was the son of Shami of the Andhaka branch. Svayambhoja is attested in the Harivamsha (1.38.4) and the Bhagavata Purana (IX.24.26).
- Sons (Harivamsha 1.38.5–6, primary list): Kritavarma (eldest) and Shatadhanva (second) — both described as possessed of dreadful prowess.
- Sons born by grace of the sage Chyavana (Harivamsha 1.38.6): Bhishak, Vaitarana, Sudanta, and Vidanta — four additional sons recorded as born through the boon of the celestial sage Chyavana.
- Daughters (Harivamsha 1.38.6): Kamada and Kamadantika — two daughters named in the same verse.
- Sons (Bhagavata Purana IX.24.26–27): The Bhagavata Purana names Kritavarma and nine other sons, consistent with a total of ten sons though not all names are individually specified in that passage.
- Sons (Vishnu Purana IV.14.23–24): The Vishnu Purana records Kritavarma and additional sons without specifying all names individually.
✦ Narrative Significance
Hridika himself does not appear as an active protagonist in the major narrative episodes of the Mahabharata or Harivamsha; his significance is primarily genealogical and dynastic. He is consistently described as a votary of Krishna — that is, a devoted adherent — and his household appears to have been among the leading Andhaka families in the period preceding the Kurukshetra War. His two principal sons stand in dramatic opposition in the epic's moral landscape: Kritavarma fought on the Kaurava side and was one of only three survivors of the entire Kaurava army, while Shatadhanva was implicated in the theft of the Syamantaka jewel and the murder of Satrajit, and was later slain by Krishna.
The Harivamsha's account that four of Hridika's sons were born through the grace of the sage Chyavana is a conventional Puranic narrative device indicating either that these births were miraculous or delayed, or that the family had a significant relationship of patronage and devotion with that sage's lineage. Chyavana, son of the sage Bhrigu, is elsewhere associated with the Bhrigu clan's connections to the Yadava kings.
✦ Clan Affiliation and the Bhoja Question
The Mahabharata's references to Kritavarma present a notable ambiguity that bears directly on Hridika's clan identity. In the Drona Parva and elsewhere, Kritavarma is described as an Andhaka — consistent with the Puranic genealogy placing his family in the Bhajamana-Andhaka branch. However, in other passages of the same text, Kritavarma is referred to as a Bhoja of Mrittikavati, the city in the Malwa region historically associated with the Bhoja clan. The Mahabharata thus applies both designations to the same individual, suggesting that Hridika's household straddled or unified the Andhaka and Bhoja clan identities — whether through marriage alliance, territorial control, or overlapping descent. The Vishnu Purana separately traces the Bhojas of Mrittikavati to Mahabhoja, another son of Satvata, making them a collateral line rather than the same family as Bhajamana's descendants. The dual designation in the Mahabharata remains unresolved in the primary sources and is a recognized point of scholarly discussion.
✦ Connection to the Wider Genealogy
Hridika represents the culmination of the Bhajamana dynastic line in the generation immediately before the Kurukshetra War. His ancestor Bhajamana was either a son or grandson of Satvata (depending on the source), and the intervening generations — Viduratha, Rajadhideva, Shami, Pratiksatra, and Svayambhoja — constitute the full dynastic succession of the Andhaka branch. Through his eldest son Kritavarma, Hridika's line became the most historically visible branch of the Andhaka clan in the Mahabharata period. After the destruction of the Yadavas at Dvaraka — described in the Mausala Parva of the Mahabharata — the son of Kritavarma became the ruler of Mrittikavati, establishing the post-war Andhaka-Bhoja presence in the Malwa region.
✦ References
- Harivamsha, Harivamsha Parva, 1.38.4–6: Names Hridika as son of Svayambhoja; lists Kritavarma as eldest son and Shatadhanva as second; names Bhishak, Vaitarana, Sudanta, and Vidanta as sons born by grace of Chyavana; and names daughters Kamada and Kamadantika.
- Mahabharata, Adi Parva, Chapter 63, verse 105: Names Hridika as a Yadava and father of Kritavarma.
- Mahabharata, Drona Parva and Mausala Parva: References to Kritavarma as an Andhaka and also as a Bhoja of Mrittikavati, creating the dual clan designation.
- Bhagavata Purana, I.14.28; IX.24.26–27: Names Hridika as son of Svayambhoja, father of Kritavarma and nine other sons, and describes him as a votary of Krishna.
- Vishnu Purana, IV.14.23–24: Records Hridika in the Andhaka genealogy with Kritavarma and additional sons.
- Matsya Purana, 44.80–81: Records Hridika in the Satvata-Andhaka lineage.
- Brahmanda Purana, III.71.139–142: Records Hridika in the Yadava genealogy.
- Vayu Purana, 96.138: Records Hridika in the Yadava genealogy.
- Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries, Purana Index, s.v. Hridika: Modern reference consolidating cross-Puranic attestations of Hridika's sons and clan position.
- Wikipedia, s.v. Yadava and Bhoja tribe: Secondary sources noting the dual Andhaka and Bhoja designations applied to Kritavarma in the Mahabharata and the scholarly discussion surrounding Hridika's clan identity.