About
Satyasena — Son of Karna, Slain by Nakula
Satyasena · son of Karna · son of Radheya
Satyasena is a son of Karna — the eminent Kaurava archer and king of Anga in the Mahabharata — and one of eight sons of Karna who took part in the Kurukshetra War. He is listed by name among those killed on the battlefield and is recorded as having been slain by Nakula, one of the twin sons of Pandu and Madri, on the eighteenth day of the war. His textual presence in the epic is confined to these battle records.
✦ The Name
Satyasena is composed of satya (truth, reality, genuine) and sena (army). The name carries the meaning of one whose army embodies truth, or a warrior of truthful or genuine strength. The name Satyasena is shared by other figures in the Mahabharata, including a son of Duryodhana's charioteer, and the name was apparently in common use in warrior families of the epic period.
✦ Lineage
- Father: Karna (also known as Vasusena, Radheya, and Suryaputra), foremost archer of the Kaurava forces, biological son of the sun god Surya and Kunti, adoptive son of the charioteer Adhiratha, and king of Anga.
- Mother: Not named in any primary source. The canonical Mahabharata does not name Karna's wife or wives. The names Vrushali and Supriya, and any distribution of sons between them, are features of Shivaji Sawant's modern novel Mrityunjaya and have no primary textual attestation.
- Brothers: Vrishasena (eldest), Chitrasena, Sushena, Shatrunjaya, Dvipata, Banasena, Prasena (all killed in the Kurukshetra War); Vrishaketu (youngest, sole survivor of the war).
✦ Role in the Kurukshetra War
Satyasena fought on the Kaurava side in the Kurukshetra War and was killed by Nakula on the eighteenth and final day of battle. Nakula is credited with the deaths of three of Karna's sons on this day — Satyasena, Chitrasena, and Sushena. The grouping of these three brothers as Nakula's victims on the final day suggests they may have fought together or in close succession during the last phase of the war.
✦ References
- Mahabharata, Shalya Parva (Book 9): Records the deaths of Karna's sons Satyasena, Chitrasena, and Sushena at the hands of Nakula on the eighteenth day of battle.
- Wikipedia, "Wives of Karna": Establishes that Karna's wives are not named in the canonical text, and that names attributed in popular tradition derive from modern literary adaptations.
- Kevin McGrath, The Sanskrit Hero: Karna in Epic Mahabharata (Brill, 2004): Reference on Karna's sons and the absence of named wives in primary sources.