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Sushena — Son of Karna, Named by Gandhari
Sushena · son of Karna · son of Radheya
Sushena is a son of Karna — the Kaurava warrior and king of Anga in the Mahabharata — who holds a notable distinction among his brothers in that his name is specifically mentioned by Gandhari in her lament in the Stri Parva. In that passage, Gandhari refers to an unnamed wife of Karna as the mother of Vrishasena and Sushena — the only passage in the canonical epic that names a son of Karna in direct connection with his mother. Sushena is also one of the eight sons of Karna who participated in the Kurukshetra War and was killed on the battlefield.
✦ The Name
Sushena is derived from the Sanskrit su (good, excellent, well) and sena (army). The name means one with a fine or excellent army. It is a name shared by several figures in the Mahabharata and in the Ramayana, where a Sushena appears as a physician among the Vanaras.
✦ 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: An unnamed wife of Karna, identified in the Stri Parva by Gandhari as the mother of Vrishasena and Sushena. The Mahabharata does not name this woman anywhere in the text. The names Vrushali and Supriya are literary inventions of the modern period and do not appear in the primary sources.
- Brothers: Vrishasena (eldest), Chitrasena, Satyasena, Shatrunjaya, Dvipata, Banasena, Prasena (all killed in the Kurukshetra War); Vrishaketu (youngest, sole survivor of the war).
✦ Role in the Kurukshetra War and Gandhari's Testimony
Sushena fought on the Kaurava side in the Kurukshetra War. Some accounts record his death at the hands of Bhima, while others attribute his killing to Nakula on the eighteenth day. This minor discrepancy exists across different readings and recensions of the text. The passage in the Stri Parva where Gandhari laments the fallen warriors includes a description of a wife of Karna grieving over his body — a woman identified by Gandhari as the mother of Vrishasena and of Sushena. This is the sole passage in the canonical epic that links any named son of Karna directly to a maternal figure.
✦ Textual Variants
There is a discrepancy in the accounts of Sushena's death. The Shalya Parva credits Nakula with the deaths of Chitrasena, Satyasena, and Sushena on the eighteenth day. However, some secondary sources and popular retellings attribute Sushena's death to Bhima rather than Nakula. This variation may reflect differences between recensions or between the critical edition and regional manuscript traditions.
✦ References
- Mahabharata, Stri Parva (Book 11), Jalapradanika section: Gandhari's lament names Sushena as one of two sons of Karna's unnamed wife, the only direct maternal reference in the canonical text.
- Mahabharata, Shalya Parva (Book 9): Records Sushena's death at Nakula's hands on the eighteenth day alongside Chitrasena and Satyasena.
- Wikipedia, "Wives of Karna": Documents the anonymous status of Karna's wives in the primary text and the modern literary origin of the names Vrushali and Supriya.
- Kevin McGrath, The Sanskrit Hero: Karna in Epic Mahabharata (Brill, 2004): Analysis of the Stri Parva passage and Karna's family references in the epic.