About
Banasena — Son of Karna, Slain by Bhima
Banasena · Bhanusena · son of Karna · son of Radheya
Banasena is a son of Karna — the celebrated Kaurava archer, king of Anga, and one of the central figures of the Mahabharata — and one of eight sons of Karna who participated in the Kurukshetra War. He is recorded in the Mahabharata as a warrior of notable ability, described as skilled in mace combat, and is named as having been killed by Bhimasena — the second of the five Pandavas and the most physically formidable among them — during the war. His name appears in a minor variant form Bhanusena in some manuscript traditions.
✦ The Name
Banasena is composed of bana (arrow) and sena (army), meaning one whose army is like a shower of arrows, or one renowned for arrow-like swiftness and force. The variant Bhanusena, found in some manuscript traditions, replaces bana with bhanu (the sun, radiance), giving the sense of one with a radiant army — a name that would connect appropriately with Karna's own solar lineage as son of Surya.
✦ 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. Popular attributions assigning Banasena to a mother named Supriya derive from Shivaji Sawant's modern novel Mrityunjaya and have no attestation in any primary text.
- Brothers: Vrishasena (eldest), Chitrasena, Satyasena, Sushena, Shatrunjaya, Dvipata, Prasena (all killed in the Kurukshetra War); Vrishaketu (youngest, sole survivor of the war).
✦ Role in the Kurukshetra War
Banasena is described in sources drawing on the Mahabharata text as an excellent mace-wielder. He fought on the Kaurava side and was slain by Bhimasena. The List of Characters in the Mahabharata compiled from the Wikipedia tradition places his death on the sixteenth day of the war, when he was engaged in combat with Bhima. Bhima — who is described in the epic as of extraordinary physical power, and who is credited with the killing of numerous Kaurava warriors throughout the war — killed Banasena in that engagement. A minor tradition records that Karna was permitted by Bhima to retrieve his son's body for the performance of funeral rites, though the primary textual basis for this detail requires verification against the Sanskrit text.
✦ Textual Variants
The Mahabharata Fandom wiki and related Wikipedia-sourced lists give Banasena as the standard form of this son's name, while the same Fandom article on Karna lists Bhanusena as an alternate in one enumeration. These represent manuscript variants rather than different figures.
✦ References
- Mahabharata, Drona Parva / Karna Parva (Books 7–8): Records Banasena among Karna's sons fighting in the war; his death at Bhima's hands is placed variously in the later days of battle.
- Wikipedia, "List of characters in the Mahabharata," Banasena entry: Secondary summary noting his skill as a mace-wielder and his death at Bhima's hands on the sixteenth day.
- Mahabharata Fandom Wiki, "Karna" article: Gives Bhanusena as an alternate name for this son in one list.
- Wikipedia, "Wives of Karna": Establishes that wife-names and maternal attributions in popular tradition derive from modern literary inventions, not primary sources.