About
Dvipata — Son of Karna, Slain by Arjuna
Dvipata · Vipata · son of Karna · son of Radheya
Dvipata is a son of Karna — the Kaurava archer and king of Anga in the Mahabharata — and one of eight sons of Karna who fought in the Kurukshetra War. He is recorded among those killed by Arjuna during the battle. The name appears in variant forms across different manuscript traditions and translations of the epic.
✦ The Name
The name Dvipata appears in some editions and translations of the Mahabharata in the variant form Vipata. The Mahabharata Fandom compilation of Karna's genealogy also lists the name as Vipata in at least one reference. A precise Sanskrit etymology for Dvipata is not well established in the secondary literature. Vipata could derive from vi (apart, away) and pata (fall, movement), though this interpretation is uncertain.
✦ 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. Attributions found in modern popular sources derive from Shivaji Sawant's twentieth-century novel and have no primary textual basis.
- Brothers: Vrishasena (eldest), Chitrasena, Satyasena, Sushena, Shatrunjaya, Banasena, Prasena (all killed in the Kurukshetra War); Vrishaketu (youngest, sole survivor of the war).
✦ Role in the Kurukshetra War
Dvipata participated in the Kurukshetra War on the Kaurava side and was slain by Arjuna. He is grouped in the primary battle records alongside Shatrunjaya as one of the sons of Karna killed by Arjuna. Some accounts place this death in proximity to the same engagement in which Arjuna also slew Shatrunjaya.
✦ Textual Variants
The name of this son of Karna appears as Dvipata in most modern listings of Karna's sons but as Vipata in certain manuscript traditions and in at least one compilation sourced from the Mahabharata Fandom wiki, which also cross-lists a Vipata among Karna's adoptive brothers. Care is needed in distinguishing these figures. The critical edition of the Mahabharata prepared at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute provides the authoritative reading.
✦ References
- Mahabharata, Karna Parva (Book 8): Lists Dvipata among the sons of Karna slain by Arjuna during the war.
- Mahabharata Fandom Wiki, "Karna" article: Secondary compilation; notes the Vipata variant alongside Dvipata in lists of Karna's sons.
- Wikipedia, "Wives of Karna": Documents the anonymity of Karna's wives in the primary text and the modern literary origin of attributed wife-names.