About
Sampriya — Princess of the Madhu Dynasty, Wife of Viduratha, Mother of Anasvan
Sampriya · Sampriya of the Madhu dynasty
Sampriya is a princess of the Madhu dynasty and the wife of Viduratha — son of Kuru, the celebrated Kuru king from whom the Kuru royal line of Hastinapura takes its name — and the mother of Anasvan. She is attested in the Mahabharata (Adi Parva, chapter 95, verse 40), which is the sole primary source naming her. The Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary independently records her as the wife of Viduratha with the Mahabharata as its cited source. She receives no independent narrative episode in any consulted primary source and her profile is accordingly brief. Her significance in the genealogical tradition is structural: as the wife of Viduratha and mother of Anasvan she is a link in the Kuru royal lineage of Hastinapura connecting the Kuru-to-Parikshit generational sequence.
✦ The Name
The name Sampriya is a Sanskrit compound of sam — together, completely, or intensifying — and priya — beloved, dear, or pleasing — yielding the meaning the greatly beloved one or she who is wholly pleasing. It is a name of warmly auspicious feminine resonance, common in the Kshatriya royal naming convention as an epithet for a princess valued and cherished within her lineage.
✦ Lineage
- Dynasty of origin: The Madhu dynasty — a branch of the Yadava lineage descending from Madhu, son of Vrishni; the Madhu line is attested across several Puranic texts as a distinct Yadava sub-clan, and Sampriya's identification as a Madhu dynasty princess connects the Kuru royal house through her marriage to this Yadava line
- Husband: Viduratha — son of Kuru, the celebrated Kuru king after whom the Kuru dynasty and Kurukshetra take their name; grandson of Samvarana and Tapati; his name means one whose chariot is wise or far-ranging, from vidura — wise or far-sighted — and ratha — chariot; the Puranic Encyclopaedia records Vidura as an alternate form of the same name
- Son: Anasvan — son of Viduratha and Sampriya; his name means one without a horse or the horseless one, an unusual Kshatriya name; he married Amrita and fathered Parikshit, through whom the Kuru line continued to Bhimasena, Pratisravas, Pratipa, and eventually to Shantanu and the entire Mahabharata-era Kuru dynasty
✦ Textual Variants
The Wisdomlib Puranic Encyclopaedia entry records the husband's name as Vidura while the Monier-Williams dictionary gives Viduratha for the same figure. The Mahabharata Adi Parva chapter 95 summary preserved at Wisdomlib identifies the husband as Viduratha in its narrative sequence. Vidura and Viduratha are clearly variant forms of the same name in the manuscripts — the shorter Vidura appears in the Puranic Encyclopaedia's rendering of the same verse. The son's name appears as Anasvan in the Wisdomlib entry and as Anasvan or Anashva in different secondary renderings of the same verse; these are orthographic variants of the same name. No further textual variants for Sampriya's own name are recorded in any consulted source.
✦ Connection to the Wider Genealogy
Sampriya stands at the junction of two major lineage streams: she is herself of the Madhu-Yadava line while her husband Viduratha belongs to the Kuru royal line descending from Samvarana, Kuru, and the Puru dynasty. Her son Anasvan continues the Kuru royal sequence: Viduratha → Anasvan → Parikshit → Bhimasena → Pratisravas → Pratipa → Devapi, Bahlika, and Shantanu. Through Shantanu's line she is a distant ancestress of Bhishma, Dhritarashtra, Pandu, the Kauravas, and the Pandavas. The marriage alliance she represents — between the Kuru royal house and the Madhu-Yadava line — prefigures the deeper Kuru-Yadava connections that run through the entire Mahabharata tradition.
✦ References
Primary Sources
- Mahabharata, Adi Parva, chapter 95, verse 40 (also cited as I.90.42 in the critical edition numbering) — The sole primary source naming Sampriya; identifies her as a princess of the Madhu dynasty, wife of Viduratha (or Vidura), and mother of Anasvan.
Secondary Sources
- Wisdomlib.org, "Sampriya" definition entry — Records Sampriya as a princess of the Madhu dynasty who married King Vidura (Viduratha) and bore Anasvan; cites Adi Parva chapter 95 verse 40 and the critical edition reference I.90.42.
- Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary, entry "Sampriya" — Records Sampriya as the name of the wife of Viduratha in the Mahabharata; confirms the Mahabharata as the sole primary source.
- Wisdomlib.org, Mahabharata English Summary, Adi Parva chapter 95 — Records the genealogical sequence placing Viduratha as son of Kuru and father of Anasvan, confirming Sampriya's position in the Kuru royal lineage.