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Shrutasena, Ugrasena, and Bhimasena — The Three Younger Sons of Parikshit, Performers of the Ashvamedha
Shrutasena · Śrutasena · Ugrasena · Ugrasena · Bhimasena · Bhīmasena · Parikshitiyas · Parikshit-putra · Madravati-suta · Janamejaya-bhrata
Shrutasena, Ugrasena, and Bhimasena are the three younger sons of Parikshit — the last Kuru king of the Kurukshetra War generation, son of Abhimanyu and Uttara — and his wife Madravati. They are the younger brothers of Janamejaya, the eldest, who succeeded Parikshit on the throne and performed the Sarpa Satra. The four sons together are referred to collectively in the Shatapatha Brahmana (Khanda 13, Adhyaya 5, Brahmana 4) as the Parikshitiyas — the sons of Parikshit — a collective designation that records their shared performance of the Ashvamedha (horse sacrifice). The Shatapatha Brahmana specifically records that all four sons performed the Ashvamedha — confirming that Shrutasena, Ugrasena, and Bhimasena each held independent royal status sufficient to sponsor the tradition's most prestigious Vedic sacrifice. Their lives and deaths were discussed in the philosophical circles that produced the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. Beyond these group-level facts, Shrutasena alone has one individual episode recorded in his own name. Ugrasena and Bhimasena have no individual episodes in any primary canonical source available beyond the collective Ashvamedha and the Brihadaranyaka reference.
✦ Lineage
- Father: Parikshit — posthumous son of Abhimanyu and Uttara; revived in the womb by Krishna after Ashvatthama's Brahmastra struck him; king of Hastinapura; who ruled for sixty years according to the Mahabharata; who was cursed by the sage Shringi to die from a serpent's bite within seven days; who spent his final seven days on the Ganga's banks hearing the Bhagavata Purana from the sage Shuka and attained liberation
- Mother: Madravati — named in the Mahabharata (Adi Parva, Chapter 95, Verse 85) as Parikshit's wife; the Bhagavata Purana (1.16.2) names Janamejaya's mother as Iravati (daughter of Uttara) — a textual inconsistency that cannot be resolved from the available primary evidence
- Elder brother: Janamejaya — the eldest son; who succeeded Parikshit; who performed the Sarpa Satra; at whose sacrifice Vaishampayana first narrated the entire Mahabharata
- Paternal grandfather: Abhimanyu — son of Arjuna and Subhadra; killed in the Chakravyuha on the thirteenth day of the Kurukshetra War
- Paternal great-grandfather: Arjuna — the third Pandava; the supreme archer of the Mahabharata; receiver of the Bhagavad Gita from Krishna
✦ The Ashvamedha — Their Collective Canonical Act
The Shatapatha Brahmana (Khanda 13, Adhyaya 5, Brahmana 4) records all four sons of Parikshit — Janamejaya, Bhimasena, Ugrasena, and Shrutasena — as performers of the Ashvamedha yajna, using three specific types: the Jyotis Atiratra (performed for Bhimasena), the Go Atiratra (performed for Ugrasena), and the Ayus Atiratra (performed for Shrutasena). The text uses the collective term Parikshitiyas for all four. This is confirmed across the Bharatpedia, Hindu Temple Talk, and PeoplePill sources drawing from the same Brahmana passage. The performance of the Ashvamedha by each of the four sons indicates that the kingdom or its resources were divided or shared in a way that gave each prince independent sovereign standing — each was entitled to sponsor the most prestigious Vedic royal sacrifice in his own name.
✦ The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Reference
The Booknotes source records that the lives and ends of Janamejaya's three brothers — Bhimasena, Ugrasena, and Shrutasena — were discussed in philosophical circles during the time of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, indicating their earlier downfall. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad's composition is traditionally placed in the period immediately after the Sarpa Satra, and the fact that the three brothers' deaths were already being discussed as past events in philosophical discourse at that time suggests they did not long survive the generation of Janamejaya's reign. The Brihadaranyaka reference also confirms that the Parikshitiyas were figures of sufficient historical and philosophical prominence to be cited by name in the Upanishadic tradition.
✦ Shrutasena — The One Individual Episode
Of the three younger brothers, only Shrutasena has an individual episode recorded in his own name in the primary canonical sources. The Wisdomlib entry on Shrutasena — citing the Puranic Encyclopaedia of Vettam Mani — records that in the Mahabharata there is a reference to an incident in which Shrutasena beat a dog which entered the place where Janamejaya was performing his Yaga. The episode is connected thematically to the famous dog episode at the beginning of Janamejaya's Sarpa Satra: the son of Sarama (Indra's hound) entered the sacrifice ground and was beaten by Janamejaya's brothers; Sarama then cursed Janamejaya, setting in motion the chain of events that led to the appointment of the young Brahmin Uttanka — who then advised Janamejaya to perform the Sarpa Satra. Shrutasena's beating of the dog is therefore a direct causal element in the Sarpa Satra narrative itself. A textual note on the name Shrutasena: it is shared by at least five distinct figures in the Mahabharata tradition — Janamejaya's brother (this profile); a Naga who is Takshaka's younger brother (Adi Parva, Chapter 3, Verse 141); the Upapandava son of Sahadeva and Draupadi; a Kaurava warrior killed by Arjuna (Karna Parva, Chapter 27, Verse 10); a son of Janamejaya himself recorded in the Harivamsa (1813); and a king of Gokarna in the Kathasaritsagara. All six are distinct figures bearing the same name.
✦ Name Etymologies
Shrutasena — from shruta (heard, learned, famous through hearing) and sena (army, force) — means he whose army is famous, the one of celebrated military force. Ugrasena — from ugra (fierce, powerful, terrible) and sena (army) — means he of the fierce army, the one of terrible force; a name shared with the king of Mathura (Kamsa's father) and several other figures across the tradition. Bhimasena — from bhima (fearful, terrible, formidable) and sena (army) — means he of the fearsome army; a name identical to one of the principal epithets of the Pandava Bhima, and shared with several other figures. All three names follow the same pattern — a martial adjective combined with sena — giving them names of the same grammatical type and martial register, appropriate for princes of the post-war Kuru royal house.
✦ References
- Shatapatha Brahmana (Khanda 13, Adhyaya 5, Brahmana 4) — the primary Vedic source: all four sons of Parikshit named as Parikshitiyas; each of the three brothers named individually as performers of specific Ashvamedha rites — Jyotis Atiratra for Bhimasena, Go Atiratra for Ugrasena, Ayus Atiratra for Shrutasena; Julius Eggeling's footnote in the Sacred Books of the East translation identifying all three as brothers of Janamejaya
- Mahabharata (Adi Parva, Chapter 95, Verse 84) — the four sons of Parikshit confirmed; Shrutasena's beating of the dog at Janamejaya's yajna confirmed in the Puranic Encyclopaedia's Mahabharata citation
- Vishnu Purana (Book 4, Chapter 21) and Bhagavata Purana (Canto 9, Chapter 22) — the four sons of Parikshit confirmed; Janamejaya as eldest and king; the three brothers in the succession context
- Brihadaranyaka Upanishad — the Parikshitiyas' lives and deaths discussed in the Upanishadic philosophical circles of the period; their earlier downfall referenced as past events
- Wisdomlib — Shrutasena (seven definitions) — the dog episode at Janamejaya's sacrifice; the six distinct figures named Shrutasena in the tradition; Shrutasena as Janamejaya's brother confirmed citing the Shatapatha Brahmana and the Vishnu Purana
- Bharatpedia — Parikshit; PeoplePill — Parikshit; Hindu Temple Talk — Parikshit; Glorious Hinduism — Ultimate Mahabharata Family Tree; Puranic Encyclopaedia (Wisdomlib) — Parikshit; Booknotes — From the Accession of Parikshit to the Coronation of Bimbisara: modern summaries drawing from the above primary sources