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Vrishni II (Prishni) — Son of Yudhajit, Father of Shvaphalka and Chitraka
Vrishni II · Prishni · Prishni Vrishni
Vrishni II, known also as Prishni, is a Vrishni Yadava prince, son of Yudhajit (who was the son of Vrishni I, the youngest son of Satvata), and the father of Shvaphalka and Chitraka. He is designated Vrishni II by modern scholars to distinguish him from his great-grandfather Vrishni I (son of Satvata), as both bear the same personal name. The alternate name Prishni, by which he is known in several Puranic recensions, distinguishes him from the elder Vrishni within those texts. Vrishni II's profile is limited in narrative scope; he appears in the genealogical sections of the Harivamsha (Chapter 38), the Bhagavata Purana (Navama Skandha, Chapter XXIV), and in the Wilson footnotes to the Vishnu Purana as a figure whose principal significance is his position as the immediate progenitor of the Shvaphalka line of the Vrishnis.
✦ The Name
The name Vrishni, as discussed in the profile of Vrishni I, carries meanings related to strength, the ram, or abundance. Its recurrence across two generations within the same line reflects a common Yadava practice of repeating ancestral names. Prishni is a distinct Sanskrit word meaning "variegated," "speckled," or "dappled"; it also names the earth and a type of cloud. As a personal name it is uncommon and its use for this figure in the Harivamsha (Chapter 38) functions to differentiate him from his ancestor Vrishni I within the genealogical record of that text. The Wisdomlib entry on Prishni records him as the son of Yudhajit with Shvaphalka and Chitraka as his two sons, drawing on Puranic encyclopaedia data.
✦ Lineage
- Father: Yudhajit — son of Vrishni I by his wife Madri; a Vrishni prince whose name means "conqueror in battle"; the paternal link between Vrishni I and the Shvaphalka branch.
- Brother: Andhaka II — named in the Harivamsha (Ch. 34) as the second son of Yudhajit alongside Vrishni II; a distinct figure from Andhaka son of Satvata.
- Son: Shvaphalka — elder son; married Gandini, daughter of the king of Kashi; father of Akrura and fifteen other sons and a daughter; a man of extraordinary virtue whose presence prevented disease and drought.
- Son: Chitraka — younger son; father of Prithu, Viprithu, Ashvagriva, Ashvabahu, Suparshvaka, Gaveshi, Arishtanemi, Ashva, Sudharma, Dharmavrit, Suvahu, Bahubahu, and two daughters Shravishtha and Shravana (per the Harivamsha Ch. 34 and Vishnu Purana Book IV Ch. XIV).
✦ Textual Variants and Inconsistencies
The name of this figure varies between Vrishni (Harivamsha Ch. 34 and 38) and Prishni (Bhagavata Purana 9.24, Wisdomlib Puranic Encyclopaedia data). The Bhagavata Purana (9.24.14–15) gives the sequence as Yudhajit — Anamitra and Shini (making them sons of Yudhajit rather than of Vrishni I), with Shvaphalka and Chitraka descending from a separate Vrishni in that text's arrangement. The Wilson footnotes to the Vishnu Purana note that the Bhagavata has Vrishni (son of Anamitra) rather than Prishni (son of Yudhajit) as the father of Shvaphalka — yet another variant arrangement. The Agni Purana's account of this line makes Prishni the son of Yudhajit, consistent with the Harivamsha Ch. 38 sequence which is the version your lineage tree follows. All sources agree that whoever this figure's father was, his two sons were Shvaphalka and Chitraka.
✦ Connection to the Wider Genealogy
Vrishni II stands one generation above Shvaphalka and two generations above Akrura. Through Shvaphalka he is the paternal grandfather of Akrura, Upasanga, Mridura, and all of Shvaphalka's sons by Gandini, as well as the grandfather of the daughter known as Sundari (or Sushila). Through Chitraka he is the grandfather of Prithu, Viprithu, Gaveshi, and the rest of Chitraka's sons, who appear as named warriors in the Harivamsha's Vishnu Parva accounts of the battles at Dvaraka.
✦ References
- Harivamsha, Harivamsha Parva, Chapter 34 (Sanskrit; mahabharata-resources.org) — names Vrishni (II) as son of Yudhajit (Madri's son) with sons Shvaphalka and Chitraka.
- Harivamsha, Harivamsha Parva, Chapter 38, verse 49 (Sanskrit; dvaipayana.net) — corroborates: Prishni (Vrishni II) is son of Yudhajit and father of Shvaphalka and Chitraka.
- Vishnu Purana, Book IV, Chapter XIII, footnote 435:3 (trans. H. H. Wilson, 1840) — records that the Bhagavata Purana uses Vrishni (son of Anamitra) where others use Prishni (son of Yudhajit) as the father of Shvaphalka, noting the inconsistency across texts.
- Bhagavata Purana, Navama Skandha, Chapter XXIV, verse 14–15 (Vedabase) — gives Vrishni in a variant arrangement as the father of Shvaphalka in the Bhagavata recension.
- Wisdomlib, "Prishni" entry — secondary reference recording Prishni as son of Yudhajit and father of Shvaphalka and Chitraka.