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Upadevaka — Yadava Prince, Second Son of Akrura
Upadevaka · Upadeva · Updevaka
Upadevaka is a Yadava prince recorded as the second son of Akrura — the Vrishni chief and celebrated devotee of Krishna — and Sutanu, a princess of the Kukura-Andhaka lineage. He appears in the genealogical lists of the Yadava tradition and is one of the few sons of Akrura whose name is attested, in variant forms, across more than one textual tradition. He has no substantial independent narrative episodes attributed to him in the extant primary sources and is known primarily through his genealogical position. His profile is accordingly brief, reflecting the limited textual evidence rather than any deficiency of the tradition.
✦ The Name
Upadevaka is formed from the prefix upa (near to, secondary, subordinate, or auxiliary) and deva (god, divine being), with the suffix -ka. The compound conveys the sense of "he who is close to the divine" or "the secondary godlike one," the prefix upa frequently indicating a position proximate to or associated with the primary quality named. Upadeva, the shorter form attested in the Harivamsha and Vishnu Purana traditions, carries the same meaning without the diminutive suffix. The spelling Updevaka, recorded in Pargiter's genealogical synthesis, is a scribal contracted form of Upadevaka and refers to the same individual.
✦ Lineage
- Father: Akrura — son of Shvaphalka and Gandini; foremost Vrishni Yadava chief, celebrated devotee of Krishna, commander of the Yadava army, and bearer of the Syamantaka jewel.
- Mother (Pargiter / Bhagavata commentary tradition): Sutanu — princess of the Kukura-Andhaka line, daughter of Ahuka or of Ugrasena according to differing recensions.
- Brother: Devaka (also known as Sudeva in the Harivamsha tradition) — the first son of Akrura and Sutanu.
- Paternal grandfather: Shvaphalka — Vrishni chief whose virtue is celebrated in the Bhagavata Purana.
- Paternal grandmother: Gandini — daughter of the king of Kashi.
✦ Textual Variants and Inconsistencies
The name Upadeva appears in both the Harivamsha (Chapter 34, where he is the son of Akrura and Ugraseni, born alongside Prasena) and the Vishnu Purana (Book IV, Chapter XIV, where the sons of Akrura are listed as Devavat and Upadeva). In the Pargiter tradition the name appears as Upadevaka or Updevaka, born alongside Devaka from Sutanu. The consistency of the name Upadeva across all three traditions — Harivamsha, Vishnu Purana, and Pargiter — makes Upadevaka one of the more textually stable elements of Akrura's family record, even as the name of his co-born brother and the identity of his mother differ across those same traditions.
It must also be noted that the name Upadeva appears in other genealogical contexts within the same generation: Upadeva is among the four sons of Devaka son of Ahuka (Harivamsha Chapter 37, Vishnu Purana Book IV), and Upadevi is one of the seven daughters of that same Devaka who were married to Vasudeva. These are distinct individuals in the same broad Yadava coeval generation and must not be conflated with Upadevaka son of Akrura.
✦ Connection to the Wider Genealogy
Through his father Akrura, Upadevaka belongs to the Vrishni branch of the Yadava confederacy, descending from Shvaphalka and ultimately from Anamitra through the line recorded in the Bhagavata Purana. Through his mother Sutanu (in the Pargiter tradition), he belongs by maternal lineage to the Kukura-Andhaka branch descending from Ahuka. He is thus a nephew by marriage of Krishna's family: Akrura's connection to Devaki's lineage through Sutanu's Andhaka blood places Upadevaka within the innermost genealogical circle of the Yadava families associated with the Krishnaite tradition.
✦ References
- Vishnu Purana, Book IV, Chapter XIV (trans. H. H. Wilson, 1840) — names Upadeva (alongside Devavat) as a son of Akrura; one of three independent textual traditions attesting the name Upadeva for this figure.
- Harivamsha, Harivamsha Parva, Chapter 34 (Sanskrit text) — names Upadeva as son of Akrura and Ugraseni alongside Prasena; attests the name Upadeva in the Harivamsha recension.
- Harivamsha, Harivamsha Parva, Chapter 37 (trans. M. N. Dutt) — records a separate Upadeva as son of Devaka son of Ahuka; requires disambiguation from Upadevaka son of Akrura.
- Pargiter, F. E. — genealogical synthesis from Vayu and Matsya Purana data; the primary source for the name Upadevaka / Updevaka as second son of Akrura and Sutanu.
- Mani, Vettam — Puranic Encyclopaedia — secondary reference citing Bhagavata Purana Navama Skandha; records Upadevaka as son of Akrura and Sutanu.
- Wikipedia, "Akrura" — secondary reference noting both the Harivamsha and Pargiter traditions for Akrura's sons.