Satyaki
Encyclopedia
Vrishni
The Vrishnis were an ancient Indian clan who were believed as the descendants of Vrishni, a descendent of Yadu. It is believed that Vrishni was son of Satvata, a descendant of Yadu, the son of Yayati. He had two wives, Gandhari and Madri. He has a son named Devamidhusha by his wife Madri....
clan of the Yadava
Yadava
The Yadavas were an ancient Indian people who believed themselves to be descended from Yadu, a mythical king. The community was probably formed of four clans, being the Abhira, Andhaka, Vrishni, and Satvatas, who all worshipped Lord Krishna. They are listed in ancient Indian literature as the...
s, to which Krishna
Krishna
Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
also belonged. According to the Puranas
Puranas
The Puranas are a genre of important Hindu, Jain and Buddhist religious texts, notably consisting of narratives of the history of the universe from creation to destruction, genealogies of kings, heroes, sages, and demigods, and descriptions of Hindu cosmology, philosophy, and geography.Puranas...
, he was grandson of Shini of the Vrishni clan, and son of Satyaka. Satyaki was devoted to Krishna and his best friend Arjuna
Arjuna
Arjuna in Indian mythology is the greatest warrior on earth and is one of the Pandavas, the heroes of the Hindu epic Mahābhārata. Arjuna, whose name means 'bright', 'shining', 'white' or 'silver' Arjuna (Devanagari: अर्जुन, Thai: อรชุน, Orachun, Tamil: Arjunan, Indonesian and Javanese: Harjuna,...
, with whom he collectively trained in military arts under Guru Dronacharya
Drona
In the epic Mahābhārata, Drona or Dronacharya was the royal guru to Kauravas and Pandavas. He was a master of advanced military arts, including the Devastras. Arjuna was his favorite student. Dronas love for Arjuna was second only to his love for his son Ashwatthama...
. Satyaki was a valiant warrior and on one particular occasion, Drona was stunned when Satyaki broke his bow for 101 times successively. He is also known as the unconquerable Satyaki.
Kurukshetra War
Satyaki strongly and passionately favored the cause of the Pandavas over the Kauravas in the Kurukshetra WarKurukshetra war
According to the Indian epic poem Mahābhārata, a dynastic succession struggle between two groups of cousins of an Indo-Aryan kingdom called Kuru, the Kauravas and Pandavas, for the throne of Hastinapura resulted in the Kurukshetra War in which a number of ancient kingdoms participated as allies of...
. Satyaki accompanied Krishna to the Kuru capital, with Krishna as the emissary of peace which was ridiculed and turned down by Duryodhana
Duryodhana
In the Hindu epic the Mahābhārata, Duryodhana is the eldest son of the blind king Dhritarashtra by Queen Gandhari, the eldest of the one hundred Kaurava brothers, Emperor of the world at that time which means Emperor of India or Bharatvarsha as it was known at that time, cousin and the chief...
.
In the course of the fourteenth day of the conflict, Satyaki fights an intense battle with archrival Bhurisravas with whom he has a long standing family feud. After a long and bloody battle, Satyaki begins to tire, and Bhurisravas batters him and drags him across the battlefield. Arjuna is warned by Lord Krishna
Krishna
Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
of what is happening. Bhurisravas prepares to kill Satyaki, but he is rescued from death by Arjuna
Arjuna
Arjuna in Indian mythology is the greatest warrior on earth and is one of the Pandavas, the heroes of the Hindu epic Mahābhārata. Arjuna, whose name means 'bright', 'shining', 'white' or 'silver' Arjuna (Devanagari: अर्जुन, Thai: อรชุน, Orachun, Tamil: Arjunan, Indonesian and Javanese: Harjuna,...
, who shoots an arrow cutting off Bhurisravas' arm. Bhurisrava wails out that by striking him without warning, Arjuna had disgraced the honor between warriors. Arjuna rebukes him for attacking a defenseless Satyaki. He reiterates that protecting Satyaki's life at all costs was his responsibility as a friend and comrade in arms. Satyaki then emerges from his swoon, and swiftly decapitates his enemy. He is condemned for this rash act, but every soldier present realizes that the power of Krishna
Krishna
Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
made Satyaki end Bhurisravas' life, which was going to happen anyway.
Yadava Warrior
In the Kurukshetra war, Satyaki and KritavarmaKritavarma
Kritavarma was an important Yadava warrior and chieftain, and a contemporary of Krishna. He finds mention in several ancient Sanskrit texts including the Mahābhārata, the Vishnu Purana, the Bhagavata Purana and the Harivamsa....
were two important Yadava heroes who fought on the opposing sides. Satyaki fought on the side of the Pandavas, whereas Kritavarma joined the Kauravas. a fight between satyaki and satyajit is described in dron parva of mahabharat.
Satyaki and Kritavarma both survived the Kurukshetra conflict. Kritavarma is involved in the slaughter of the Panchalas and the sons of the Pandavas in the undeclared night attack with Kripacharya and Ashwatthama
Ashwatthama
A hero of the Indian epic Mahābhārata, Ashwatthama or Ashwatthaman was the son of guru Drona. He is one of the seven Chiranjeevins. Dronacharya loved him very dearly. The rumours about his death in the Kurukshetra war, led to the death of his father from the hands of Prince Dhrishtadyumna...
. 36 years after the war, the Yadavas, including Satyaki and Kritavarma are involved in a drunken brawl with Satyaki accusing Kritavarma of killing sleeping soldiers and Kritavarma citicizing Satyaki for his beheading of the unarmed Bhurisravas. In the ensuing melee, Satyaki, Kritavarma and the rest of the Yadavas are exterminated, as it was ordained by Gandhari
Gandhari (character)
Gāndhārī is a character in the Hindu epic, the Mahābhārata. In the epic, she was an incarnation of Mati, as the daughter of Subala, the king of Gandhara, or the modern Kandahar, a region spanning northwestern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan, from which her name is derived...
's curse. Krishna desired to remove the Yadava clan from earth at the same time as his Avatar
Avatar
In Hinduism, an avatar is a deliberate descent of a deity to earth, or a descent of the Supreme Being and is mostly translated into English as "incarnation," but more accurately as "appearance" or "manifestation"....
is fulfilled, so that the earth may be free of any possibly sinful and aggressive warriors, which was the wider purpose of the Kurukshetra war.
Satyaki is also noted as an ayurvedic physician who was an expert in Shalya (surgery) and Shalakya (physiology), he is mentioned by Dalhana in Timir and Annantvat(sushrut Uttartantra) and by Chakrapani in Netraroga (Charak).
Descendants
Asanga was son of Satyaki and Yugandhara was his grandson. Yugandhara later became the ruler of the territory near the Sarasvati RiverSarasvati River
The Sarasvati River is one of the chief Rigvedic rivers mentioned in ancient Hindu texts. The Nadistuti hymn in the Rigveda mentions the Sarasvati between the Yamuna in the east and the Sutlej in the west, and later Vedic texts like Tandya and Jaiminiya Brahmanas as well as the Mahabharata...
.