Virata ( sa, विराट, IAST ''virāṭa''), was the king of the

Matsya Kingdom Matsya ( sa, मत्स्य) was a Vedic kingdom and later became a part of sixteen Mahajanapadas, which also appears in Hindu Epic literature. The capital of Matsya was at Viratanagari (present-day Bairat, in Rajasthan) which is said to h ...

, in whose court the

Pandavas The Pandavas (Sanskrit: पाण्डव, IAST: Pāṇḍava) refers to the five legendary brothers— Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva—who are the central characters of the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata''. They are acknowledg ...

spent a year in concealment during their exile. Virata was married to Queen

Sudeshna In the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata'', Sudeshna was the wife of King Virata, at whose court the Pandavas spent a year in concealment during their exile. She was the mother of Uttar, Uttara, Shveta, and Shankha. Sudeshna, had 106 Younger Brothers. ...

and was the father of Prince

Uttara Uttara, which means "north" in Sanskrit and many other South Asian languages, may refer to: Places *Uttara Export Processing Zone, Bangladesh *Uttara, a suburb north of Dhaka, Bangladesh *Uttara East Thana *Uttara West Thana *Uttaradit, a city in ...

and Princess Uttarā, who married

Abhimanyu Abhimanyu is a legendary warrior from the ancient Hindu history ''Mahabharata''. He was born to the third Pandava prince Arjuna and the Yadu princess Subhadra, who was Krishna's younger sister. The ''Sambhava Parva'' of the Adi Parva sta ...

, the son of

Arjuna Arjuna (Sanskrit: अर्जुन, ), also known as Partha and Dhananjaya, is a character in several ancient Hindu texts, and specifically one of the major characters of the Indian epic Mahabharata. In the epic, he is the third among Panda ...

. Abhimanyu and Uttara's son

Parikshit Parikshit ( sa, परीक्षित्, ) was a Kuru king who reigned during the Middle Vedic period (12th-10th centuries BCE). Along with his son and successor, Janamejaya, he played a decisive role in the consolidation of the Kuru state, ...

succeeded

Yudhishthira ''Yudhishthira'' (Sanskrit: युधिष्ठिर, IAST: ''Yudhiṣṭhira'') is the eldest among the five Pandava brothers. He is mentioned in the ancient epic Mahabharata. He was sired by King Pandu of the Kuru Dynasty and his first w ...

on the throne of

Hastinapura Hastinapur is a city in the Meerut district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. ''Hastinapura'', described in Hindu texts such as the ''Mahabharata'' and the Puranas as the capital of the Kuru Kingdom, is also mentioned in ancient Jain tex ...

, after the war of

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...

. He is the titular character of the

Virata Parva Virata Parva, also known as the “Book of Virata”, is the fourth of eighteen books of the Indian Epic Mahabharata.van Buitenen, J.A.B. (1978) ''The Mahabharata: Book 4: The Book of the Virata; Book 5: The Book of the Effort''. Chicago, IL: Univ ...

, the fourth book of the epic Mahabharata

Life

Virata was a good ruler. He was the incarnation of one of

Maruts In Hinduism, the Maruts (; sa, मरुत), also known as the Marutagana and sometimes identified with Rudras, are storm deities and sons of Rudra and Prisni. The number of Maruts varies from 27 to sixty (three times sixty in RV 8.96.8). The ...

and his brother Sahtanika was portion of

Mitra ''Mitra'' ( Proto-Indo-Iranian: ''*mitrás'') is the name of an Indo-Iranian divinity from which the names and some characteristics of Rigvedic Mitrá and Avestan Mithra derive. The names (and occasionally also some characteristics) of these t ...

. married his commander-in-chief

Kichaka In the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata'', Kichaka or Keechaka is the commander-in-chief of Matsya kingdom, the country ruled by King Virata. He was the 1st Younger Brother of Sudeshna, the queen of Virata. Kichaka was a very powerful man and had imme ...

's elder sister

. Though he was a fierce warrior, he was afraid of Kichaka's might. So he obeyed all orders of Kichaka. He was warned by Kichaka that if he wouldn't obey his orders, he (Kichaka) will destroy his whole kingdom. He was unable to stop Kichaka when he was insulting

Draupadi Draupadi ( sa, द्रौपदी, draupadī, Daughter of Drupada), also referred to as Krishnaa, Panchali, and Yagyaseni, is the main female protagonist of the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata,'' and the common consort of the five Pandava brothers ...

in disguise of Sairandhari. After

Bhima In Hindu epic Mahabharata, Bhima ( sa, भीम, ) is the second among the five Pandavas. The ''Mahabharata'' relates many events that portray the might of Bhima. Bhima was born when Vayu, the wind god, granted a son to Kunti and Pandu. Af ...

killed Kichaka, Virata became independent. He also insulted

Duryodhana Duryodhana ( sa, दुर्योधन, ) also known as Suyodhana, is the primary antagonist in the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata.'' He was the eldest of the Kauravas, the hundred sons of the blind king Dhritarashtra and his queen Gandhari. Being ...

who was blaming Virata for Kichaka's death. When

Trigarta Trigarta kingdom was an ancient kingdom in northern Indian region of the Indian subcontinent with its capital at Prasthala (modern Jalandhar), Multan and Kangra. Trigarta was founded and ruled by the vrishni Dynasty. Mention in Mahabharata Tri ...

's king

Susharma Susharma (Sanskrit: सुशर्मा) was the 234th Katoch king of Trigarta (present-day Kangra) and cousin brother of Bhanumati. He brutally attacked Virata, king of Matsya Kingdom because all Pandavas were living in disguise in his ...

attacked him on Duryodhana's order from another direction, he fought with him bravely but when Susharma was about to kill him, he was saved by Bhima. His daughter Uttarā was married to

's son

whose son

Parikshita Parikshit ( sa, परीक्षित्, ) was a Kuru king who reigned during the Middle Vedic period (12th-10th centuries BCE). Along with his son and successor, Janamejaya, he played a decisive role in the consolidation of the Kuru state, ...

succeeded

's throne. Draupadi humiliated RRV

Role in the Kurukshetra War and death

He supported

in the war. Before, the war

Sahadeva Sahadeva (Sanskrit: सहदेव) was the youngest of the Pandava brothers, the five principal protagonists of the epic ''Mahabharata''. He and his twin brother, Nakula, were blessed to King Pandu and Queen Madri by invoking the twin gods Ash ...

preferred Virata to be the commander-in-chief of their army, but

and

preferred

Dhrishtadyumna Dhrishtadyumna ( sa, धृष्टद्युम्न, Dhṛṣṭadyumna, the courageous and splendid one) is the son of Drupada—the king of the Panchala kingdom—and the twin brother of Draupadi in the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata''. Dhri ...

. On the first day, both his sons Uttara and Shweta were killed by Shalya and Bheeshma, leaving only Shankha. On the second day, an enraged Virata killed Shalya's son Madranjaya as revenge for Uttara. During the war, he fought Bheeshma several times. On the seventh day, he confronted Drona but his horses, charioteer, banner and chariot were quickly destroyed by Drona. Then, he ran towards his son Shankha's chariot. Together, they managed to stop Drona's onslaught and wounded him. An enraged Drona shot a poisonous arrow at Shankha, killing him instantly. Virata, having no more sons left, fled the battlefield. During the night battle of the 14th day, he was vanquished by Shalya and taken away from the battlefield. He was killed by Drona on the 15th day of the war. In a different version, he was killed during a

Kaurava ''Kaurava'' is a Sanskrit term which refers to descendants of Kuru, a legendary king of India who is the ancestor of many of the characters of the epic ''Mahabharata''. Usually, the term is used for the 100 sons of King Dhritarashtra and his wif ...

attack in the

Kurukshetra War The Kurukshetra War ( sa, कुरुक्षेत्र युद्ध ), also called the Mahabharata War, is a war described in the ''Mahabharata ( sa, महाभारत )''. The conflict arose from a dynastic succession struggle be ...

along with his sons.

References

*Swami Ramsukhdas: Shrimad Bhagvadgita - Sadhaka-Sanjivani, translated into English by S.C. Vaishya,

Gita Press Gita Press is the world's largest publisher of Hindu religious texts.Encyclopædia Brita ...

Gorakhpur, Characters in the Mahabharata {{Hindu-myth-stub

Life

Role in the Kurukshetra War and death

See also

References