Bhurishravas

Bhurishravas (Sanskrit: भूरिश्रवस् / भूरिश्रवा) was a prince of a minor kingdom called Bahlika. He was the grandson of king Bahlika, who was the elder brother of Shantanu, the king of Hastinapur. Bahlika was the crown prince of Hastinapur but he devoted his life to conquer Balkh. So Shantanu became the king of Hastinapur. Thus Bahlika was the uncle of Bhishma and he, with his son Somdatta and grandson Bhurishravas took part in the Kurukshetra war from the Kaurava side.

Bhurishravas' father, Somadatta, once clashed with another prince called Sini. When Devaki, Krishna's mother was still unwed, many princes competed for her hand in marriage including Somadatta and Sini who fought a great battle over her. Sini, fighting on behalf of Vasudeva, won the battle. This incident launched a hatred between the Sini and Somadatta families leading to a generational rivalry. By the time of Kurukshetra war, Sini's grandson Satyaki, a king of the Vrishnis, was allied with the Pandava army while Bhurishravas was one of the eleven commanders of the Kaurava army.

On the 14th day of the war, Bhurishravas was stationed in Dronacharya's Shakata Vyuha (cart formation), attempting to stop Arjuna from killing king Jayadratha of Sindh. As Satyaki and Bhima came to support Arjuna, Bhurishravas abandoned his position, and challenged Satyaki. Already tired from navigating the Shakata Vyuha, Satyaki began to falter after a long and bloody battle. Their weapons destroyed, the fighting turned to hand-to-hand combat. Bhurishravas pummeled Satyaki and dragged him across the battlefield when he was very tired and injured. Arjuna was alerted to Satyaki's danger by Krishna. Just as Bhurishravas was preparing to kill Satyaki, Arjuna came to the rescue, shooting an arrow cutting off Bhurishravas' arm.

Bhurishravas wailed that Arjuna had violated the rules of war by striking him without a formal challenge, and from behind. Arjuna, in turn, rebuked Bhurishravas for attempting to kill an unarmed Satyaki - an act also against the rules of war. Arjuna also criticized Bhurishravas for partaking in the killing of Abhimanyu - which also was against the rules of war.

At this point, realizing his folly, Bhurishravas laid down his weapons, and sat in to practice yoga till he dies. But then Satyaki emerged from his swoon, and before Arjuna could stop him, swiftly decapitated his enemy.

The warriors on both sides of the battle universally condemned Satyaki for this act - one of the incidents in the epic showing the superiority of dharma and honor against the uncontrollable power of hatred. Symbolically, as Bhurishravas' attempt to kill the unarmed Satyaki immediately resulted in his own death in the same manner, Bhurishravas can be seen as representing the binding effects of one's material actions (karma).

Years later, Bhurishravas's death was used by Kritavarma to insult Satyaki. In the resulting fight, Satyaki (as well as the remaining Yadavas) perished.

The Bhor Saidan village (Hindi: भौर सैदां), also spelled as Bhour Saidan or Bhoor Saiydan, named after Bhurishravas is located 22 km from Kurukshetra and 13 km from Thanesar on the Kurukshetra-Pehowa road near Bhureeshwar Temple, is one of the Mahabharta pilgrimage site in Kurukshetra in the Indian state of Haryana.

On the 12th day of war

Bhurishravas, Somadatta's son, for enhancing the glory of Drona, resisted king Manimat of great activity as the latter came to fight. Then Manimat quickly cut off the bowstring, the standard, the banner, the charioteer and the umbrella of Somadatta's son and caused them to fall down from the latter's car. The son of Somadatta then, bearing the device of the sacrificial stake on his standard, that slayer of foes, quickly jumping down from his car, cut off with his large swords, his antagonist with his steeds, charioteer, standard, and car. Re-ascending then upon his own car, and taking up another bow, and guiding his steeds himself, he began to consume the Pandava host.