Draupadi and Her Children - The Story of Upapandavas

In the great Indian epic Mahabharata, the Upapandavas are the five sons born to Draupadi, one from each of the five Pandava brothers. They fought valiantly in the great war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas on the side of their fathers, yet all five were killed at the end by Ashwathama, who went on a terrible rampage after the deaths of his friend Duryodhana and his father Dronacharya. The five brothers were Prativindhya, Satanika, Sutasoma, Srutasena, and Srutakarma.

The Five Upapandavas at a Glance

The Night of the Last Day: Ashwathama's Attack

A broken Ashwathama sat under a large tree after the death of his friend Duryodhana and the defeat of the Kauravas on the last day of the war. Watching an owl attack the crows that had troubled it by day, he saw a sign and began to plan the downfall of the Pandavas, whom he held responsible for his suffering.

He gathered the last remaining Kaurava warriors — Kritavarma and Kripacharya — and attacked the Pandava camp on the night of the 18th day. He killed many prominent warriors, including Shikhandi and Dhrishtadyumna, while they slept; as Kritavarma and Kripacharya guarded the camp's entrance, those who tried to flee were cut down. In the dark he saw five figures sleeping and took them for the Pandavas — but they were the five Upapandavas. In some versions of the story, he killed them deliberately so that the Pandavas would be left without heirs.

The Curse Behind Their Birth

The most interesting chapter of the Upapandavas' story begins long before the Pandavas or Kauravas were born. The Markandeya Purana — attributed to the immortal devotee of Lord Shiva, Markandeya — recounts it in a dialogue between Jaimini, a student of sage Ved Vyasa, and four birds considered to be Dronacharya's sons: Pingaksha, Sumukha, Vibodha, and Suputra. The birds narrate why the Upapandavas had to die young even under Lord Krishna's protection.

In the Treta Yuga there lived a just and noble king named Harishchandra. While on a hunt, he heard cries for help and rushed to find sage Vishwamitra deep in meditation, with someone trying to disturb his penance. The sage broke his meditation angrily, and Harishchandra told him the whole story. Still angry, Vishwamitra asked for alms, and the king said he could have anything. Vishwamitra demanded his kingdom and all his wealth — and, having no attachment to worldly desires, the king readily agreed, even leaving the kingdom with his family.

The king faced many hardships: his family was sold into bondage, he worked for a man at a funeral ground tending dead bodies, his wife became a maid, and their son Rohitashwa died of a snake bite. Eventually the king performed a yagna by which the king and queen attained salvation and their son was brought back to life. The sage, however, remained unsatisfied, and as he was about to strike the king, the five Vishwa Devas appeared and accused him of being inhuman. Unable to bear the insult, Vishwamitra cursed the five Vishwa Devas, sprinkling water from his kamandalu: they would be born as humans, without children or marriage, and could return to heaven only after death.

Thus the five Vishwa Devas were born as Prativindhya, Sutasoma, Srutakarma, Satanika, and Srutasena — the five Upapandavas. Killed by Ashwathama in fulfilment of the curse, they returned to the heavens as celestial beings and became the Vishwa Devas once again.

After the Upapandavas: Parikshit's Succession

With the Upapandavas gone, Parikshit, the son of Abhimanyu and grandson of Arjuna, succeeded Yudhishthira to the throne of Hastinapura. In the Jataka-tales version of the Mahabharata, Parikshit was mentored and trained by Prativindhya, Shrutasoma, Sutasoma, and Satanika, and Ashwathama is said to have also killed the Pandavas' other children — Yudhishthira's son through Shaivya, Bhima's son by Jalandhara, Sarvaga, and Nirmitra, Nakula's son by Karenumati.

Practical / Modern Context

The story of the Upapandavas carries enduring lessons. Five princes of the greatest dynasty of their age were undone not in open battle but by a night attack born of unchecked grief and rage — a reminder that even the most protected lives can be lost to sudden tragedy, and that hatred, once nurtured, finds a way to strike. The brothers' own conduct is a model of courage: the youngest, Srutakarma, faced warriors far beyond his years without flinching. And the thread binding their fate to Vishwamitra's curse shows how, in the Mahabharata's vision, the choices of sages and kings ripple across ages to shape destinies.

Common Misconceptions

1. "Ashwathama killed the Upapandavas by mistake." This is one version of the tale; in other versions he killed them deliberately so the Pandavas would be left without heirs. The epic preserves both traditions.
2. "The Pandavas were completely wiped out on the last night." The Upapandavas and warriors like Shikhandi and Dhrishtadyumna were killed, but the five Pandavas themselves survived — they were not in the camp that night.
3. "The Upapandavas' deaths were meaningless." In the Markandeya Purana, their deaths fulfilled Vishwamitra's ancient curse on the Vishwa Devas, restoring them to their celestial status.

Conclusion

The story of the Upapandavas weaves together battlefield heroism, a treacherous night raid, and an ancient curse reaching back to the Treta Yuga. Prativindhya, Satanika, Sutasoma, Srutasena, and Srutakarma fought beside their fathers with valour, yet their lives ended at Ashwathama's hands — not as random tragedy, but as the completion of a divine decree. Their tale is a moving reminder of the Mahabharata's great theme: that destiny and dharma, curse and blessing, are woven together in ways only the wise can fully comprehend.

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