Kritavarma
one of the Yadava warriors
Kritavarma (Sanskrit: कृतवर्मा, IAST: Kṛtavarmā) is a warrior from the Yaduvamsha in Hindu mythology. He appears as a minor character in the Mahabharata, fighting in the Kurukshetra war for the Kauravas. He was the son of Hṛidika, born in the Andhaka clan of the Yadu dynasty.
Legend
Syamantaka theft
Kritavarma was the commander of the Narayani sena or Gopa sena. Kritavarma is said to have encouraged, or in some accounts, participated in the theft of the legendary Syamantaka jewel from King Satrajit. Along with his friend Akrura, he is said to have caused Shatadhanva to murder Satrajit, and steal the jewel for himself. Shatadhanva was subsequently slain by Krishna, though he no longer had the jewel, having given it to Akrura and Kritavarma for safekeeping. When a famine broke out in Dvaraka, or in other accounts, due to the discovery of Akrura's possession of the Syamantaka, both Kritavarma and he were summoned to the city to hand over the jewel. In the end, Krishna decided that Akrura should keep the jewel with him.
Kurukshetra war
Kritavarma chose the Kaurava side in the Kurukshetra War when his assistance was sought by Duryodhana, promising to lend him one akshauhini.
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This entry incorporates text from “Kritavarma” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.