Devalok
From the epics · 1 telling · Pan-India

Chitrasena the Gandharva captures Duryodhana

Duryodhana goes to the forest to gloat over the exiled Pandavas; the Gandharva king Chitrasena takes him prisoner on Indra's order, and the Pandavas free him.

Who is in it

Texts: Mahabharata

The story, beat by beat

  1. Duryodhana camps near the Dvaitavana lake on the pretext of counting cattle.
  2. The Gandharvas oppose his soldiers; Karna is routed and the Kuru army flees.
  3. Duryodhana and the women of his house are seized.
  4. Yudhishthira tells his brothers that family honour requires a rescue.
  5. The Pandavas fight the Gandharvas.
  6. Chitrasena tells Arjuna that Indra ordered the capture because Duryodhana came to mock them.
  7. Yudhishthira frees the Kauravas and thanks the Gandharvas.

pride rescue family honour

How it is told, place by place

Base telling · Primary text (translation)

Mahabharata, Vana Parva 238-244

Pan-India All traditions

Duryodhana, in the forest to count cattle and to mock his exiled cousins, is opposed at the lake by Gandharvas; his army breaks and he is carried off in chains with the royal women. Yudhishthira sends his brothers to the rescue for the honour of the family. Chitrasena explains to Arjuna, his friend and pupil, that Indra sent him, and at Yudhishthira's word the prisoners are released.

The Mahabharata, tr. K. M. Ganguli (1883-96), sections read for the Vedic layer § vana.238; The Mahabharata, tr. K. M. Ganguli (1883-96), sections read for the Vedic layer § vana.241; The Mahabharata, tr. K. M. Ganguli (1883-96), sections read for the Vedic layer § vana.244

Sources: The Mahabharata, tr. K. M. Ganguli (1883-96), sections read for the Vedic layer

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