Jayatsena

While the Udyoga Parva explicitly mentions that Jayatsena had sided with the Pandavas—along with Sahadeva of Magadha—several other references across the war books of the Mahabharata seem to indicate a contradictory tradition regarding his allegiance. In multiple war parvans, a Magadhan king named Jayatsena, also identified as the son of Jarasandha, is repeatedly mentioned as a prominent ally of the Kauravas.^[3][8]

This Jayatsena appears in the Bhishma Parva (VI.16.623) as a regional king who brought one akṣauhiṇi of troops to Duryodhana's army. He is referred to as Māgadhaḥ in Bhishma Parva (VI.108.5007), where he is described fighting Bhimasena. In the Karna Parva (VIII.5.120), he is explicitly called Jārāsandhiḥ...Māgadhaḥ and is said to have been slain by Abhimanyu—an event corroborated in VIII.73.3657, which states that the Māgadhānām adhipatiḥ (lord of the Magadhas) had been killed by Abhimanyu seven days earlier.^[5] His death is again lamented in the Stri Parva (XI.25.712), where the Maghadan women mourn the slain ruler of the Magadhas.^[9][5]

The Mahabharata does not explicitly clarify whether these refer to one individual or two distinct figures. This ambiguity has led to contrasting scholarly perspectives.

F. E. Pargiter, in his historical analysis, does not accept the alliance of Jayatsena with the Pandavas. He contends that after Jarasandha's fall, Magadha was politically fragmented. Sahadeva, though placed on the throne by the Paṇḍavas, controlled only the western part of the kingdom. The eastern region, including the capital Girivraja, remained under separate rulers—Danda, Dandadhara, and a Jayatsena (or Jayasena)—who supported the Kauravas. Pargiter also mentions another Magadha prince named Jalasandha, who took the same side. He notes that Jayatsena was killed by Abhimanyu, further indicating his position as a Kaurava ally.^[8] While acknowledging that some verses (such as V.577 and V.2014) name Jayatsena among the Pandava forces, Pargiter treats these as textual errors or misattributions, where the name has been used mistakenly for Sahadeva.^[10] For him, the key issue is the political division within Magadha rather than the presence of two individuals with the same name.^[8]

In contrast, Vettam Mani, in his Purāṇic Encyclopaedia, recognises the existence of two kings named Jayatsena, both referred to as sons of Jarasandha. However, he affirms that the Jayatsena who fought on the side of the Pandavas was the son of the famous Jarasandha who had been slain by Bhima. After Jarasandha's death, the Paṇḍavas installed his son Sahadeva as the ruler of Magadha, and Mani identifies Jayatsena as Sahadeva's brother. To reconcile the conflicting references to Jayatsena's allegiances, Mani suggests that the Jayatsena who supported the Kauravas must have been the son of another Magadhan warrior named Jarasandha, thus proposing a distinction between two individuals with the same name.^[3]

James L. Fitzegarld, translator of the critical edition, lists Jayatsena as an important ally of the Pandavas.^[11]

Kevin McGrath interprets this ambiguity as part of a broader editorial phenomenon in the Mahabharata, where the epic's poets and editors may have been drawing on multiple narrative traditions, each with differing accounts of Magadha's allegiance. The lack of narrative consistency may not have been viewed as problematic by the compilers, who prioritised thematic richness and poetic inclusion over strict coherence.^[12] McGrath also theorises that the shifting portrayal of Magadha could also suggest regional or sectarian interpolations, with different recensions preserving varying versions of the same characters.^[13]

• Williams, Monier (1872). A Sanskrit-English Dictionary: Etymologically and philologically arranged with special reference to Greek, Latin, Gothic, German, Anglo-Saxon, and other cognate Indo-European Languages By Monier Williams. At the Clarendon Press Sold by Macmillan.
• Partiger, F. E. (1908). Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland.
• Mani, Vettam (2015-01-01). Puranic Encyclopedia: A Comprehensive Work with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature. Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 978-81-208-0597-2.
• Sørensen, Søren (1904). An Index to the Names in the Mahabharata: With Short Explanations and a Concordance to the Bombay and Calcutta Editions and P. C. Roy's Translation. Williams & Norgate.
• McGrath, Kevin (2017-05-16). Raja Yudhisthira: Kingship in Epic Mahabharata. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-1-5017-0821-3.
• James L. Fitzgerald (2004). The Mahabharata: The Book of the Women; The Book of Peace, Part One. Internet Archive. The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-25250-6.
• Buitenen, Johannes Adrianus Bernardus (1973a). The Mahābhārata. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-84663-7.
• Buitenen, J. A. B. van (1973b). The Mahabharata, Volume 3: Book 4: The Book of the Virata; Book 5: The Book of the Effort. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-84665-1.