Babruvahana

The Story

During Arjuna's years of travel, he had married Chitrangada, the warrior-princess of Manipura, and their son Babruvahana was raised as the heir of that kingdom — trained in arms by his mother and taught that a ruler's first duty is to his land and its people.

When Arjuna, after the great war, visited Manipura to perform the Ashwamedha sacrifice, a deadly ritual of destiny unfolded: the Nagas, nursing an old feud, engineered a confrontation in which Babruvahana was compelled to fight the great warrior — who did not reveal himself as his father.

In the terrible duel, the young prince slew his own father, and the earth wept. The story, told in the Aswamedhika Parva and retold across regions of Bhārat, ends with the celestial sage Ulupi reviving Arjuna through a magical gem — and father and son being reconciled, the bond of love restored beyond the tragedy of fate.