Adhivanga to Adhvaryu

Adhivanga

            Adhivanga was a holy place in the Epic Age. It was a forest retreats for hermits somewhere near the river Gandaki or one of its tributaries.

Adhokshaja

            Adhokshaja is one of the names of Vishnu. As Krishna was believed to be an incarnate of Vishnu, he too was called Adhokshaja.

Adhrishya (invisible)

            Adhrishya was the name of one of the rivers of India in the Epic Age. It is mentioned in the list of rivers narrated by Sanjaya to Dhritarashtra in the Bhishma Parva of the epic.

Adhvaryu (one who desires a sacrifice)

            Adhvaryus were a class of priests during the Vedic and Epic Ages. They were the reciters of hymns from the Yajur Veda and the most active among the four classes of priests who officiated over sacrifices. Adhvaryus were responsible for surveying and preparing the sacrificial ground, designing and building the altars for the sacrifice,  preparing and securing the cooking utensils, cooking offerings for the sacrifice, and gathering water, wood and animals for the sacrifice. As a priest, an adhvaryu would constantly be on the move, assisted by three classes of priest called the pratiprathatras, nestris and unnetris.

Acharya to Adhiratha

Acharya (m. preceptor)

            An acharya was a preceptor or a teacher. An acharya would initiate his students into the life of brahmacharya or celibacy by performing the upakarma ritual. He would teach the students the Vedas as well as the Vedangas and any of the sciences that he himself had learnt.

            Drona and Kripa were acharyas to the Pandavas and Kauravas as well as other princes who came to learn from them.

Achyutasthala (m. imperishable place)

            Achyutasthala was a place of pilgrimage in the Epic Age. It was somewhere in the vicinity of Kurukshetra and is mentioned in the lists of holy places enumerated in the Vana Parva.

Achyuta (m. imperishable, permanent)

            Achyuta was a name given to Vishnu, the youngest amongst the Adityas. Achyuta was also a name given to Krishna, who was considered to be an incarnation of Vishnu.

            See Krishna, Vishnu.

Achyutayudha (m. the imperishable warrior)

            Achyutayudha or Achyutayusha was a Mleccha king, possibly a chieftain of the Abhishahas. He fought on the Kaurava side in the Kurukshetra War and was killed by Arjuna.

Adhiraja (m. supreme lord)

            Adhiraja was the third son of Kuru king, Avikshit Anaswan and brother to the king Parikshit. He is mentioned in the lineage of the kings in Chapter 1.094. He may have started a line of kings called the Adirajas of whom Dantavakra was one. (2.030)

Adhiratha (m. charioteer)

            Adhiratha was a charioteer of the suta caste and a childhood friend of the Kuru king, Dhritarashtra. He was married to Radha. He is described as a friend of Dhritarashtra, so he must have been from Hastinapura. He had probably somewhere down river on the Ganga, probably Kanyakubja or Kashi where his wife Radha discovered the infant son of Pritha, born of wedlock and discarded. Adhiratha and Radha reared the child naming him Vasusena and considering him to be a gift from the gods. Later they had other sons of their own.

            In later years, it is also possible that they may have moved to the country of Anga as Vasusena or Karna as he is popularly known is often said to hail from Anga. At the tournament of the princes, Vasusena and Adhiratha are shown to be in Hastinapura, where Vasusena becomes Duryodhana’s friend and is crowned the king of Anga.

Abhimanyu to Achala

Abhimanyu

            Abhimanyu was the son of Arjuna and Subhadra and one of the great warriors of his time.

            After the Pandavas married Draupadi, there was a pact between them that only one brother would be with Draupadi at a time. At that time, none of the others would disturb the couple. Arjuna had broken this pact and had to go on a twelve-year exile as a result. At the end of his exile, he reached Dwaraka, where he met Krishna and travelled with him for the annual festival at the Raivataka Mountain. There, he saw Krishna’s step-sister, Subhadra and fell in love with her.  On Krishna’s advice, he eloped with her and married her. Abhimanyu was the son born to Subhadra and Arjuna. His birth strengthened the bond between the houses of Vrishni and Pandu.

            When Abhimanyu was around three years of age, the Pandavas had to leave for a thirteen year exile after Yudhishtira lost to Duryodhana in the game of dice. During the period of the Pandavas’ exile, Abhimanyu and his mother, Subhadra stayed at Dwaraka, Subhadra’s maternal home. While at Dwaraka, Abhimanyu was trained in warfare by his uncle, Krishna as well as Krishna’s son, Pradyumna. In the thirteenth year of their exile, the Pandavas had to remain anonymous and undiscovered. They did so at the kingdom of Virata. After the period of exile was over, the Pandavas decided to get Abhimanyu married to Uttara Kumari, the daughter of King Virata of Matsya. The marriage also signalled the start of preparations for war on either side. By the time the war started, Uttara Kumari was pregnant. Abhimanyu fought bravely in the war showing amazing skill and dexterity for his age. On the twelfth day of the war, he was killed after being trapped in the Chakravyuha, a military formation in the form of a circular maze. After the war, Uttara Kumari gave birth to their son who was called Parikshit. Parikshit would continue the Pandava line after them and years later, when the Pandavas decided to retire to the forest, he was crowned king at Hastinapura.

Abhira (m. cowherd)

            The Abhira clan was a clan as well as a caste, whose main occupation seems to have been that of cow herding and dairy farming. Manu defines an Abhira as an offspring of a brahmana on an ambastha woman (born of a brahmana father and vysya mother).

The clan of the Abhiras live mainly on the banks of the Saraswati River and their range seems to have stretched from just south of the Matsya kingdom of Virata all the way to the mouth of the Saraswati. Being a nomadic and predatory tribe, the Abhiras were primitive in comparison to other tribes and clans like the Kuru and the Yadava clans. They were looked down upon by elite clans and not considered to be arya or noble. They were even blamed for the disappearance of the Saraswati and the desertification of the region where they held sway. The Abhiras are shown to have attacked Dwaraka towards the end of the Vrishni rule.

            In all probability they were ancestors of the present day Ahirs.

Abhishahas (m. assaulters)

            The Abhishahas were a northern tribe allied with the Kauravas in the Kurukshetra war. They played an active role, attacking many Pandava warriors.

            Alternate spellings and names include Abhisharas, Abhisaras.

Abhishava rite (m. religious bath or consecration)

            The Abhishava was a religious ritual which was performed before the Ashwamedha Sacrifice. The Pandavas went through the ritual before the sacrifice.

            There are two rituals which are called by the name, abhishava. The first consists of the extracting of the Soma juice from the stalks of the Soma plant. The second ritual is a ceremonial bath taken before the performance of sacrifices. The ritual the Pandavas underwent was probably the second ritual.

Achala (m. steady)

            Achala was the son of Subala and a prince of Gandhara. Along with his brother, Vrishaka he was the one of the leaders of the Gandhara troops who were fighting on the Dhartarashtra side in the Kurukshetra war. It is possible that Achala and Vrishaka were younger brothers to Shakuni and Gandhari. They were killed by Arjuna in the Kurukshetra war in the only battle that they took part in.

Abhaya to Abhijit

Abhaya (m. fearless)

Abhaya was one among the hundred Kauravas.

There are two lists of the hundred Kauravas mentioned in the Mahabharata. The first in Section 67 of the Adi Parva (1.067) and the second in Section 117 of the Adi Parva (1.117). Abhaya’s name is mentioned in both those lists.

Abhaya along with some of his brothers fought Bhīma on the thirteenth and fourteenth day of the battle. He was killed by Bhīma on the fourteenth day.

Abhibhu (m. superior)

            Abhibhu was a warrior or a prince of Kashi. He fought with the Pandavas in the Kurukshetra War. He was killed by King Vasudana’s son on the fifteenth or sixteenth day of war.

Abhighata Tribe (m. destroyer)

            The Abhighata tribe was a north-western tribe who were minor vassals of the Trigarta clan. They fought against Arjuna during his battle with the Trigarta.

Abhijit (m. victorious)

            Abhijit is a nakshatra or star and one of the Moon God’s twenty-eight wives. Abhijit is called Vega and is located in the constellation of Lyra.

In the story of Skanda as narrated by Maitreya in the Vana Parva, Abhijit left the heavens in jealousy of her sister, Rohini. Hence, Abhijit was called the “fallen star”.

However, it was also considered an auspicious star to be born under. The eighth muhurta of the day was also named Abhijit and it was under this muhurta that Yudhishtira was born. This time corresponds to somewhere between 11:36 am and 12:24 p.m. Yudhishtira was said to be born at noon.