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.