Vrushali
| Vrushali | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| Spouse(s) | Karna |
| Children | Vrishasena, Chitrasena, Satyasena, Sushena, Shatrunjaya, Dvipata, Banasena, Prasena and Vrishaketu |
The name of Karna's wife is not mentioned in Mahabharat. The name Vrishali makes sense as the name of Karna's wife because original name of Karna was Vrisha or Brisha as per original epic, hence his wife would be called as Vrishali also called as Brishali or Vrushali.
Very little is known about Vrushali, except that she was a pious woman hailing from the charioteer caste and chosen by Karna's adoptive father Adhiratha, also of the same caste.
Family
Vyasa Mahabharata in the original versions of Mahabharata state that Karna was a monogamist. Also it seems that Karna had a content married life. Vrushali went sati on Karna's pyre after his death. In Stree Parva Queen Gandhari describes the lamentation of Karna's wife whom she states as the sole wife of the warrior. She does state the names of the couple's two sons, Vrishasena and Susena.
M.N. Dutt's Mahabharata translation has been incorrectly rephrased as "On attaining my youth too did I marry wives according to his choice." Grammatically speaking however, the word "bhaaryaa" in Sanskrit means "the sole wife".
In addition, in the original sentence is described as "bhāryāś", which is plural, meaning "wives" (Mahābhārata: Udyogaparvan/05139010c)[1].
In the older versions of the Mahabharata, Karna had two sons: Vrishasena and Vrishaketu. In the Ganguly translation, aided by the commentary of Neelakantha Chaturdhara, 7-8 sons have been interpolated into the story: Chitrasena, Satyasena, Sushena, Shatrunjaya, Dvipata, Banasena, and Prasena.
Most versions of the story mention Vrishaketu as being too young to fight at Kurukshetra, and thus surviving it and becoming a student of his uncle Arjuna. Folkore mentions that Vrishaketu dies in the fight against Babruvahana. Vrishasena and the interpolated sons are consistently mentioned as having perished in the war.
It is important to mention that other versions of the story differ. For example, Jaimini Mahabharat has mentioned Vrishaketu as the only son of Karna.