A History of Assam c7.s2.18

c7.s2.18

Bhagadatta is frequently mentioned in the *Mahābhārat* as a powerful potentate ruling in the east. In the *Sabha Parvan*, it is related that Arjun attacked his kingdom of Prāgjyotisha. Bhagadatta had a host of Kirāts and Chins and numerous other warriors that dwelt on the sea coast, but after eight days’ fierce fighting he was defeated and compelled to pay tribute. Later on, when the forces of the Kauravas and Pāndavas were being mustered for their final struggle, he went with a powerful army to the assistance of Duryodhan, and no less than four sections of the *Drona Parvan* are devoted to a narrative of his heroic deeds on the field of Kurukshetra, from the time when he rescued Duryodhan from the onslaught of Bhim to his fight with Arjun in which he was defeated and slain. The issue of this last combat is ascribed to the intervention of Krishna, who rendered harmless the invincible weapon which he had given to Bhagadatta’s father Narak.