Tribes in Ancient India c73.50

c73.50

In various passages of the *Mahābhārata*,⁹ Kṛtavarman is called either a Bhoja or a Sātvata, the two terms being used interchangeably. From a passage of the *Karṇaparvan* (*Mahābhārata*, VIII, 7, 8) Kṛtavarman’s capital Mṛttikāvatī appears to have been situated in the Ānarta country, for he is called a resident of Ānarta. Towards the end of the battle, when Droṇa was killed, Kṛtavarman was elected leader by the remnant of the Bhojas, Kaliṅgas and Vāhlikas.¹ Kṛtavarman, the Bhoja, was one of the three heroes who attended Duryodhana when the latter took refuge in the Dvaipāyana lake.² We read of Kṛtavarman the Sātvata addressing the defeated Kuru monarch, and calling upon him to come out of his hiding place in the lake.³ Kṛtavarman took part in the slaying of the Pañcālas and the sons of Draupadī, and then he and two other heroes went to give the dying king Duryodhana this welcome news.⁴ Finally, he returned to his own country,⁵ and was later slain by Sātyaki in the mutually destructive encounter of the confederacy of tribes, his son then being placed on the throne of Mṛttikāvatī by Kṛṣṇa.⁶