Mahishmat

THE LIVING ARCHIVE

About Mahishmat

The immediate chain places Kunti before Sahanji and Bhadrasena after Mahishmat. Beyond Bhadrasena come Durdama and Dhanaka, the father of Kritavirya. Mahishmat is thus an ancestor of Kartavirya Arjuna, not an alternative personal name for that later warrior.

AT A GLANCE

Identity & Context

Identity: King
Form: Haihaya Dynasty
Tradition: Puranic Royal Genealogy

Family & Relationships

ParentSahanji
Sahanji is the parent of Mahishmat in this account.
ChildBhadrasena
Mahishmat is the parent of Bhadrasena in this account.

IN THE TRADITION

Recorded Context

Family and Wider Context

Mahishmati becomes the royal setting of Kartavirya’s encounter with Ravana in the same family narrative. Ravana, travelling in triumph, is captured and confined by the Haihaya king. The account thereby joins the Yadava genealogy to a ruler best known from Rama’s story, while still keeping Kartavirya’s generation separate from the earlier kings in his ancestry.

ROLE & ESSENCE

Attributes & Significance

Mahishmat belongs to the ancestry of the royal family associated with Mahishmati and the Narmada region. The compact succession records his parent and child, while the fuller Ravana episode belongs to the later generation of Kartavirya Arjuna. It does not provide a separate account of Mahishmat’s reign.

Role

Mahishmat is a king in the Haihaya succession, the son of Sahanji and the father of Bhadrasena. His family belongs to the descendants of Yadu followed through Sahasrajit rather than through Kroshtu.

TRADITION & MEANING

Traditions & Interpretations

The main genealogical passage names Mahishmat as Sahanji’s son. Claims about founding Mahishmati belong to additional textual traditions and are not used here as a substitute for that explicit parentage.