Samsaptaka means 'sworn warrior'. They were the bravest of the Trigartas, who, led by their King Susarman, had sworn an oath to either kill Arjuna or die in that attempt. After swearing their oaths, they performed their own funeral rites, for they well knew that their chances of victory were slim, and that their death was almost a certainty. Susarman was the King of the Trigartas during the Mahabharata war, with their capital at the city of Prasthala (probably situated in the Kangra valley in modern India). From the time the Trigartas were conquered by Arjuna when he set out on his campaign of conquest (to enable Yudhishtra to perform the Rajasuya sacrifice), the Trigartas were the sworn enemies of the Pandavas.
The Trigartas were also closely allied with the Saindhavas, particularly their king Jayadratha. They assisted him when he tried to abduct Draupadi from the Kamyaka forest. She had been in exile then along with the Pandavas, but they had gone out to hunt. [Note: During this incident, Susarman is not mentioned as the King of the Trigartas, two other names are mentioned: Kshemankara and Suratha. Susarman is mentioned as their King only after they assist Duryodhana in the raid on the Matsya king, Virata's cattle.] However, the Pandavas soon caught up with the abducting party and after a short battle, in which both the Trigartas and Jayadratha were worsted, they rescued Draupadi. Jayadratha was humiliated by Arjuna, who caused his head to be shaved. This laid the seed for a never ending enmity between the two.
The Trigartas were also the bitter enemies of Virata, the king of Matsya, and had been repeatedly vanquished by his commander and brother-in-law Keechaka. When the news of Keechaka's death reached them, they induced Duryodhana to attack the Matsya Kingdom, to expose the Pandavas, for it was suspected that Keechaka had been slain by Bheema. This raid was unfruitful, as the Pandavas, excepting Arjuna, took part in the defence and defeated the Trigartas.
When, during the Kurukshetra war, Drona asked for volunteers to draw Arjuna to a corner of the battlefield, to enable him to capture Yudhishthira, the Trigartas immediately volunteered. They swore the Samsaptaka oath, and performed their own funeral rites, for it was almost certain that coming up against Arjuna, that foremost of warriors, their entire clan would be destroyed, and none would be left to offer their funeral cakes. They formed the force that drew away Arjuna to a distant corner of the battlefield, allowing Drona to set up the lotus battle array (a strategic formation) to capture King Yudhishthira. They successfully drew away Arjuna by challenging him to battle. Arjuna killed many of them that day.
The plan of Drona did not succeed as expected, for his lotus array that was to have captured Yudhishthira was pierced by Abhimanyu. However, Yudhishtra's capture was avoided at a high price. Prevented by Jayadratha from following Abhimanyu into the battle array, the Pandavas could not aid him. After fighting valiantly, the brave Abhimanyu was slain in contravention to the rules of combat, when he was simultaneously attacked by eight of the most powerful Kuru warriors, and was killed.
Arjuna swore to avenge his son's death by slaying Jayadratha (he believed that Jayadratha was the primary culprit) on the following day before sunset or give up his life in order to keep his oath. The Sindhu king wanted to flee to his native country, but Susarman promised him his protection, with a new army of hundred brave warriors led by himself to thwart Arjuna. Despite their valiant efforts, Arjuna succeeded in killing Jayadratha, with the help of Krishna's powers of illusion. Most of the Trigartas were slain that day, but Susarman survived, and was finally killed on the last day of the war by Arjuna.
|
|||||||||||
*Thakur Tek Chand(distt. Una) has written a 3000 page book on Himachali Rajput named "TRIGARTA"