Parīkṣit

Scion-tier (1/8 divine through Indra-line via Arjuna→Abhimanyu→Parīkṣit), grandson of Arjuna and great-grandson-on-the-paternal-side of Indra. The structural-and-cosmological hinge of the Mahābhārata: revived by Krishna in the womb after Aśvatthāmā's Brahmāstra strike, reigned across the dvapara-kali-yuga boundary, and died by snake-bite under the Śṛṅgī-curse — his death triggers the sarpasattra (snake-sacrifice) of his son Janamejaya at which the Mahābhārata is canonically narrated by Vaiśampāyana, making Parīkṣit the genealogical hinge between the war-epic and the frame-narrative that contains it.

Parentage

• father: AbhimanyuMahābhārata Aśvamedhika Parva 65-70 (primary)

Children

• Janamejaya

Powers

• Is revived in the womb by Krishna after Ashvatthaman's Brahmastra burns the embryo

Relations

• father: AbhimanyuMahābhārata Aśvamedhika Parva 65-70 (primary)
• mother: Uttarā (princess of Matsya) · HinduMahābhārata Aśvamedhika Parva 65-70 (primary)
• father of: JanamejayaMahābhārata Ādi Parva 3-58 (primary)
• killed by: Takṣaka (the king of the Nāga-snakes who killed Parīkṣit per the Śṛṅgī-curse) · HinduMahābhārata Ādi Parva 36-44 (primary)

Sources

• existence: Mahābhārata (BORI Critical Edition) — Ādi Parva 36-58 (the frame-narrative), Aśvamedhika Parva 65-70 (revival and naming), Mausala Parva and Mahāprasthānika Parva (the succession to the Pāṇḍava kingdom); Bhāgavata Purāṇa 1.4-1.19 (the most-developed Parīkṣit-narrative in the Purāṇic tradition); Viṣṇu Purāṇa 4.20 (primary)
• parentage: Mahābhārata Aśvamedhika Parva 65-70 (primary)