Kripa

Kripa (Sanskrit: कृप, Kṛpa in IAST transliteration),

also known as Kripacharya (Sanskrit: कृपाचाय) or
Krupacharya or better phonetically written as
Kṛpāchārya is fourth Avatar of Brahma and is an
important character in the Mahābhārata, one of the
Chiranjivi. He is the son of Śaradvān and Jānapadī,[1]
born in a particularly extraordinary manner. He is the
grandson of Maharishi Gautama. He is a descendant of
sage Angiras. He along with his sister Kripi were
adopted by King Shantanu. Later on Kripa became an
acharya, teacher of the royal children, giving him the
name Kripacharya. His twin sister Kripi married Drona.
Kripa was among the Maharathis who fought on the
Kauravas's side against the Pandavas in the
Kurukshetra war in the Hindu epic of the
Mahabharata.[1][2] Along with others, Kripa is considered
to be foremost among the rishis in Kaliyuga.[3] Kripa
will also become one of the Saptarishi in the 8th
Manvantara.[4]
 Kripa
Mahabharata character

Kripa in Javanese Wayang

In-universe information

Position Kul guru of Hastinapur,

Cheeranjeevi, Saptrishi of
eighth Manvatara

Family Śaradvān (father) and

Jānapadī (mother), Kripi
 (sister), Gautama
Relatives maharishi(grandfather)
Dronacharya(brother-in-law)

Birth
Gautama Maharishi had a grandson called Śaradvān.
Śaradvān was born with arrows, making clear he was a
born archer. As he matured, he became such a great
archer, and began doing penance to become an unbeatable
one. This threatened the gods, especially Indra. He then
sent a beautiful Apsara, Janapadi, from heaven to
distract the celibate saint. Śaradvān was distracted by
the sight of such a beautiful woman and lost some
control, dropping his weapons and retreating into the
forest to undergo more penance. His semen fell on some
weeds by the wayside, dividing the weeds into two - from
which a boy and a girl were born. The king of
Hastinapura, Shantanu was crossing from there and saw
the children by the wayside. He named them Kripa and
Kripi, and decided to take them back with him to his
palace.

Life

Kripa fights Shikhandi.

When Śaradvān came to know of these children he came

to the palace, revealed their identity and performed the
various rituals which are performed for the children of
Brahmins. He also taught the children archery, the
Vedas, and other Shashtras.

The children grew up to become experts in the art of

warfare. Kripa was now assigned the task of teaching
the young princes all about warfare. On reaching
adulthood, Kripa was the chief priest at the court of
Hastinapura. His twin sister Kripi married Drona, the
weapons master to the court - who, like her and her
brother, had not been gestated in a womb, but outside the
human body. He fought in the great battle of
Kurukshetra for the Kaurava side. He was one of the
three survivors remaining from the Kaurava side.
Afterwards, he was appointed to be the teacher and
preceptor of Parikshit, the grandson of Arjuna.
Skill as a warrior
In Udyoga Parva of the Mahabharata, Bhishma
declared Kripa as a mighty Maharathi, or a warrior
capable of fighting 60,000 warriors simultaneously;
circumspect in his mastery of all forms of weapons and
combat skills.[5]

As noted in sloka given below, he is one of the seven

Chiranjivin (the "immortals" who are to remain alive
throughout the Kali Yuga.

अ थामा ब ल ासो हनुमां वभीषणः। कृपः

परशुराम स तैते चरंजी वनः ।।

References
1. Varkey, C.P. (2001). A Pilgrimage ~ Through
the Mahabharata . St Pauls BYB. pp. 22–.
ISBN 978-81-7109-497-4.
2. Sharma, Mahesh; Chaturvedi, B.K. (2006).
Tales From the Mahabharat . Diamond Pocket
Books (P) Ltd. pp. 42–. ISBN 978-81-288-
1228-6.
3. K M Ganguly(1883-1896). The
Mahabharata,Book 13 Anusasana
Parva,SECTION CL sacred-texts.com,October
2003,Retrieved 2014-02-11
4. Vishnu Purana -Drauni or Asvathama as Next
saptarishi Retrieved 2015-02-15
5. K M Ganguly(1883-1896). The
Mahabharata,Book 5 Udyoga Parva,Section
 CLXVIII sacred-texts.com,October
2003,Retrieved 2015-02-14

External links
"The Mahabharata, Book 1-18" . sacred-texts.com.

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Last edited 10 days ago by 245CMR

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