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Jarasandha, a MythSource painting
Indian

Jarasandha

01Identity

Jarasandha in Indian tradition

Jarasandha's two stories turn on the way he was joined and the way he was later separated. King Brihadratha received a blessing for a son and divided a charmed mango between his two queens. Each queen then gave birth to half a child. The rakshasi Jara found the two halves, joined them and returned the living infant to the king, who named him Jarasandha, meaning one joined by Jara. In the later wrestling event, Bhima fought Jarasandha for many days. Krishna recognised that the birth-join marked a weakness and showed Bhima how to split the body and keep the parts apart. These accounts present Jarasandha through a body made whole by Jara and undone at that same join by Bhima.

SourceMahabharata: The Greatest Spiritual Epic of All Time: Chapter Sixteen.  Mighty Jarasandha· Mahabharata Vol. 2 (Penguin Translated Texts): Section Twenty-One· The Puffin Mahabharata: The Story of the Mahabharata· Mahabharata Vol. 2 (Penguin Translated Texts): Section Twenty-Two

Top questions

The quick answers

02Family

Jarasandha’s family, at a glance

Brihadratha
Jarasandha
Sahadeva of Magadha
03The myths

The myths of Jarasandha

2 myths, with sources recorded for each.

Jarasandha Is Joined by Jara

King Brihadratha of Magadha received a blessing that he would attain a son. A rishi gave him a charmed mango for his senior queen, but Brihadratha divided it into two so that both queens might conceive. The division shaped what followed. Each wife gave birth to only half a child. The sorrowing queens threw the two halves into the forest.

A rakshasa woman named Jara found them there. One account describes her as able to assume any form and as a woman who wished to offer the king a favour. She saw the two half-bodies of his son and joined them. The child surfaced and came alive with a roar. Another account says that Jara did not have the heart to kill the baby. She felt almost as though she had given birth to him, recognised him as the child of the king of Magadha and carried him back to Brihadratha.

At the palace gates, guards saw Jara carrying a strong infant and claiming that the child belonged to the king. A holy man, Chandakausika, appeared at the same time and confirmed Jara's story. He said that the prince should be named Jarasandha, joined by Jara, because without her he would have rotted in the wild. In another telling, the king himself gave the name after Jara returned the child and explained how the abandoned halves had become one in her arms.

The king welcomed the child and performed the necessary rites. He held a festival in honour of the rakshasa and rewarded Jara, giving her freedom to visit Jarasandha. The Mahabharata: The Greatest Spiritual Epic of All Time names the event plainly: the two half-children were joined, the child came alive and the king named him for the woman who made him whole.

Jarasandha Is Joined by Jara, a MythSource painting of the scene

4 sources· checked 2026-09-22

  1. 1Mahabharata: The Greatest Spiritual Epic of All TimeT1
  2. 2Mahabharata Vol. 2 (Penguin Translated Texts)T1
  3. 3The Puffin MahabharataT1
  4. 4The Mahabharata: A Modern Rendering (2 Vols.)T1

Jarasandha Is Torn Apart by Bhima

Bhima and Jarasandha met in single combat, and the contest continued through many days and nights. One account describes fourteen days and nights of fighting. Another says that the struggle lasted twenty-eight days. Jarasandha had never met an equal in wrestling, and Bhima found no way to overpower him. When Jarasandha was thrown down and torn apart, the two halves drew back together. Blood, skin and muscle fused into one living body, and the courtiers' grief turned to joy.

The fight resumed. Jarasandha was tiring, but Bhima still needed a way to end the contest. Krishna remembered how the rakshasi Jara had joined Jarasandha at birth. He picked up a twig and split it down the middle. In another telling he tore a leaf in two and threw the pieces in opposite directions. Bhima understood that the halves had to be pulled apart and kept apart.

When the opportunity came, Bhima threw Jarasandha to the ground. He planted one foot on a leg, seized the other leg and pushed forward. With a tremendous roar, he tore Jarasandha in two from the lower body upwards. Another account describes Bhima taking hold of one leg and one arm, then ripping the body apart. A translated passage gives the final movement as Bhima breaking Jarasandha's back into two and trampling him down.

This time the two parts did not return to each other. The clue from Krishna had changed the result of the tearing. The king who had once been made whole at Jara's join was separated at that same join, and Bhima's division ended the single combat. The Mahabharata: The Greatest Spiritual Epic of All Time links the method directly to the joining at birth.

Jarasandha Is Torn Apart by Bhima, a MythSource painting of the scene

4 sources· checked 2026-09-22

  1. 1The Puffin MahabharataT1
  2. 2The Great Golden Sacrifice of the MahabharataT1
  3. 3Mahabharata: The Greatest Spiritual Epic of All TimeT1
  4. 4Mahabharata Vol. 2 (Penguin Translated Texts)T1

Also mentioned in

Stories elsewhere on MythSource that mention Jarasandha, each on that figure’s page.

04Different accounts

Different accounts

›The accounts differ in the immediate presentation: Jara explains the accidental joining in one telling, while another describes her compassion and return of the infant; the joining and naming remain the shared event.

    The accounts that differ: Mahabharata Vol. 2 (Penguin Translated Texts), Section Twenty-One; The Puffin Mahabharata, The Story of the Mahabharata; The Mahabharata: A Modern Rendering (2 Vols.)

    From “Jarasandha Is Joined by Jara”

    ›The accounts give different durations for the wrestling and different descriptions of the final grip, but they agree that Krishna identifies the birth-join and Bhima keeps the torn halves apart.

      The accounts that differ: The Puffin Mahabharata, The Story of the Mahabharata; The Great Golden Sacrifice of the Mahabharata; Mahabharata: The Greatest Spiritual Epic of All Time, Chapter Sixteen.  Mighty Jarasandha; Mahabharata Vol. 2 (Penguin Translated Texts), Section Twenty-Two

      From “Jarasandha Is Torn Apart by Bhima”