Birth and Names of the Upapandavas – Stories from Adi Parva

Draupadi gave birth to five sons, one with each Pandava brother. Her five sons were called the Upapandavas and were born after Abhimanyu (Arjuna and Subhadra’s son). However, more research shows four Upandavas were older than Abhimanyu (who was sixteen when the Kurukshetra War occurred).

The Upapandavas (sons of Pandavas) were born a year apart from each other but were very close. Vyasa described the Upapandavas as beautiful and radiant children (glowing like the sun and moon) who grew up to be well-built, well-trained, and well-mannered. 

• Prativindhya was Yudhistira’s son, named after a mountain range. 
• Sutasoma was Bhima’s son, born after Bhima performed the thousand moon sacrifices. 
• Shrutakarman/ Shrutakirti was Arjuna’s son, born after Draupadi listened to the various exploits of Arjuna (Kritin).
• Satanika was Nakula’s son, named after a rishi.
• Shrutasena was Sahadeva’s son. 

Along with Abhimanyu, they trained under Arjuna and the other Pandava brothers to learn warfare. Purohit Dhaumya taught lessons about Vedas, Shastras, etc. Later, when the Pandavas went into exile, the Upapandavas divided their time between Panchala and Dwarka, though they were under the care of the Panchala king (Draupadi’s father and brother). The Upapandavas were often a unit and stayed together, even on the battlefield.