Iravan, born to Arjuna and the Naga princess Ulupi during Arjuna’s years of exile, appears in the Mahabharata only briefly, but his role at Kurukshetra ties into one of the war’s more striking ritual requirements.
A sacrifice with strict conditions
Before the war began, it was determined that a self-sacrifice of a warrior possessing thirty-two auspicious marks was required to ensure the Pandavas’ victory – a ritual demanding someone both qualified and entirely willing. Iravan, meeting the physical requirements, volunteered without hesitation.
One request before the end
Iravan’s only condition was that he be allowed to marry before his sacrifice, so as not to die unwed – a request no princess was willing to fulfill, given that marriage would leave her a widow within a day. Krishna resolved this by taking the form of Mohini and marrying Iravan himself, granting him a night as a husband before the ritual proceeded the next morning.
A tradition still observed today
Iravan’s sacrifice is commemorated annually in Tamil Nadu through the festival of Koothandavar, where Krishna’s Mohini form and Iravan’s marriage and death are ritually reenacted, and the event has become closely associated with the transgender Aravani community, who trace part of their cultural identity to this very story. It remains one of the Mahabharata’s quieter tragedies – a son barely known to his father, giving his life within a single night and morning for a war he had almost no other part in.