He was the son of the brahmin Adityasharma. Once Adityasharma went to the forest and invoked an apsara named Sulochana. Their son was Gunasharma and with that Adityasharma became a deva. Gunasharma excelled in everything. Once Indra visited the place and Adityasharma, deep in thought, didn’t get up. Indra thought he was being disrespectful and cursed that he would be reborn as a human. He begged for mercy and Indra said that his curse would not be repealed but Adityasharma’s son could be reborn in his place. Thus Gunasharma was born. Ujjaini was then ruled by Mahasena. His wife was the beautiful Ashokavati. Gunasharma gradually became a good friend of Mahasena. The king and queen, who learned that Gunasharma was proficient in many things, made him dance for them once. From then on, he stayed at the palace and taught Ashokavati dance. Once an attendant tried to poison the king’s meal and Gunasharma caught him, saving the king’s life. Later, he rescued the king from where his enemies had imprisoned him, using his sorcery. The king gifted him a thousand villages.

Ashokavati once became infatuated with him but he rejected her. She was furious and turned the king against him, but he escaped. He then lived with a brahmin named Agnidatta and married his daughter Sundari. On Agnidatta’s advice, he prayed to Subramanya and acquired new skills. Using these, he defeated Mahasena and Ashokavati and sent them into exile as per Kathasaritasagara Suryaprabhalambaka Taranga 6.

Adityasena, the king of Ujjaini had a queen named Tejaswati. Her father was Gunavarma as per Kathasaritasagara Lavanakalambaka Taranga 4.

A woman devoted to her husband as per ancient literature. As per Kathasaritasagara, she was the wife of Virabhuja, king of Vardhamana. He had 99 other wives, but they were all childless. As per a physician’s advice, the king cooked a white goat, and the physician sprinkled some powder on it and fed it to the wives. Since Gunavara didn’t want to be separated from her husband even for a moment, she arrived there last. The meat was over by then and as per the king’s instructions, the goat’s horns were powdered and given to Gunavara. Her child was named Shringabhuja; the other queens too had children. The other queens were jealous of her and told the king that she was having an affair with a palace attendant. The king didn’t believe them but decided to test her anyway. He called the attendant and told him that since he had committed a brahmahatya sin, he should go on a pilgrimage. The attendant did so. Next, he went to Gunavara and told her that for the sake of his kingdom, a sage had advised him to have her live in an underground room. She agreed and the other queens were happy. They wanted to get rid of Shringabhuja too. Once, when the princes were playing, a crane sat on the palace roof. The princes tried chasing it, but a sage appeared there and said that the crane was the asura Agnishikha in disguise and he had come there to abduct them. The princes tried to shoot it down but failed. Shringabhuja then used a golden arrow and it hit the crane. But it flew away with the arrow. The other princes including Nirvasabhuja ridiculed him. Shringabhuja followed the blood drops and reached Agnishikha’s capital Dhumpaura. There, he fell in love with the asura’s daughter Rupashikha. Though they married, the asura tormented them. Finally they left the city with the golden arrow. They reached Vardhamana and though the asura chased them, he had to retreat because of Rupashikha’s sorcery. Virabhuja was happy to see his son back. He released Gunavara and at that time, the attendant too came back from his pilgrimage, as per Kathasaritasagara Ratnaprabhalambaka Taranga 5.

The daughter of Sunabha, younger brother of the asura Vajranabha. She had an elder sister named Chandramati. Vajranabha’s daughter Prabhavati was married to Krishna’s son Pradyumna. Chandramati and Gunavati saw them conversing and wanted to get married to Yadavas too. According to Prabhavati’s advice, Chandramati married Krishna’s brother Gada, and Gunavati married Krishna’s son Samba as per Harivansh Chapter 94.

Mandodari’s mother. See Mandodari for details.

A deva maiden. She danced at Arjuna’s birth festival as per Mahabharata Adiparva Chapter 122 verse 61.

A man who lived a life of sin and yet attained swargaloka. Once there lived a brahmin named Girinatha, who was wealthy, knowledgeable and an exponent of the vedas. To honour him, people called him Girinathadikshita. His son was Gunanidhi, and when he became older, he was educated by a guru named Sudhishana, who had a wife named Muktavali. After a while, Muktavali and Gunanidhi began having an affair. They finally poisoned the guru. Gunanidhi’s parents heard of this and berated their son. He was irritated and began conspiring with Muktavali to get rid of them. Finally they too were killed by the duo. But after a while, Gunanidhi lost all his wealth and became a thief and drunkard. The people exiled him and with Muktavali, he set out for the jungles.

After several years, Gunanidhi died under a rudraksha tree and Yama’s and Shiva’s soldiers both arrived to claim his soul. Yama’s soldiers declared that he was destined to go to naraka, but Shiva’s soldiers claimed that since he had died under a rudraksha, he would attain heaven. Yama’s soldiers finally lost the argument and Gunanidhi was taken to swargaloka. Shiva once narrated this story to illustrate the importance of rudraksha as per Devibhagavata Skanda 11.

The daughter of Matali, Indra’s charioteer. She was more beautiful and chaste than her other friends.

Matali went searching for a husband for her and finally, along with Narada reached patala. There, they met a naga named Sumukha. Matali felt that Sumukha would make a good husband for his daughter, but it had only been a month since Garuda had eaten Sumukha’s father Chikura, and Garuda had warned that he would eat Sumukha in a month. Sumukha had been living with his grandfather Aryaka when Matali found him. When Narada asked Aryaka, he was happy to get Sumukha married to Gunakeshi, but they were worried about Garuda. They approached Indra for a solution. Vishnu happened to be there and when Indra heard the story, he agreed to extend Sumukha’s life. Sumukha married Gunakeshi but Garuda was furious when he heard of it. He insulted Indra and Vishnu. Vishnu extended his right arm to Garuda and asked him if he could bear it on his chest. Garuda attempted it but felt the weight of the three worlds and admitted defeat, as per Mahabharata Udyogaparva Chapter 105.

Another name for Arjuna as per Mahabharata Adiparva Chapter 138 verse 8. He got this name by conquering sleep.

A king in Bharata’s dynasty as per Bhagavata Panchamaskanda.