Terms of address: Raden
Type: Human
Origin: India
Description in the Javanese wayang retellings: He was Kresna's favorite son, even though he made many foolish mistakes and often failed to take responsibility for his actions. At the wedding of his brother Bomanarakasura with [Hagnyanawati], Samba fell madly in love with her (as did she with him). Samba then tried desperately to meet her. When he succeeded, Bomanarakasura found out and killed his brother, by tearing his body apart. However, Kresna found Bomanarakasura at fault. He killed Bomanarakasura and brought Samba back to life. Samba then married [Hagnyanawati]. Their son [Dwara] would later become a general during the reign of [Parikesit]. In fact, this love was meant to happen, as [Hagnyanawati] was an incarnation of Batari [Dremi] while Samba himself was an incarnation of Batara [Drema]. The Gods [Dremi] and [Drema] had promised each other to carry on with their love in their human forms before incarnating into humans. Kresna knew this, and that is why he defended Samba against Bomanarakasura. Kresna wanted Samba to obtain the Wahyu Cakraningrat. Whoever had this boon from the Gods would become the ancestor of the kings of Java. Samba temporarily succeeded in receiving the boon, but he was easily tempted by a woman, and lost the wahyu to [Parikesit].
Once, when Narada was visiting Kresna, Samba decided to play a trick on Narada. Samba dressed up as a woman, told Narada he was pregnant and asked him to guess the gender of the baby. Narada knew he had been tricked and told him: "You won't give birth to a boy, nor will you give birth to a girl, but today you will give birth to something that will kill you." Thinking the trick had worked, Samba removed his fake female garments. But to his own surprise, he appeared to be pregnant indeed. That very night, Samba gave birth to a mace. Upon hearing this, Kresna asked for the mace to be disposed of and it was thrown into a deserted beach. On one occasion many years later, after the Baratayuda war was over, Samba and his relatives got drunk and stumbled upon this beach. They got into a fight and ended up killing each other with sugarcanes that had grown from the mace. The entire Yadawa clan was killed then, with the exception of [Dwara].
Notes on the Indian retellings: Samba is the son of Lord Krishna. He marries Lakshmani, the daughter of Duryodhana. Although Duryodhana initially opposed to the marriage, he relented in the end. Samba was also seen as the main cause of the destruction of the Yadava clan (Krishna's clan). Many years before the Kurukshetra war, he once decided to test the power of the sages. He dressed up as a pregnant woman and went to the sages to ask whether the unborn child would be male or female. The sages, enraged by this sign of great disrespect, cast a curse saying that "she" was about to "give birth" to an iron material, which would cause destruction to the entire Yadava race. An iron mace was then ripped out of Samba's thigh. He pounded it and threw it into the sea. However, the iron dust was tossed back onto the shore of Prabasa. It was turned into deadly reeds which the Yadavas used to fight and kill one another with during a heated argument on whose side should they take after witnessing the Kurukshetra war.
Mother: Jembawati
Father: Kresna
Siblings: Gunadewa, Partadewa,Titisari,Saranadewa, Setyaka, Bomanarakasura, Siti_Sendar, Saketi
Consorts: Hagnyanawati, Senggatawati
Offspring: Dwara, Sunjoro
Wanda: Surakarta: Banjet, Penganten, Rungsit, Geblag, Sembada, Bontit; Yogyakarta: Temanten, Rungsit, Banjet
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