Krishna's Lineage

by Simon Brodbeck

  40 Kamsa was killed without a fight, and without being wounded by arrows. He died from being grabbed by the throat, and he was excluded from the path that the heroes travel. 41 All the fingernail-wounds that Keshava had made on his body suddenly became visible. They were deep enough to cut up his flesh, and they’d cut off his life.

  42 After killing Kamsa and destroying the tormentor, lotus-eyed Krishna shone with doubled delight when he worshipped Vasudeva’s feet. 43 Then the joy of the Yadus pressed his head to his mother’s feet, and she sprinkled Krishna with milk that welled up in her breasts, the extract of her bliss. 44 Then, blazing with his own glory, Krishna asked after the well-being of all the Yādavas, whatever their rank and whatever their age.

  45 As for Baladeva, he was a righteous soul, and he crushed Kamsa’s mighty brother Sunāman with alacrity, using just his two arms. 46 Then, after they’d conquered their enemies and conquered their anger, the two heroes, who’d been away at the cattle station for so long, went to the house of their own father with joy in their hearts.

  77. Kamsa’s Women Weep

  1 Vaishampāyana said:

  When Kamsa’s wives saw their husband fallen like a celestial body whose merit has run out,* they surrounded the slain Kamsa on every side. 2 Gazing at the lifeless king sleeping on the earth for his bed, the wives grieved like does do when a stag is killed. They said:

  3 Alas, strong-armed man! You were a hero who followed the heroes’ code, but now that you’ve been killed, we, the hero’s wives, have effectively been killed too, along with our hopes and our relatives. 4 We and our relatives wail in misery to see you in this your last and highest state, tiger among kings. 5 Now that you, our mighty husband, have met your death, we’ve been cut down at the roots, all good things have turned their backs on us, 6 and our bodies are coated with dust. When we’re longing for the pleasures of sex and casting about like climbing plants, who will lead us to our beds?

  7 Here’s your lovely mouth, gentle sir, the breeze of whose breath was always beloved. It’s like a lotus out of water, and the sun is burning it. 8 Here are your ears, but though you were always fond of earrings, they aren’t shining now. Empty, their earrings lost, they’re hiding in your neck. 9 And where’s that crown of yours, hero? The one that shines like the sun, and bears every jewel, and imparts such great majesty to your head?

  10 Now that you’ve gone to the next world, how will all your sad wives manage, the beauties of your palace? 11 Surely husbands should never abandon virtuous women, who don’t get deceived by pleasures and desires. But you’ve abandoned us and gone. 12 You used to call time on your foes, but alas, time is all-powerful, since by its revolving action it’s led you away so soon. 13 We’re not used to sorrows, we’re only used for pleasures, so how will we live as poverty-stricken widows, lord?

  14 For women concerned about their reputation, a single husband is the main path to success. For us, you are that path. But it’s been blocked, because our karma has prevailed. 15 We’re overcome by widowhood, sunk into a lamentable state forever, our minds scorched by sorrow. What will become of us without you? 16 Our time with you has passed, the fun we had sitting on your lap has passed, and in an instant we’re bereft. Temporary is the lot of human beings! 17 Woe! Alas! You treated us well, but now that you’re ruined, we’re ruined too. All of us guilty of the same crime, we’re sentenced to widowhood.

  18 We all used to love making love with you. When you caressed us with your heavenly caresses, we were overpowered by desire for you. Where are you going now that you’ve abandoned us? 19 Respectful master, lord of the world, we’re wailing like female ospreys, and you should answer us. 20 When your wives are suffering in this way and your relatives are overcome, your departure strikes us as cruel, your majesty. 21 The reason you’ve departed, leaving us behind at home, must be that the women are more beautiful in the world you’ve gone to, beautiful hero!

  22 Can you really be unaware of the piteous sound of mourning that your wives are here and now crying for you, virile king? 23 Ah! When inconsiderate men abandon their own wives and move on, their funeral journey is a cruel one. 24 It’s better for a woman not to have a husband than to have a hero for a husband. The women in heaven prefer heroes, and heroes prefer them too. 25 Alas! You were fond of war, and unseen karma has led you quickly away, striking a blow to all our hearts.

  26 Lord of the world, you destroyed Jarāsandha’s army and defeated the dark-elves in battle. So how come you were killed by a mere human being? 27 You fought a sword-duel with Indra, and the immortals couldn’t defeat you in battle. So how come you were killed by a mortal? 28 You shook up the unshakeable ocean with downpours of arrows, conquered Varuna who holds the snares, and took all his marine treasures for yourself. 29 When Vāsava was half-hearted with the rain, you split the clouds open with arrows and forced the rain to flow freely for the sake of the citizens. 30 All the earth’s kings bow down before your brilliance and send you valuable jewels and clothes. 31 So when you’re a match for the gods and your enemies acknowledge your power, how has such a horrible fatal accident befallen you?

  32 Now that you, our husband, have been killed, we’ve been reduced to the title of widows. Frustrated by karma, we’re women of pleasure without any pleasure. 33 If you had to leave like this and forget about us, husband, you should have done us the honour of at least saying you were going to leave.

  34 Be kind, husband! We’re worried, and we bow our heads to your feet. You’ve been far away from home long enough—come back, king of Mathurā!

  35 Alas! Why are you lying down sleeping in dust and straw, hero? How come you don’t mind lying on the ground? 36 Who has dealt us this unexpected blow in the form of your sleep? Who has dealt such a vicious blow to all these women?

  37 But lamentation and tears of regret are for women who remain alive. So why are we weeping, faithful wife, when one ought to depart alongside one’s husband?

  38 At that moment, Kamsa’s poor mother, trembling, howled out again and again: Where’s my calf? Where’s my son?

  39 She saw her son dead, like a moon that’s waned. Overcome again and again by her broken heart, 40 gazing at her son and moaning that she’d been killed too, she wailed and wept, making the same unhappy sound as her daughters-in-law. 41 Yearning for her son, she put his wretched face in her lap and wailed mournfully in a pained voice:

  My son! 42 My son faithful to the champion’s code! Your family’s pride and joy! Why have you made your departure so soon, my boy? 43 And why are you sleeping out in the open, my son, without a bed? Men of such distinction don’t sleep on the ground, my boy.

  44 Long ago, at an assembly of monsters, Rāvana, who was supreme in the worlds for his strength, sang this verse that the virtuous hold in high esteem: 45 Although I’m so massively potent that I might destroy the gods, my relatives will bring me terrible and unavoidable trouble.

  46 And in the same way, although my son was clever and hunted his relatives down, they brought him great trouble that destroyed his body.

  47 Weeping like a cow that’s lost its calf, she spoke to her husband, the old king Ugrasena, who was beside himself:

  48 Come, your dutiful majesty, come and see your son, the lord of the people, sleeping on a hero’s bed like a mountain struck by a thunderbolt.

  49 He’s become a ghost and gone to the realm of Yama, your majesty, and we must perform the proper funeral ritual. 50 Heroes enjoy their kingdoms, but as for us, we’re condemned. Go and talk to Krishna about Kamsa’s ceremonials. 51 Enmities end at death, so now he’s at peace there’ll be peace. We must perform the funeral rites. What harm can a dead man do?

  52 The grief-stricken woman said this to her Bhoja husband, and then she tore out clumps of her hair. Then, gazing at her son’s face, she continued her sorry lament:

  53 These wives of yours are used to happiness. They obtained a fine husband when they obtained you as their husband. But what will they do now that their hearts’ delight has been destroyed, your majesty? 54
And how will I be able to watch as this old father of yours fades away like a puddle of water, subject to Krishna’s will? 55 I’m your mother, my son! Why don’t you reply? Why have you abandoned your nearest and dearest and started out on the long road? 56 Alas, wise hero, you’re being led off—snatched away because of my unavoidable karma, feeble and ill-fated as I am.

  57 You were the leader of our various families. The families of your dependants were given gifts and honours and were satisfied by your virtues, but now they weep. 58 Get up, tiger of a man, with your long arms and your great strength! Save the town, the palace, and all these miserable people.

  59 While Kamsa’s women were weeping in great anguish all around, the sun reddened with the blush of twilight and sank beneath the western horizon.

  78. Kamsa’s Funeral and Ugrasena’s Consecration

  1 Vaishampāyana said:

  Unhappy Ugrasena, scorched all over with sorrow for his son and stumbling like a man who’s swallowed poison, went to find Krishna. 2 He found him at home, surrounded by Yādavas. Krishna was shaken up by Kamsa’s death, and his remorse was making him brood. 3 Having heard such profuse and pitiful lamentations from Kamsa’s women, he was blaming himself in front of the gathered Yādavas:

  4 Ah, it was so childish of me to give in to human anger. On account of this man Kamsa, I’ve made thousands of women into widows. 5 Now that I’ve felled their husband, these women are weeping with such anguish that surely even an ordinary person would feel sorry for them. 6 They’re mourning so much that they must actually be making Yama sad, even though he’s never been known to suffer out of compassion for women.

  7 I used to imagine that because he terrorised good people and delighted in his crimes, death would be the best thing for Kamsa. 8 In this world it’s better for a foolish person of base conduct to die and have no troubles than to live and be hated. 9 Kamsa took pleasure in evil, was despised even by the virtuous, and has been brought down by the curses that he inspired. How can his life be pitied?

  10 Residence in heaven is the reward that those who’ve maintained their discipline get for their good conduct. A person who gets famous down here is esteemed by those living up there. 11 If the population is happy, and the subjects are dutiful, and the people are devoted to virtue, the king shouldn’t turn bad.

  12 Karma determines the position of evil-doers according to their qualities. For people who want to do the right thing, the next world is obligatory. 13 The gods always protect a person who prioritises propriety. But in this world it’s easy to find people who’ve done something badly.

  14 I killed Kamsa, and this must be acknowledged as a good thing. His perverse behaviour has been cut down at the roots. 15 So all the women who are sick with sorrow must be comforted, and every citizen and guild in the town must be comforted too.

  16 While Govinda was saying this, Ugrasena had entered with his face lowered, greeting the Yadus anxiously on account of his son’s guilt. 17 Now, in the company of the Yadus, he addressed lotus-eyed Krishna in a sad and quavering voice that was blurry with tears:

  18 Your anger is spent, my son. Your enemy has been led away in the direction of Yama. Fame follows from doing one’s own particular duty, and so your name has been made known across the land, 19 and your greatness has been secured among good people. The Yādava lineage has been stabilised. Your enemies have been made anxious, your friends made proud. 20 You’ve demonstrated your dominance to the neighbouring kings. Your allies will serve you, supplicants will resort to you, 21 citizens will copy you, brahmins will extol you, and the ministers in charge of war and peace will bow down before you.

  22 Take possession of Kamsa’s inexhaustible army, Krishna, full of chariots, horses, and elephants, and crowded with companies of infantry. 23 Take whatever there is of wealth and grain, take the jewels and the coverings, the women, the gold, and the robes, and whatever other treasure there is.

  24 Krishna, destroyer of the Yadus’ enemies. Now that this deed has been done, and the conflict concluded and the rich earth secured, 25 you must listen to what the mourners are saying, brave man. Kamsa, whose deeds were vicious, has been burned up by your anger, Govinda. And with your permission, his funeral should now be performed.

  26 Once the dead king’s funeral has been performed, I, my wife, and my daughters-in-law will wander away with the deer. 27 Once my relative’s rite has been performed, Krishna, by dint of that mere funeral ceremony I’ll join the ranks of those whose earthly debts have been paid. 28 Once I’ve finally set fire to his stacked-up pyre, with no further rite other than a mere offering of water I’ll be free of my debt to Kamsa. 29 Permit me this, Krishna. Show me some affection here. The poor man must receive his last rite—a safe passage into the hereafter.

  30 Krishna was very pleased to hear Ugrasena’s speech, and replied to him in conciliatory fashion:

  31 Tiger of a king, now that the inevitable event has come to pass, what you’ve said is such as befits your prudence and your people. 32 Since Kamsa’s already dead, he’ll have his ceremony, your majesty. You must follow my instructions, sire.

  33 I have no need for the kingdom, nor do I even want the kingdom. I certainly didn’t kill Kamsa out of greed for the kingdom. 34 But your son had become a stain upon the family, so he and his younger brother were killed for the good of the people, and for the sake of my reputation.*35 As for me, I’ll be happy to live in the forest with the cowherders, surrounded by cows, and to roam around wherever I want to, like an elephant. 36 I declare to you truly—and I’d say it as many as a hundred times—that I’ve no business with kingship. This must be publicised and respected.

  37 You’re the master, the foremost of the Yadus, and you deserve my homage. Be the king. Be consecrated for victory in your own kingdom, supreme king. 38 If you aim to please me, and if it doesn’t upset you, then take possession of your own kingdom, for good. I’ve renounced it.

  39 Govinda knew the protocol, and he conferred the consecration upon Ugrasena in the assembly of the Yadus, even though the king lowered his face in embarrassment.

  40 Then, with the crown on his head, glorious Ugrasena, the lord of the broad earth, performed Kamsa’s funeral rite with Krishna. 41 At Krishna’s suggestion all the main Yādavas followed the king along the town’s highway, like the gods following Shatakratu, 42 and when night had turned to morning and the sun had been risen for some time, the Yadu bulls performed Kamsa’s final ceremony. 43 They lifted Kamsa’s body onto a bier and performed his funeral with the standard observances in the correct order. 44 The king’s son was taken to the northern bank of the Yamunā and sanctified by a built-up funeral pyre in the proper fashion.

  45 The Yādavas and Krishna performed the rites for his strong-armed brother Sunāman as well. 46 Then the great Vrishni and Andhaka warriors held a wake for the two of them. They stood and spoke, giving their ghosts an unforgettable send-off. 47 And after giving them their libation, the sad Yādavas followed Ugrasena back across to the town of Mathurā.

  The Move to Dvārakā

  79. The Fetching of the Guru’s Son

  1 Vaishampāyana said:

  Together with Rohinī ’s son, mighty Krishna lived happily among the Yādavas there in the town of Mathurā. 2 With a body that had attained to manhood, virile and blazing with royal glory, he made Mathurā into a town that was decorated with a mine of jewels.

  3 After some time, Rāma and Keshava went off together in order to learn the martial arts. They went to the guru Sāndīpani, a Kāshi man who lived in the town of Avanti. 4 Rāma and Janārdana told him their lineage, and since both of them were attentive, devoid of ego, and notable for their diligence in textual recitation, the Kāshi man approved of them and imparted all the teachings to them. 5 The two heroes had good memories, and they learned the teachings perfectly. Over the course of sixty-four days and nights they learned the Veda by heart, along with its auxiliary sciences, 6 and within that brief stretch of time the guru also taught them all four divisions of the martial arts
,* and how to launch and recall the full panoply of missiles.

  7 The guru discerned that their mental powers were superhuman, and he concluded that they were the moon god and sun god come to earth. 8 On full-moon days he saw those two great men paying their respects to the great three-eyed god Shiva, who stood there in person.

  9 After they’d accomplished their objective, Bhārata, both Krishna and Rāma said to their guru Sāndīpani: What must I give as the guru’s fee?

  10 Knowing their power, the guru cheerfully replied: I want my son, who died in the briny ocean, to be restored to me. 11 A single son was born to me, but while he was at Prabhāsa on a pilgrimage, he was carried off by a whale. You must bring him back to me.

  12 With Rāma’s permission, Krishna immediately agreed.

  Majestic Hari travelled to the ocean and went right out into the water. 13 At that, the ocean put his palms together in respect and appeared to him in person. Krishna said to him: Listen. Where’s the son of Sāndīpani?

  14 The ocean said to him: Mādhava. The great Daitya Panchajana, in the form of whale, swallowed the boy.

  15 Lofty Krishna the supreme person found Panchajana and killed him, but he couldn’t find the guru’s young son. 16 After Janārdana had killed Panchajana, he came across a conch shell—the one that became famous among gods and humans as the Pānchajanya conch.

  17 Then Krishna the supreme person defeated the god Yama Vaivasvata and fetched his guru’s long-lost son from Yama’s domain. 18 Sāndīpani’s son had been dead for a long time, but through the kindness of almighty Krishna, he got his own body back. 19 No other being was capable of performing or even imagining a miracle as great as that, and all who saw it were amazed.

  20 Mādhava the lord of the world took his guru’s son, and the Pānchajanya conch, and some precious jewels, and returned to shore. 21 Vāsava’s younger brother had the demon Panchajana’s many precious jewels brought along too, and reported to his guru.