74 In this way, using materials from heaven, from the earth, and from water, the eternal Hari decorated his own city as if it were a young woman.
75 He also set up laws, guilds, officials, magistrates, and experienced army inspectors; 76 he set up Ugrasena as king, Sāndīpani of Kāshi as chief priest, Anādhrishti as commander of the army, and Vikadru as first minister; 77 and as the patriarchs of that place he wisely established ten Yādava elders who were tireless in all tasks. 78 Dāruka, a great warrior among warriors, was of course Keshava’s chariot-driver, and the truly valiant Sātyaki was the soldiers’ chief soldier.
79 After he’d organised things like this in the city, Krishna the irreproachable creator of the world enjoyed himself on the face of the earth, together with the Yadus. 80 It was at that time that Baladeva, with Krishna’s approval, obtained Raivata’s famously good-natured daughter Revatī as his wife.*
Adventures in the South
87. Rukminı̄’s Abduction
1 Vaishampāyana said:
During this same period, majestic Jarāsandha, wanting to benefit King Shishupāla of Chedi, caused a stir among the kings. 2 He told them there was going to be a gold-encrusted wedding between Bhīshmaka’s daughter Rukminī and King Shishupāla.
3 This stirred up Dantavaktra’s peerlessly powerful son Suvaktra, a master of marvellous tricks who was like thousand-eyed Indra in battle, 4 and one by one it also stirred up Vāsudeva Paundra’s mighty son Sudeva, an army commander full of virility, 5 and Ekalavya’s strong and virile son, and the son of the Pāndya king, and the king of Kalinga, 6 and King Venudāri, whom Krishna had made his enemy, Bhārata, and Kratha’s descendant Amshumat, and Shrutarvan, 7 and Nikrittashatru the Kalingan, and the king of Gāndhāra, and strong-armed Patusha, and even the king of the Kāshi people . . .
8 Janamejaya said:
Best of brahmins, supreme knower of the Veda. In what region was the splendid King Rukmin born, and in whose lineage?
9 Vaishampāyana said:
A Yādava royal seer* had a son named Vidarbha, who settled the Vidarbhans on the southern side of the Vindhya mountains. 10 His sons—Kratha, Kaishika, and so forth—were strong and virile kings who founded separate lineages, 11 your majesty. The Vrishnis were born in Bhīma’s lineage, Amshumat was in Kratha’s lineage, and Bhīshmaka was in Kaishika’s lineage. 12 Bhīshmaka was the king of the southerners, and the people called him Hiranyaloman the Golden-Haired. Residing at Kundina, that king ruled over the region that Agastya had looked after.† He had a son, Rukmin. And, your majesty, he had Rukminī.
13 Mighty Rukmin obtained celestial missiles from Druma,‡ and he also obtained the Brāhma missile from Rāma Jāmadagnya. He always vied with Krishna, whose feats were amazing. 14 As for Rukminī, your majesty, there was no one on earth as beautiful as her. Glorious Vāsudeva fell in love with her just from hearing about her, 15 and she fell in love with Janārdana just from hearing about him. With his strength, his manliness, and his brilliance, she thought he should be her husband. 16 But when Krishna had made enquiries about her, mighty Rukmin hadn’t given her to him, because he disliked him and thought of him as Kamsa’s underling. 17 Then King Jarāsandha, the ruler of the earth, asked the fearfully valiant Bhīshmaka for her on behalf of Shishupāla Sunītha of Chedi.
18 Well, Brihadratha was a son of Vasu, the king of Chedi who built the town of Girivraja among the Magadhan people long ago,*19 and so the mighty Jarāsandha was born a descendant of Vasu, while Damaghosha was the king of Chedi in that same Vasu’s direct lineage. 20 Then Damaghosha had five fearfully valiant sons born from Vasudeva’s sister Shrutashravā, 21 and they were potent and powerful heroes versed in every missile: Shishupāla, Dashagrīva, Raibhya, Upadisha, and Balin. 22 Damaghosha gave away his son Shishupāla Sunītha to Jarāsandha, his relative from the same lineage. Jarāsandha looked upon him as his own son and looked after him, 23 and after he’d fallen in behind mighty Jarāsandha the enemy of the Vrishnis, the Chedi man, trying to please him, made mischief against the Vrishnis. 24 For after his son-in-law Kamsa had been killed in a fight, there was enmity between Jarāsandha and the Vrishnis on account of Krishna.
25 So now Jarāsandha asked Bhīshmaka for Rukminī on behalf of Shishupāla Sunītha, and the potent Bhīshmaka agreed to give her away to Shishupāla. 26–27 Hence King Jarāsandha, the mighty emperor over the Angas, the Vangas, and the Kalingans, took the Chedi man with him and travelled to the Vidarbha country, accompanied on the journey by Dantavaktra, and followed by the learned Vāsudeva Paundra. 28 In order to show his respect for them, Rukmin came out to meet the kings, and after they’d received the highest honours he led them towards the town.
29 For the pleasure of their father’s sister,† Rāma and Krishna both went there too, and so did other Vrishnis, on chariots, together with reinforcements. 30 The lord of the Krathas and Kaishikas received them in the proper fashion and honoured those who deserved honours, and then they set up camp outside the town.
31 On the day before the wedding, Rukminī came out of the town on a four-horse chariot, to visit the temple of Indra. She was beautiful. 32 Her auspicious premarital rituals had been performed, and now, looking radiant and surrounded by a sizeable army of guards, she was going to pay her respects to Indra’s wife. 33 That’s when Krishna saw her.
She was standing by the temple, looking absolutely magnificent. She was like Lakshmī in bodily form, 34 she was like a blazing plume of fire, she was like a magical apparition upon the earth, she was like the earth’s depths risen up out of its surface, 35 she was like soft moonlight on earth in the body of a woman, she was like the supreme goddess Lakshmī without her lotus. And though even the gods couldn’t have looked at her without hurting their eyes, Krishna saw her in his mind as his future partner in glory.
36 She was dark, and she was perfect. Her eyes were large, long, and lovely, her lips and the corners of her eyes were red, and her breasts and buttocks were large and round. 37 She was tall, slender, and luscious in every feature, with a face like the moon, long red nails, superb eyebrows, and curly black hair, set off by sparkling teeth that were sharp, white, and even. 38 A woman unparalleled in the world for her figure, her beauty, and her grace, Rukminī was a goddess embodied, dressed in white linen.
39 When he saw her looking so magnificent, Krishna’s desire grew like the flames do when fat’s poured onto a fire, and he set his mind on her. 40 Mighty Keshava consulted with Rāma, took the Vrishnis’ interests into consideration, and made up his mind to drag her off. 41 So when she’d done her duty to the deity and was walking out of the temple, Krishna suddenly plucked her up and put her onto his own superb chariot.
42 As for Rāma, he pulled up a tree and battered the enemies as they rushed towards him. Then the Dāshārhas all around noticed what was happening and armed themselves for battle. 43 They surrounded Halāyudha with various kinds of chariot, great standards raised, and with horses and elephants.
44 Krishna the hero took Rukminī and headed towards his own city at great speed, leaving the hard work to Rāma and Yuyudhāna. 45–48 Leaving the serious hard work to Akrūra, Viprithu, Gada, and Kritavarman, and to Chakradeva who was born under good stars, and to mighty Sārana and brave Nivrittashatru, and Bhangakāra and Vidūratha, and Ugrasena’s son Kanka, and to Shatadyumna, Rājādhideva, Mridura, Prasena, Chitraka, Atidānta, Brihaddurga, Shvaphalka, Chitraka, Prithu, and the other leading Vrishnis and Andhakas, Keshava Madhusūdana headed off towards Dvāravatī.
49 Dantavaktra, Jarāsandha, and bold Shishupāla came out from the town, armed and angry, with the intention of killing Janārdana. 50 The bold king of Chedi came out with the Angas, the Vangas, the Kalingans, and the Paundras, and with his brothers, who were brilliant warriors. 51 The great Vrishni warrior-heroes stood side by side and confronted them, taking their lead from Sankarshana just as the Maruts take theirs from Vāsava.
52 As mighty Jarāsandha came hurtling towards him, Yuyudhāna hit him with six iron arrows. As the great battle ra
ged, 53 Akrūra hit Dantavaktra of the Kārūshas with nine arrows, and Dantavaktra hit him back with ten swift arrows.
54 Viprithu struck Shishupāla with seven shafts, and glorious Shishupāla struck him with eight in return. 55 Gaveshana wounded the Chedi man as well, with six arrows, and so did Atidānta, with eight, and Brihaddurga, with five. 56 The Chedi man wounded them back with five arrows each, and with four more arrows he killed Viprithu’s four horses. 57 Then the foe-slaying Shishupāla cut off Brihaddurga’s head using a bear-headed arrow, and dispatched Gaveshana’s charioteer to the domain of Yama as well.
58 Viprithu was strong and brave, and he quickly abandoned his horseless chariot and mounted onto Brihaddurga’s vacant chariot. 59 In addition, Viprithu’s driver mounted onto Gaveshana’s swift chariot and took control of its swift horses. 60 Then, with bows in their hands and well-stocked quivers, those angry men drenched Shishupāla Sunītha with a downpour of arrows as he danced around in the chariot tracks.
61 Chakradeva split Dantavaktra’s chest open with a barbed arrow, and wounded Patusha with twenty-five arrows in the battle. 62 In return the two of them struck him with ten sharp shafts that cut him to the quick. Then Balin pierced Chakradeva with ten arrows as well, 63 and he also hit Vidūratha from close range with five. Vidūratha hit him back with six sharp shafts in battle, 64 but then mighty Balin hit him with thirty shafts in return.
In the mêlée Kritavarman cut the Paundra prince with three arrows, 65 and killed his driver, and felled his lofty standard. The furious Paundra hit him back with six stone-tipped arrows, 66 and split his bow with a long-knotted bear-headed arrow.
Nivrittashatru hit the king of Kalinga with sharp shafts, and the king of Kalinga wounded him in the shoulder with a javelin. 67 Brave Kanka, on an elephant, challenged the king of Anga’s elephant. Kanka injured the king of Anga with a javelin, and the king of Anga injured him with arrows. 68 Then Chitraka, Shvaphalka, and the great warrior Satyaka assailed the Kalingan army with sharp iron arrows.
69 Fighting furiously with his uprooted tree, Rāma killed the king of Vanga’s elephant in battle, and then the king of Vanga himself. 70 After killing him, heroic Sankarshana climbed onto a chariot, grabbed a bow, and killed lots of Kaishikas with vicious iron arrows. 71 In his fury the great warrior used six iron arrows to hew down the great Kārūsha archers, and then he killed a hundred Magadhans, and then, after killing them, the strong-armed hero headed for Jarāsandha. 72 As he charged forwards the Magadhan hit him with three iron arrows, and so Rāma the club-fighter, irritated, hit him with eight iron arrows and used a bear-headed arrow to fell his jewel-encrusted standard.
73 The battle was terrible, like the battle between the gods and the demons, as all these warriors discharged their downpours of arrows and caused each other harm. 74 Thousands of angry elephants clashed with elephants, chariots grappled with chariots, cavalry with cavalry, 75 and foot-soldiers with spears, shields, and swords in their hands grappled with other foot-soldiers. They all cavorted around in battle in their own way, cutting off each other’s heads. 76 There was the din of swords being smashed onto armour, the swish of the flying arrows sounded like the swish of flying birds, 77 and as the battle raged the racket of the weapons and the twanging of the noblemen’s bows drowned out the sound of the kettledrums, conch shells, mridangas, and flutes.
88. Rukminı̄’s Wedding
1 Vaishampāyana said:
Rukmin was furious to hear that Krishna was abducting Rukminī, and he made a vow in Bhīshmaka’s presence. He said: 2 I’ll never again enter Kundina until I’ve killed Govinda in battle and brought back Rukminī. I’m telling you the truth.*
3 Climbing onto a chariot that had a large stock of weapons and a tall standard, the raging hero set off at high speed, flanked by a large army. 4 The kings who lived in the south followed him: Kratha’s descendant Amshumat, Shrutarvan, and brave Venudāri. 5 When he was on his chariot Bhīshmaka’s son Rukmin was a superb chariot-warrior, and all the principal Krathas and Kaishikas were great warriors too.
6 After following the River Narmadā for a considerable distance, the angry men caught sight of Govinda, who was right next to his dear lady. 7 Rukmin was proud of his own strength and wanted to have a duel of just two chariots, so he made the army stop and headed towards Madhusūdana on his own. 8 In that duel he hit Govinda with sixty-four sharp shafts, but Janārdana hit him back with seventy arrows. 9 Then Krishna the mighty hero felled his assailant’s standard and severed his charioteer’s head from his body.
10 When they realised that Rukmin was in trouble, every last one of the southern kings surrounded Janārdana and tried to kill him. 11 Strong-armed Amshumat hit him with ten arrows, furious Shrutarvan hit him with five, and Venudāri hit him with seven. 12 Then brave Govinda wounded Amshumat in the chest, and the king collapsed in pain on the floor of his chariot. 13 Govinda killed Shrutarvan’s four horses with four arrows, felled Venudāri’s standard, pierced through Venudāri’s right arm, 14 and hit Shrutarvan with five arrows as well. Shrutarvan tottered, leaned on the pole of his standard, and then collapsed, racked with pain.
15 Then the principal Krathas and Kaishikas came at Vāsudeva from all sides in a phalanx of chariots, raining torrents of arrows. 16 Janārdana cut down their arrows with his own arrows in battle—he furiously knocked their shafts down as they were flying towards him. 17 In addition the powerful man thudded sixty-four sharp shafts into the other angry heroes who were charging at him, and charged at them.
18 When he saw his own army put to flight, Rukmin was overpowered by rage. He hit Keshava in the chest with five sharp arrows, 19 injured his charioteer with three sharp shafts, and smashed his standard with a flat-jointed arrow. 20 Now Keshava too was enraged, and he slammed sixty arrows into him, and then split Rukmin’s bow as he was bending it. 21 But brave Rukmin grabbed another bow, and in his desire to kill Krishna he revealed his blazing celestial missiles.
22 Mighty Krishna warded off Rukmin’s missiles with missiles of his own, and then he split Rukmin’s bow again, and with three arrows he also split the pole of his chariot. 23 His bows in splinters, his chariot gone, Rukmin grabbed a sword and shield, and as brave as brave Garuda, he flew up from the chariot. 24 But as he flew forwards into battle, angry Keshava broke his sword, and then hit him in the chest with three iron arrows.
25 The strong-armed king fell to the ground with a crash, unconscious and insensible, like a mountain hit by a thunderbolt. 26 Then Keshava hammered all the kings with arrows once again. When they saw that Rukmin had been felled, the kings ran away.
27 Rukminī saw her brother writhing on the ground and fell at her master’s feet, hoping to save her brother’s life. 28 Keshava stood her up, hugged her, and comforted her. Then, after promising that Rukmin had nothing further to fear from him, he travelled on to his own city. 29 And after they’d kept Jarāsandha and the kings at bay, the Vrishnis travelled back to Dvārakā too, in high spirits, with Halāyudha at their head.
30 After lotus-eyed Krishna had departed, Shrutarvan came back to the battlefield, hoisted Rukmin onto a chariot, and took him back to his home town. 31 But Rukmin was full of pride in his own manliness, and having failed to bring back his sister, he didn’t want to break his vow by entering the town of Kundina. 32 In order to remain living among the Vidarbhans he built another large town, which became famous across the earth by the name of Bhojakata. 33 The majestic man governed the southern country powerfully from there, and broad-minded King Bhīshmaka remained in Kundina.
34 After Rāma and the Vrishni army had arrived back in Dvārakā, Lord Keshava took Rukminī’s hand in marriage in the proper fashion. 35 Then, as Rāma did with Sītā long ago, and as Indra the smasher of citadels does with Shachī Paulomī, he made love with his darling, and she loved it.
36 She was Krishna’s first wife, a beautiful woman devoted to her husband. She was endowed with good qualities, possessing qualities of form and qualities of character. 37 He had ten sons from her, and they were g
reat warriors: Chārudeshna, Sudeshna, mighty Pradyumna, 38 Sushena, Chārugupta, brave Chārubāhu, Chāruvinda, Suchāru, Bhadrachāru, 39 and Chāru the Lovely, the strongest of the strong. There was also a daughter, Chārumatī. The sons were wise about propriety and profit, knowledgeable about missiles, and fierce in battle.
40 After that, strong-armed Madhusūdana married seven other women, all of them beautiful, endowed with good qualities, and born in good families: 41 Kālindī Mitravindā, Nagnajit’s daughter Satyā, Jāmbavat’s tall daughter who could change form at will,*42 the daughter of the king of the Madras with her good manners and beautiful eyes, Satrājit’s daughter Satyabhāmā, sweet-smiling Lakshmanā, and Sudattā of the Shibis, who had the grace and beauty of a celestial nymph.
43 Hrishīkesha, whose powers were unparalleled, also married sixteen thousand other women, and he made love with them all in equal measure. Their jewellery and clothes were of the highest quality, and they were blessed with everything they might desire. 44 They bore him thousands of strong sons, all of whom were great and mighty warriors versed in every missile, virtuous sacrificial patrons, and powerful, momentous men.
89. The Killing of Rukmin
1 Vaishampāyana said:
Quite some time later, bold Rukmin, the conqueror of his foes, held a bridegroom-choice festival for his daughter. 2 Rukmin invited all the kings and their sons, and mighty and majestic men came there from various countries. 3 Pradyumna went there too, in a group with other youngsters, and the young lady fell in love with him, and he fell in love with her too, with her bright eyes.
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