“The princess-bride herself will soon be here to get the blessings of the goddess. After offering my blessings to her I will go to the city to receive the royal gift.” The priest answered with a smile.
Looking at the pearl necklace in his hands I whispered, “This is my gift to you.”
The entire city had gathered at the wedding hall. Only a few people were left in the temple. I strolled around the temple to take a look at the place that was going to be a memorable part of my life. Descending the steps, I returned to my chariot and sat leisurely in my seat. I was lost in my thoughts. Within a few moments, the rhythmic galloping sound of many horses was heard. Following that a cacophony of musical instruments blended into it. I became cautious and stood up. Soon armed horse riders surrounded the temple. It was the cavalry for the protection of the princess. Following them many bearded hermits and anchorites clad in saffron and white clothes arrived, clacking their wooden slippers on the floor. They were intoning Vedic hymns, blowing their conches in between. Climbing the steps, they entered straight into the temple. Behind them was a bevy of bridesmaids. They carried platters of fruits, garlands, ornaments, garments, and other materials needed for the worship of the goddess. After them the royal women relatives of the bride, dressed in rich, vibrant costumes alighted from various chariots. Behind them were grand, embellished chariots of the bride’s five brothers. At the very end was the grand, embellished tallest royal chariot of Rukmini, the princes-bride. The white pennant of the Bhoja dynasty fluttered atop the chariot.
Headed by a bevy of maids that carried the platters of charity the royal ladies entered the temple while chattering. The five princes began climbing the temple steps with the commander and a few armed escorts. They entered the temple. Now they were out of sight. The Maharaja and Maharani remained behind to perform some rituals. In the end, from the grand, embellished chariot the bride – adorned with jewellery – alighted from the chariot and put her feet, decorated with henna designs and bearing anklets, on the ground.
The indistinct sight of her feet from a distance stirred an irrepressible unknown emotion in my heart. The waves of the Sudarshan mantras sprang up from deep down in the recesses of my mind. Automatically my hand moved towards the Paanchajanya conch in my scarf. Instantly putting it to my lips I blew the large, white conch from the bottom of my core with passion.
When she heard its novel sound, she was baffled, and stopped in her place momentarily. She quickly flung back the dupatta that covered her face and stared in the direction of Garudadhwaja chariot. She was like a fully blossomed lotus in the moonlight! That is how her face looked – vibrant and blooming with youth. When she saw the Garudadhwaja pennant fluttering on the golden flagpole of my chariot, her face lit up with a tide of joy. The next moment she smiled and pulled the dupatta back on her face, and started walking towards the Ambika temple, firmly and fearlessly.
My job was done. She had received my signal.
Within moments the rituals of worship began in the Ambika temple. Innumerable bell sounds resonated in the surroundings; sounds of conches blown by the sages blended with them. For almost about half an hour all rituals inside were performed with the intonation of the mantras. First the platters of charity touched by the bride’s hand came out and started being distributed. Goddess Ambika blessed the princess bride Rukmini from the bottom of her heart. I had already received her blessings.
Now the groups of bearded sages and anchorites clad in saffron and white garments came out of the temple. No one realized that the bridal procession had not come out of the temple in the same sequence it had entered. Sushil had done his job perfectly, according to my instructions. Breaking the sequence of the procession, the princess herself came out adorned in bridal attire, only with a few maid servants by her side. Her eyes were searching for only one thing – the golden pole with the Garuda pennant. Meanwhile I had turned my chariot around and pulled it right in front of the temple steps.
She came! Like a moving sculpture in marble, delicately climbing down the white steps of the temple brightened in the sunlight! Like an autumn dawn, fresh with the fragrance of Prajkta flowers! Like a streak of lightning in the gray clouds at the beginning of Aashadha. The moment she came in front of my chariot she flung off her dupatta. Our eyes met for the first time! Time stood still! In silence, our eyes spoke volumes with each other. I smiled to myself as a humorous thought occurred to me, even at that moment, ‘There is one more Vani beyond Vaikhari, Madhyama, Pashyanti and Para, Gurudeva Sandipani – the silent speech of Love – Premavani!’ The next moment her big, bright, dark black eyes fell on the peacock feather in my crown. For a moment, they were glued to the inviting iridescent colours. But in an instant, she blushed demurely. For a moment, her eyes met mine, recognizing our eternal love for each other. Again, her face was swept by unique royal modesty. Then her beautiful fish-shaped eyes moved from the Vaijayanti garland resting on my chest and settled on my feet. Only a few select people had given me the feeling of such closeness, as if they were a part of my body. I felt the same about her. Yes, she was the most important organ of my body – the heart!
The crimson-fair, elegant, tall, comely Kshatriya lady standing in front of me was overly stirred when she saw me. The tears that she had restrained so far began streaming down her face. She surged forward and put her fair, exhausted head on my golden striped royal sandals and whispered, “Achyuta, Madhava, how long did I have to wait for you? Take me away, far away from here, never to return – don’t waste a moment now.” Holding her crimson-fair hand in my robust, strong bluish hand, I promptly pulled her gently in the back of the chariot. Then descending from the back of the chariot, in a single leap I took the seat of the charioteer. Pulling the reins of the four horses of my chariot I signalled them to run, ‘Megha…, Bala…, Shaibya…, Sugriva…. go!’ Raising their front hooves high in the air all horses neighed together loudly, indicating that they had understood and sprinted ahead immediately. Just then many of the sages who had come out showered flowers on us and raised their rosary-holding hands, to offer blessings. Many of them blew their conches with sky-piercing sounds. All of them had already recognized the ‘Garudadhwaja’ pennant of my chariot correctly. Deflating the ego of the Aandhrabhrutyas, my Yadava chariot sprinted across abducting beloved Rukmini, with Goddess Ambika as our witness and which was as per the practice allowed by Kshatriyas.
As per her wish I had officially abducted Rukmini, a widely-accepted practice that Kshatriyas considered honourable.
I brought the chariot near the northern boundary of Kundinpura. Uddhava and Daruka were already waiting there for me. Balaramadada had just arrived from Dwaraka, along with the army and was resting in his pavilion. I descended from the chariot and Daruka took his place as charioteer. I climbed in the back of the chariot along with Uddhava. We left in the direction of the Dandakaranya. Dada was supposed to stay behind to keep the other kings at bay and defeat them. I had the mammoth cavalry – ours combined with the southern Yadava cavalry – with me.
There in Kundinpura total bedlam had erupted. Prince Rukmi, boiling with anger was not going to sit quiet after this. We travelled faster and arrived near the Dakshinapath of Dandakaranya along with the chariot. Now the question was what to do with the chariot, as it was not possible to enter Dandakaranya along with it. It was not even possible to return the chariot to King Krathakaishika. Daruka and Uddhava were pondering over the situation, when I offered a solution to them. The chariot should be offered to the Vanavasi king in the vicinity. In return we should ask for some honey, long-lasting wild fruits and some holy, medicinal herbs. Rukmini was the only lady among the Yadavas at the time, so we should also ask for an enclosed palanquin and a few female attendants to accompany her on the way. Also, impose the condition to fight against Rukmi who was chasing us, to keep him at bay as much as possible.
A troop leader met the Vanavasi king on our behalf and got all our conditions approved. We crossed Dandakaranya as quickly as possible. Our cavalry arrived
near the city of Avanti along with the Vidarbha princess sitting in the palanquin guarded by armed soldiers. A few royal chariots and select elephant troops coming from Dwaraka to welcome us met us here. Aacharya Sandipani was in Dwaraka now with his family. But our Ankapada aashrama, well looked after by his successors, was in the vicinity near the banks of the Kshipra. It had become much more active now and had prospered a lot. Uddhava proudly shared this information with his vahini. After listening to that, Rukmini implored me to let her visit the aashrama at least once. I caved in and with Uddhava and a few armed soldiers I sent her to visit the aashrama along with a few royal gifts.
On the border of Avanti, near the banks of the Kshipra we awaited Rukmini and Uddhava. It took them two days to come back. The aashrama disciples had welcomed them with great joy and urged them to stay overnight. They returned in the afternoon the next day. We were getting ready to move towards Dwaraka. Just then a cacophony of war drums was heard from the south side of Avanti. Suddenly within moments our camp was surrounded by horse riders. It was Rukmi! His face was red with anger. He was fuming with rage over the abduction of his sister.
Barely halting his robust, sturdy horse he alighted from it directly next to my chariot. In a moment, he tucked his dhoti tightly and got ready. He indignantly pulled his massive club from the leather case hanging on the horse’s back and directly charged upon me.
Raising his thick eyebrows and dilating his eyes he roared in an emphatic voice, “You, runaway cowherd! You, fiendish thief! You abducted my dear sister Rukmini, the grace of the Bhoja dynasty in front of everybody. I dare you to fight a duel right now. Better accept my challenge if you don’t want to see bloodshed on both sides. If you think yourself to be gallant enough, accept this challenge. If you want to take away my sister it will have to be over my dead body. Or else I guarantee you that I will kill you myself in the duel! I will certainly take her back to Kundinpura, to get married to Shishupala whom we have chosen as her groom. I have taken a vow that if I don’t fulfil my promise I will not set my foot on the grounds of Kundinpura again! You coward, get down if you have any courage in you.” Swirling the massive club around himself, shouting in the name of the goddess – Victory to Goddess Ambika – he gyrated and took a stance to fight with me.
It was mandatory that I accept the challenge of the duel now. As a Kshatriya, I had acted in line with one tradition – that of the abduction of the bride. Now I had to comply with this norm too – to accept the challenge of the duel. I also tucked my yellow dhoti tightly in a moment, patted my upper arms, and prayed in memory of Kelinandakaka. Lifting my huge ‘Kaumodaki’ mace from the back of the chariot and roaring the war call of victory to the Yadava Goddess Ida, I leaped out of the chariot. Rukmini tried to stop me, but only the shawl on my shoulders remained in her hand. I also brandished my club to accept the challenge.
Our maces collided with each other instantaneously in the meadows on the borders of Avanti. A crashing sound exploded and fiery sparks flew around. A deadly duel commenced. Warriors on both sides became spectators, holding their breaths,
their mouths agape. Keeping an eye on his foot movements
I was anticipating each and every move of Rukmi and the direction of his next strike. I was blocking his strikes accurately, and dodging his deadly attacks by scanning the muscle movement of his chest and thighs. Both of us were perspiring profusely, drenched in blood streams all over our bodies due to the hard blows of maces by the rival. The hand grips of both our maces got twisted ultimately, and so we had to cease the mace duel. Throwing a contemptuous glance at Rukmini in the chariot Rukmi dropped his mace on the ground. I also threw mine.
He pulled his shining wide-bladed sword out of the hilt tied to his waist in rage and challenged me to a sword fight. I had nothing in my hands. Nimbly leaping towards my chariot, I caught my Nandaka sword that Daruka promptly threw towards me.
We began fighting swiftly slamming our swords against each other. At times, we tried to strike each other through the air aiming towards the neck and at times we blocked each other’s strikes coming from down below in the direction of the calves. After all, Rukmi was a master sword fighter. For about half an hour our blood-tingling sword fight continued, destroying the grass under our feet. Both of us were quite wounded and blood-soaked by now. We both looked like the Palash tree in the summer – dreadful and blood red; fully engrossed in the challenging duel we had completely forgotten about our surroundings. The Vaijayanti garland around my neck was drenched in blood. A few blood drops had splattered on the peacock feather atop my head. My silk dhoti was wet with blood and sweat, and had stuck to my body at places. But the duel was still inconclusive.
Ultimately, I struck a firm blow right at the centre of Rukmi’s sword breaking it into two pieces. He got terrified now. He knew too well what could be the outcome of a duel. Barely blocking my blows with his broken sword, he began retreating one step at a time towards my chariot. His sharp tongue that had been berating me outright in front of the warriors on both sides just a short while ago, got stuck in his throat now out of fear for his life. In a trice, his sweaty red face turned black with the fear of death.
With firm resolve I picked up my sword to strike the last blow to decapitate him, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t bring it down! It was Rukmini! Standing in my chariot she had held my sword’s blade tightly in her hands, like her life depended on it. Her palms had already started bleeding. She did not utter a single word, but her eyes spoke volumes, ‘Oh my dear Lord, are you going to take me to Dwaraka as your bride, after killing my brother? He has made a mistake. Are you also going to make another mistake of not sparing his life?’ The deep, yearning compassion in her eyes touched my heart deeply; I caved in.
Slowly, I took my sword down. I could never forget that look of compassion in Rukmini’s eyes, for the rest of my life. I composed myself, got in the chariot and instructed Daruka while wiping my sweaty forehead with the end of the yellow ‘dhoti’. “Put some medicinal herb extract on her wounded palms. First take the chariot to the banks of Kshipra. We will leave for Dwaraka only after taking a clean bath.” Meanwhile Balaramadada had defeated all the kings who had engaged in a war with him in Kundinpura and joined us with his army. Defeated Rukmi, who had been spared by me, went back fretting and fuming from the borders of Avanti. The joyous populace of Avanti named the place of our duel ‘Gopalapur’!
Along with Rukmini we all arrived at the shores of Kushasthali and dispatched a messenger to Dwaraka with the news of our arrival. Within a single day the entire city was decorated. The buildings were decorated with lamps. Arches embellished with flower garlands were raised. Minister Vipruthu welcomed us along with baba, both matas and a mammoth crowd of the Yadavas.
Gargamuni and Aacharya Sandipani soon decided upon an auspicious day for our wedding. On that day in a spectacular ceremony my wedding to Rukmini – the daughter of Vidarbha – took place in front of all Yadavas.
It was the most memorable event for the populace of Dwaraka, after baba’s grand coronation ceremony. This time too we received countless gifts from our friends and relatives. The treasury of Dwaraka was flooded with those riches. Rukmini literally proved to be ‘Lakshmi’, the goddess of wealth, for the Yadavas of Dwaraka.
A few days passed by. The Queens’ mansions on the twin island were yet to be inhabited. Therefore, along with her maids and friends, Rukmini lived in the royal palace, in my chamber connected to the golden staircase. The first time while she was climbing the shining staircase along with me, she paused and questioned, “So many steps on the staircase! Why?”
She possessed an unequalled intellect to go with her matchless beauty. I had already realized it when our eyes met for the first time. I had to give her a convincing answer. I smiled and said, “Life itself is a staircase, dear. We keep climbing it without stopping, without resting. Take it as a symbol of that. You may consider these steps similar to the flight of stairs which are there for resting along the banks of rivers li
ke Ganga and Yamuna. What do you think?” She did not say anything at that time.
Today I wanted to surprise her with a beautiful gift. Climbing the stairs, I arrived in the lobby of the resting chamber. As per my instructions the palace attendants had already brought and arranged wicker baskets in a line along a wall. They were covered with round wicker lids. The maid scurried inside to announce my arrival to Rukmini. I took a seat on a golden chair and waited for Rukmini.
In a moment, I could hear a very delicate tinkling sound
of the golden anklets, which could be heard only if you strained your ears. Followed by that, the pleasant perfume of sandalwood paste wafted in the air floating on the ocean winds of Dwaraka. The next moment a ruddy fair foot came out through the
sheer veil in the chamber, and halted for a moment. It wore a golden anklet embellished with tiny golden bells, reminding me of a ripened mango fruit – plump, fresh, pinkish and golden bright! I simply lost myself looking at it. It had a novel freshness today.
In a moment, Rukmini stood in front of me, arranging her thick, black, open hair wrapped in a white cloth. She looked so different, exceptionally beautiful and radiant today. Like a statue of marble! I playfully said to her, “As it is you are good-looking, but today you look exceptionally gorgeous. Your bare feet are looking more beautiful than your face!” She simply smiled demurely.
She was indeed exceptionally brilliant. Ignoring my mischievous comment, she said to me, “Enough of your mischief now! First show me what gift you have brought.”
I went near the wicker baskets while laughing, and picked up one of the lids. It was filled with big pearls to the brim. The Yadava fishermen had taken those out of the shells. Pleased, I picked up a handful of pearls and walking gently came closer to Rukmini. Emptying my palms in to her palms I said, “You are an original beauty. Wear some ornaments made of these pearls; it will enhance your beauty. The lustre of gold and the fragrance of sandalwood will be united then!”
Srikrishna- the Lord of the Universe Page 24