Harivamsha 89

Vaiśaṃpāyana said: / Then, after much time had passed, powerful Rukmin, tamer of foes, / arranged the bridegroom-choice of his daughter.

The kings and princes invited there by Rukmin, / endowed with glory and of great valor, arrived from various directions.

Pradyumna went there, accompanied by other young princes; / for that maiden desired him, and he desired that fair-eyed one.

Rukmin's daughter was known on earth as Śubhāṅgī, princess of Vidarbha, / endowed with charm and splendor.

When all the great-souled kings were seated, / the princess of Vidarbha chose Pradyumna, slayer of enemies.

For he was skilled in all weapons, had a lion-like build, was youthful, / and peerless in the world in beauty—the son of Keśava.

And that princess was endowed with youth, beauty, and virtues, / devoted to Nārāyaṇa, [surrounded by] an army brilliant as the moon, and full of desire for him.

When the bridegroom-choice was concluded, those kings went to their own cities; / and Pradyumna, taking the princess of Vidarbha, went to Dvārakā.

The hero delighted with her, just as Nala with Damayantī.

Upon her he fathered a son resembling the offspring of a god, / renowned as Aniruddha, peerless on earth in deed, / well-versed in the science of archery, the Veda, and the science of statecraft.

When Aniruddha came of age, O king, / Rukmiṇī chose as a wife for him Rukmin's granddaughter, / radiant as gold, Rukmavatī by name.

The king, having resolved to give [her] to Aniruddha because of his virtues, / out of affection for the son of Rukmiṇī, and also out of deference to Rukmiṇī,

abandoned that hostility though competing with Kṛṣṇa, / and, delighted, said: "I give [her]," O Janamejaya.

Keśava, with Rukmiṇī, his sons, and Saṃkarṣaṇa, / along with the other Vṛṣṇis, went with an army to Vidarbha.

The assembled kinsmen and friends of Rukmin, / those lords of men whom Rukmin had invited, also arrived there.

On an auspicious lunar day and under a revered lunar mansion, O great king, / a supreme festival took place for Aniruddha's marriage.

When the hand of the Vidarbha princess was taken by Aniruddha, O Bhārata, / there was supreme celebration among the Vidarbhas and Yādavas; / honored like immortals, the Vṛṣṇis rejoiced there.

Then the noble-minded ruler of the Aśmakas, Veṇudāri, / Akṣa, Śrutarvan, Cāṇūra, Krātha, and Aṃśumat,

Jayatsena, the mighty lord of the Kaliṅgas, / the glorious King Pāṇḍya, and the lord of the Ṛṣīkas—

these southern kings of great prosperity, having conferred together, / all approached the lord Rukmin in secret and said:

"You are skilled in dice, and we too wish to play; / and this Rāma is fond of gambling, though unskilled at dice.

Placing you in front, we wish to defeat him." / Addressed thus, the great chariot-warrior Rukmin approved the game of dice.

Delighted, they entered the splendid hall with golden pillars, / its courtyard adorned with flowers, sprinkled with sandalwood water.

Having entered it, all wearing white garlands and ointments, / eager for victory, they took their places on golden seats.

Challenged by the gamblers skilled in dice, Baladeva, / delighted, said: "Very well! Let us play together; let the stake be set!"

Wishing to defeat him by deceit, the southern lords of men / brought jewels, pearls, and gold there by the thousands.

Then began the dice game, an end to their boredom, / a dread ground for quarrel, bringing ruin to the foolish.

First, at the throw of dice with Rukmin, / Baladeva laid down a stake of ten thousand niṣkas of gold.

Then Rukmin defeated that striving, great chariot-warrior; / and in that very way, he defeated Baladeva once again.

Repeatedly being defeated by Rukmin, the elder brother of Keśava / laid down a stake of ten million gold coins with that great-souled one.

Delighted, Rukmin said to him: "It is won!" / Boasting and laughing, he mocked the mace-wielding hero:

"Unskilled, weak, and prosperous, with boundless gold, / this invincible Baladeva has been defeated by me at dice!"

Hearing that, the king of Kaliṅga laughed loudly at that time; / showing his teeth, delighted, he enraged the plow-armed hero.

Hearing Rukmin's words born of defeat, / provoked with sharp words by Bhīṣmaka's son, / though he had conquered anger and knew dharma, he gave way to rage.

Outraged at having suffered insult, the mighty son of Rohiṇī, / restraining his mind with firmness, then spoke these words:

"A hundred million is my other stake; / accept this, O lord of men, and cast the dice— / the black dice and red dice—on this dustless ground!"

In this way the son of Rohiṇī challenged Rukmin; / without speaking a word, [Rukmin] said once again, "Very well!"

Delighted, King Rukmin then threw the dice; / but when the four-dice throw was finished, that lord of men was defeated

by Baladeva according to the rules. Then Rukmin said to Bala: "No!" / Restraining his mind with firmness, [Bala] said nothing at all: / "Let these kings who speak the truth here say [who won]." / Then Rukmin, smiling, [said] to Baladeva: "It was won by me!"

Hearing that crooked statement from the lord of men, / Baladeva, overwhelmed with rage once again, uttered no reply.

Then a bodiless voice with a deep resonance spoke, / increasing the anger of the great-souled Baladeva: / "The glorious Bala speaks the truth; this one is defeated according to rule.

Without uttering any word, [the stake] is won by the action; / it should be understood that what is agreed in the mind holds valid."

Hearing those true and well-spoken words from the sky,
the mighty Saṃkarṣaṇa then stood up with a golden die.
Disregarding that [voice], the king of Vidarbha, egged on by the wicked kings,
laughing at Saṃkarṣaṇa, spoke, urged on by fate:
'You cowherds roaming the forest know nothing of dice!
Kings play with dice and with arrows, not people like you.'
Thus insulted by Rukmin and mocked by the kings,
he crushed Rukmiṇī's eldest brother to the ground.

Enraged in the dispute, Rāma, the bull of the Yadus,
forcibly struck down the abusive, cruel-speaking slanderer with that very dice board.

Then stepping forth in fury, he also smashed the teeth
of the king of Kaliṅga in his wrath and roared like a lion;
and raising his sword, he terrified those rulers of the earth.

The plow-bearer paced about like a lion in the midst of the arena.

Uprooting a golden pillar of the assembly hall, the best of the strong,
Saṃkarṣaṇa, dragging that pillar like a lordly elephant,
quickly slew the Krathakaiśikas standing there with it;
and he went out of the door of the hall, terrifying the Krathakaiśikas.

Seizing Rukmin by the hair, he dragged him again and again.

Taking him from the doorway of the assembly hall, he hurled him the distance of an arrow-shot.

Having slain Rukmin of treacherous mind, that bull of the Yadavas,
terrifying all his enemies like a lion [scatters] small deer,

Rāma went to his own camp surrounded by his kinsmen,
and reported everything to Kṛṣṇa just as it had happened.

Kṛṣṇa then said nothing to Rāma of great splendor.
Then Rukmiṇī, hearing that her dear brother had been slain,
restraining herself, shed tears out of grief.

He who was not slain before by Vāsudeva, the slayer of enemy heroes,
Rukmiṇī's eldest brother, out of affection for Rukmiṇī—
that mighty king, like the wielder of the thunderbolt,
was struck down in the gambling circle by the dice board thrown by Rāma's hand.

When that great commander and king, the son of Bhīṣmaka,
equal to Druma and Bhārgava, trained by Druma and Bhārgava,

accomplished, skilled in war, a performer of regular sacrifices, was struck down,
the Vṛṣṇis and the Andhakas all became downcast in mind.

Vaiśaṃpāyana said:
And the fortunate Rukmiṇī wailed in an agonized voice.

Seeing her thus wailing, Keśava consoled her.

All this has been told to you: how Rukmin met his end
and how hostility arose with the Vṛṣṇis, O bull of the Bharatas.

The Vṛṣṇis also, O great king, taking all their wealth,
went to the city of Dvāravatī, under the protection of Rāma and Kṛṣṇa.