Bhagavatapurana 10.52
English (machine translation) 10.52
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10.52.1
Śrī Śuka said:
Favored in this way by Kṛṣṇa, my dear [king], that son of Ikṣvāku / circumambulated Him, bowed low, and went forth from the mouth of the cave.
10.52.2
Observing that men, animals, creepers, and trees had grown diminutive, / and knowing that the Kali age had arrived, he departed toward the northern direction.
10.52.3
Endowed with asceticism and faith, resolute, free from attachment, free of doubt, / with his mind fixed upon Kṛṣṇa, he entered Gandhamādana.
10.52.4
Having reached the hermitage of Badarī, the abode of Nara and Nārāyaṇa, / enduring all dualities and peaceful, he worshiped Hari through asceticism.
10.52.5
The Lord, having returned to the city surrounded by the Yavanas / and slain the barbarian army, brought their wealth to Dvārakā.
10.52.6
While the wealth was being carried by oxen and by men impelled by Acyuta, / Jarāsandha arrived, leading twenty-three armies.
10.52.7
Beholding the impetuous speed of the enemy host, the two descendants of Madhu / assumed human conduct, O King, and quickly fled.
10.52.8
Abandoning their abundant wealth, fearlessly acting like timid men afraid, / they walked many leagues on their lotus feet.
10.52.9
Seeing the two of them fleeing, the powerful king of Magadha laughed / and pursued them with his chariot divisions, not knowing the measure of the two Lords.
10.52.10
Having run far and seemingly exhausted, they climbed a high mountain / named Pravarṣaṇa, where the Lord [Indra] always pours down rain.
10.52.11
Knowing that they were hiding on the mountain but finding no footprint, O King, / he burned the mountain with firewood, hurling fire all around.
10.52.12
Then, leaping with great speed from the blazing slope / eleven leagues high, both plunged down to the ground.
10.52.13
Unseen by the enemy or his followers, the two best of the Yadus / returned to their own city, which had the ocean as its moat, O King.
10.52.14
He too, falsely believing that Baladeva and Keśava were burned, / withdrew his vast army and returned to Magadha, the Magadhan king.
10.52.15
The glorious Raivata, ruler of Ānarta, instructed by Brahmā, / gave his daughter Revatī to Baladeva, as was told before.
10.52.16
The Lord Govinda also, O best of the Kurus, married / the princess of Vidarbha, daughter of Bhīṣmaka, an incarnation of Śrī, at a bridegroom's choice,
10.52.17
crushing by force Śālva and the other kings who took the side of the king of Cedi, / in full view of all people, just as Garuḍa [carried off] the nectar.
10.52.18
The king said:
It is heard that the Lord married Rukmiṇī, / the daughter of Bhīṣmaka, who had a lovely face, by the Rākṣasa rite.
10.52.19
O lord, I wish to hear how Kṛṣṇa of boundless splendor / carried off the maiden after conquering the king of Magadha, Śālva, and others.
10.52.20
O holy one, the sanctifying, honey-sweet accounts of Kṛṣṇa remove the impurity of the world; / what person who knows what is worth hearing could ever be satiated while listening to them, ever new?
10.52.21
The son of Bādarāyaṇa said:
There was a great king named Bhīṣmaka, the ruler of Vidarbha; / he had five sons and one daughter of fair countenance.
10.52.22
Rukmī was the eldest, then Rukmaratha, Rukmabāhu, / Rukmakeśa, and Rukmamālī; their sister was this virtuous Rukmiṇī.
10.52.23
Hearing of Mukunda’s beauty, prowess, virtues, and opulence / sung by guests who came to the house, she considered Him a suitable husband.
10.52.24
And Kṛṣṇa made up His mind to marry her, / a suitable wife, an abode of intelligence, auspicious marks, nobility, beauty, good character, and virtues.
10.52.25
Though her kinsmen wished to give the sister to Kṛṣṇa, O King, / Rukmī, who hated Kṛṣṇa, forbade them and favored the king of Cedi.
10.52.26
Learning of that, the dark-eyed princess of Vidarbha became deeply dejected; / having reflected, she quickly sent a trusted brāhmaṇa to Kṛṣṇa.
10.52.27
Arriving in Dvārakā and ushered in by the doorkeepers, / he saw the primal Person seated on a golden throne.
10.52.28
Seeing him, the God friendly to brāhmaṇas stepped down from His seat, / seated him, and worshiped him, just as the gods worship Him.
10.52.29
When he had eaten and rested, the refuge of the virtuous approached him, / stroked his feet with His hand, and unhurriedly asked him:
10.52.30
“O best among exalted twice-born, does your dharma, approved by elders, / proceed without excessive hardship, your mind ever content?
10.52.31
When a brāhmaṇa lives content with whatever comes, / not falling away from his dharma, that [dharma] indeed fulfills all his desires.
10.52.32
A discontented person, even if he were the lord of the gods, wanders incessantly through the worlds; / but one who possesses nothing, if content, sleeps free from all fever in every limb.
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I bow my head repeatedly to brāhmaṇas who are satisfied with their own gains, / virtuous, the best friends of all beings, free of egoism, and peaceful.”
10.52.34
Is it well with you, O brāhmaṇa, from your king? / For that king under whose protection the people live happily in his realm is dear to me.
10.52.35
Tell us all—if it is not a secret—from where you have crossed difficult paths to come here out of your own desire. What service may we perform for you?
10.52.36
Thus questioned with inquiries by the Supreme Lord, / who had assumed a body in divine play, the brāhmaṇa recounted everything to Him.
10.52.37
Śrī Rukmiṇī said:
Hearing your qualities, O beauty of all worlds, which, entering through the ear-holes of those who listen, take away bodily torment, / and [hearing of] your form, the fulfillment of all aims for the eyes of seeing beings, my mind, O Acyuta, enters into you without shame.
10.52.38
What noble, high-born girl, steadfast in mind, would not choose you as husband at the proper time, O Mukunda, / who are equal to oneself in family, character, beauty, learning, age, wealth, and brilliance, O lion among men, who delight the hearts of human beings?
10.52.39
Therefore, O Lord, you have indeed been chosen by me as my husband; and as your wife, I have surrendered myself to you. O All-pervading One, take me here! / Let not the king of Cedi touch the portion of the hero from nearby, like a jackal touching the prey of the lion, O lotus-eyed one!
10.52.40
If by wells, sacrifices, gifts, observances, vows, and worship of deities, brāhmaṇas, / and gurus, the Lord, the Supreme Master, has been fully propitiated, let the elder brother of Gada come and take my hand, and not others like the son of Damaghoṣa.
10.52.41
Tomorrow, O Unconquered One, when the marriage is to take place, come secretly to Vidarbha surrounded by your army commanders; / crush the forces of the king of Cedi and the king of Magadha, and carry me off by force according to the rākṣasa rite, paying for me with your valor.
10.52.42
Should you ask, "How shall I carry you off, who wander within the inner apartments, without killing your kinsmen?", I shall tell you the means: / on the previous day there is a great procession to the family deity, during which the new bride goes outside to Girijā.
10.52.43
Exalted devotees, like the husband of Umā, desire to bathe in the dust of whose lotus feet to destroy their own darkness; / if I should not attain your favor, O lotus-eyed one, I shall abandon my life-breaths, wasted by vows, [hoping it] may happen over a hundred lifetimes.
10.52.44
The brāhmaṇa said:
These are the secret messages brought by me, O deity of the Yadus. / Considering what must be done here, let it be executed immediately thereafter.
Translations (1)
- The Srimad Bhagavatam — S. Subba Rau 1928, English
Linked texts (1)
- Bhāgavatapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit