Studies in the Epics and Puranas c12.91

c12.91

In the course of his pilgrimage, Arjuna visited the holy Prabhāsa, where Kṛṣṇa came to see him and took him to Dvārakā. On Kṛṣṇa's advice, Arjuna captured and married his sister, Subhadrā. Kṛṣṇa got a magnificent Assembly Hall built for the Pāṇḍavas by Maya, the Dānava architect, whose life was saved by Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna in their burning of the Khāṇḍava forest. Kṛṣṇa then advised king Yudh'ṣṭhira to perform the Rājasūya, but as a preliminary to it, visited Girivraja, the capital of Magadha, along with Bhīma and Arjuna, where Bhīma slew Jarāsandha, the Magadha King, and the imprisoned kings were set free. At the Rājasūya, Kṛṣṇa washed the feet of the Brāhmaṇas. Bhisma declared Kṛṣṇa to be the Supreme God and the only person fit for Agraṇūjā (first worship), which shows that Kṛṣṇa was deified in his own lifetime. Śiśupāla, the late generalissimo of Jarāsandha, objected to the *Agrapūjā* being offered to Kṛṣṇa, censured Kṛṣṇa, Bhīṣma and the Pāṇḍavas, and was slain by Kṛṣṇa. After the successful conclusion of Yudhiṣṭhira’s Rājasūya, Kṛṣṇa returned to Dvārakā.