Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c4.1512

c4.1512

After the death of Balāsura his wife Prabhāvatī went to their preceptor (Kulaguru) Śukrācārya and told him all that took place and requested to bring back to life her lost husband. But Śukrācārya regretted that he could not give life again to her dead husband but could by his powers make her hear his voice again. Prabhāvatī agreed to that and then she heard her husband say "Leave your body and join me". Prabhāvatī immediately courted death and joining Bala became a river. (Padma Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 6). BALA(M). To know what are Daśabalas see under Paṭṭu. BALABANDHU. A king of ancient Bhārata. There is a reference to him in Śloka 236, Chapter 1, Ādi Parva, M.B. BALABHADRA. (Balabhadrārāma, Balarāma, Baladeva). The elder brother of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and the eighth incarnation of Mahāviṣṇu.*
1) Birth. When the number of wicked kings increased Bhūmidevi (goddess of Earth) turned herself into a cow and took refuge in Mahāviṣṇu. Mahāviṣṇu then promised to be born as the sons of Vasudeva named Balabhadrārāma and Śrī Kṛṣṇa and destroy the wicked. Vasudeva was the son of the Yādava, Śūrasena, King of Madhurā. To Devaka the brother of another Yādava King, Ugrasena, was born a daughter Devakī. The marriage of Devakī with Vasudeva was celebrated but on the same day an Aśarīrinī (a heavenly voice from above) said that the eighth child of Devakī would kill Kaṃsa. Instantly Kaṃsa put both Vasudeva and Devakī in jail. The first six sons born to Devakī were killed the moment they were born by striking them against the ground. Devakī became pregnant for the seventh time. The babe in the womb was Ananta incarnate by Viṣṇu's directive to be of help to him when he would also be born soon as Kṛṣṇa. Therefore it was necessary to save the child from the cruel hands of Kaṃsa as it was certain he would kill the babe the same way he had killed all the others. So he ordered Māyādevī to take the child from the womb of Devakī and place it in that of Rohiṇī, another wife of Vasudeva. Māyādevī did so and the boy got the name Saṃgharṣaṇa, also because of this. The news spread that Devakī aborted. Rohiṇī delivered a boy and was named Saṃgharṣaṇa alias Balabhadrārāma. (Daśama Skandha, Bhāgavata).
2) The colour of Balarāma and Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the eighth child of Devakī. The elder brother Balarāma is white in complexion while the younger, Śrī Kṛṣṇa is black in complexion. There is a story behind this. The devas decided to be born as Gopālas (shepherds) in the earth to be of help to Kṛṣṇa in his duty of killing the wicked. They informed Mahāviṣṇu of their decision and the Lord was immensely pleased. He then took one white hair from his head and said that it would go to Rohiṇī's womb and change into Balarāma and