Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c7.1924

c7.1924

4) *How Kaṃsa got Mathurāpuri.* In olden times there was a famous place called Madhuvana in the river-base of Kālindī. The place got the name of Madhuvana because the demon Madhu was residing there. Madhu had a son named Lavaṇa. Lavaṇa was a very wicked demon always ill-treating the devas. Śatrughna, son of Daśaratha, killed him and lived there establishing a beautiful kingdom there. He named that place Mathurā. After the death of Śatrughna two of his sons ruled that country. Then when the Sūrya dynasty became extinct the city of Mathurā came into the possession of the Yadu dynasty. It was ruled then by a very brave and valiant ruler named Śūrasena. Vasudeva father of Śrī Kṛṣṇa was the son of Śūrasena. After the death of Śūrasena another King of the Yādava dynasty, Ugrasena, became the ruler of the place, Vasudeva accepting cow-rearing as his profession. Kaṃsa became King keeping Ugrasena as a prisoner. (Skandha 4, Devī Bhāgavata).