Prakrit Proper Names (Agamic Index I) v2.c8.149

v2.c8.149

1. Baladeva Ninth, i. e. the last Baladeva(2) of the current descending cycle in the Bharaha(2) region.¹ He was son of Vasudeva² and Rohiṇī(4)³ and elder brother of Vāsudeva(2) Kaṇha⁴(1) and belonged to the Goyama(2) lineage.⁵ He is also known as Balabhadda(6).⁶ He was king of Bāravai.⁷ He had Sumuha(1), Dummuha(2) and Kūvadārasa as his sons born of his wife Dhāriṇī(6)⁸ and Ṇisadha(1) etc. born of Revai(3)⁹. Jarakumāra was his other brother.¹⁰ Baladeva was one of the five great warriors (*mahāvīras*) under Kaṇha.¹¹ Sāgaracamda(1) was Baladeva’s grandson.¹² Baladeva was used to win over anger by calmness.¹³ When the city of Bāravai was endangered with conflagration, he and Kaṇha tried to save their mothers Rohiṇī and Devaī as well as their father Vasudeva from the fire but they could not be successful.¹⁴ On their way to Paṃḍu-Mahurā, Kaṇha was killed in the forest of Kosaṃba-vaṇa by Jarakumāra while Baladeva had left him back for fetching water.¹⁵ Baladeva being overwhelmed with the passing away of his brother accepted asceticism from Vidyādhara a disciple of Ariṭṭhaṇemi.¹⁶ He observed penances on Tuṃgikāgiri.¹⁷ After his death his soul ascended to the Padmottara celestial abode of the Baṃbhaloga region.¹⁸ As a god he wanted to give lift to the soul of Kaṇha which was suffering in a hell but he could not. On Kanha's advice he made himself popular in the world in the form of a deity holding a conch, a sword, a disc and a club in his hands, putting on yellow robe and having a banner of garuḍa unfurling over him.¹⁹ He will be reborn as Nikkasāya, fourteenth would-be Titthaṃkara in the Bharaha(2) region.²⁰ See also Rāma(1).