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KB 1970-2-6 / The Genealogical Table of the Family of Krsna
6 / The Genealogical Table of the Family of Krsna
Krsna had 16,108 wives, and in each of them He begot ten sons,
all of them equal to their father in the opulences of strength,
beauty, wisdom, fame, wealth and renunciation. "Like father
like son." All the 16,108 wives of Krsna were princesses, and
when each saw that Krsna was always present in her respective
palace and did not leave home, they considered Krsna to be a
henpecked husband who was very much attached to them. Every one
of them thought that Krsna was her very obedient husband, but
actually Krsna had no attraction for any of them. Although each
thought that she was the only wife of Krsna and was very, very
dear to Him, Lord Krsna, since He is atmarama, self-sufficient,
was neither dear nor inimical to any one of them; He
was equal to all the wives and treated them as a perfect
husband just to please them. For Him, there was no need
for even a single wife. In fact, since they were women, the
wives could not understand the exalted position of Krsna nor
the truths about Him.
All the princesses who were wives of Krsna were exquisitely
beautiful, and each one of them was attracted by Krsna's eyes,
which were just like lotus petals, and by His beautiful face,
long arms, broad ears, pleasing smile, humorous talk and
sweet words. Influenced by these features of Krsna, they all
used to dress themselves very attractively, desiring to attract
Krsna by their feminine bodily appeal. They used to
exhibit their feminine characteristics by smiling and moving
their eyebrows, thus throwing sharpened arrows of conjugal love
just to awaken Krsna's lusty desires for them. Still, they
could not arouse the mind of Krsna or His sex appetite.
This means that Krsna never had any sex relations with any
of His many wives, save and except to beget children.
The queens of Dvaraka were so fortunate that they got Lord Sri
Krsna as their husband and personal companion, although He is
not approachable by exalted demigods like Brahma. They
remained together as husband and wife, and Krsna,
as an ideal husband, treated them in such a way that at every
moment there was an increase of transcendental bliss in their
smiling exchanges, talking and mixing together. Each and every
wife had hundreds and thousands of maidservants, yet when Krsna
entered the palaces of His thousands of wives, each one of them
used to receive Krsna personally by seating Him in a nice chair,
worshiping Him with all requisite paraphernalia, personally
washing His lotus feet, offering Him betel nuts, massaging His
legs to relieve them from fatigue, fanning Him to make Him
comfortable, offering all kinds of scented sandalwood pulp,
oils and aromatics, putting flower garlands on His neck,
dressing His hair, getting Him to lie down on the bed and
assisting Him in taking His bath. Thus they served
always in every respect, especially when Krsna was eating.
They were always engaged in the service of the Lord.
Of the 16,108 queens of Krsna, each of whom had ten
sons, there is the following list of the sons of the first
eight queens. By Rukmini, Krsna had
ten sons: Pradyumna, Carudesna, Sudesna, Carudeha,
Sucaru, Carugupta, Bhadracaru, Caarucandra, Vicaru and Caru.
None of them were inferior in their qualities to their divine
father, Lord Krsna. Similarly, Satyabhama had ten
sons, and their names are as follows: Bhanu, Subhanu, Svarbhanu,
Prabhanu, Bhanuman, Candrabhanu, Brhadbhanu, Atibhanu,
Sribhanu and Pratibhanu. The next queen,
Jambavati, had ten sons, headed by Samba. Their names are as
follows: Samba, Sumitra, Purujit, Satajit, Sahasrajit, Vijaya,
Citraketu, Vasuman, Dravida and Kratu. Lord Krsna was
specifically very affectionate to the sons of Jambavati. By
His wife Satya, the daughter of King
Nagnajit, Lord Krsna had ten sons. They are as follows: Vira,
Candra, Asvasena, Citragu, Vegavan, Vrsa, Ama, Sanku, Vasu and
Kunti. Amongst all of them, Kunti was very powerful. Krsna
had ten sons by Kalindi, and they are as follows: Sruta, Kavi,
Vrsa, Vira, Subahu, Bhadra, Santi, Darsa, Purnamasa and
the youngest, Somaka. For His next
wife, Laksmana, the daughter of the King of Madras Province,
He begot ten sons, of the names: Praghosa, Gatravan, Simha,
Bala, Prabala, Urdhvaga, Mahasakti, Saha, Oja and Aparajita.
Similarly, His next wife, Mitravinda, had ten sons.
They are as follows: Vrka, Harsa, Anila, Grdhra, Vardhana,
Annada, Mahamsa, Pavana, Vahni and Ksudhi. His
next wife, Bhadra, had ten sons, of the names Sangramajit,
Brhatsena, Sura, Praharana, Arijit, Jaya, Subhadra, Vama, Ayu
and Satyaka. Besides these eight chief queens, Krsna had 16,100
other wives, and all of them had ten sons each.
The eldest son of Rukmini, Pradyumna, was married with Mayavati
from his very birth, and afterwards he was again married with
Rukmavati, the daughter of his maternal uncle, Rukmi. From this
Rukmavati, Pradyumna had a son named Aniruddha. In this way,
Krsna's family -- Krsna and His wives, along with their sons
and grandsons and even great-grandsons -- all combined together
to include very nearly one billion family members.
Rukmi, the elder brother of Krsna's first wife, Rukmini, was
greatly harassed and insulted in his fight with Krsna, but on
the request of Rukmini his life was saved. Since then Rukmi
had held a great grudge against Krsna and was always inimical
toward Him. Nevertheless, his daughter was married with Krsna'
son, and his granddaughter was married with Krsna's grandson,
Aniruddha. This fact appeared to be a little astonishing to
Maharaja Pariksit when he heard it from Sukadeva Gosvami.
"I am surprised that Rukmi
and Krsna, who were so greatly inimical to one another, could
again be united by marital relationships between their
descendants." Pariksit Maharaja was curious about the mystery
of this incident, and therefore he inquired further from
Sukadeva Gosvami. Because Sukadeva Gosvami was a practical yogi,
nothing was hidden from his power of insight. A perfect yogi
like Sukadeva Gosvami can see past, present and future in all
details. Therefore, from such yogis or mystics there can be
nothing concealed. When Pariksit Maharaja inquired from
Sukadeva Gosvami, Sukadeva Gosvami answered as follows.
Pradyumna, the eldest son of Krsna, born of Rukmini, was Cupid
himself. He was so beautiful and attractive that the daughter
of Rukmi, namely Rukmavati, could not select any husband other
than Pradyumna during her svayamvara. Therefore, in that
selection meeting, she garlanded Pradyumna in the presence of
all other princes. When there was a fight among the princes,
Pradyumna came out victorious, and therefore Rukmi was obliged
to offer his beautiful daughter to him. Although a far-
off enmity was always blazing in the heart of Rukmi because
of his being insulted by Krsna's kidnapping of his sister,
Rukmini, when his daughter selected Pradyumna as her husband
Rukmi could not resist consenting to the marriage ceremony just
to please his sister, Rukmini
. And so Pradyumna became the
nephew of Rukmi. Besides the ten sons described above, Rukmini
had one beautiful daughter with big eyes, and she was married
to the son of Krtavarma, whose name was Bali.
Although Rukmi was a veritable enemy of Krsna, he had great
affection for his sister, Rukmini, and he wanted to please her
in all respects. On this account, when Rukmini's grandson
Aniruddha was to be married, Rukmi offered his granddaughter
Rocana to Aniruddha. Such marriage between immediate cousins
is not very much sanctioned by the Vedic culture, but in order
to please Rukmini, Rukmi offered his daughter and granddaughter
to the son and grandson of Krsna. In this way,
when the negotiation of the marriage of Aniruddha with Rocana
was complete, a big marriage party accompanied Aniruddha and
started from Dvaraka. They traveled until they reached
Bhojakata, which Rukmi had colonized after his sister had been
kidnapped by Krsna. This marriage party was led by the
grandfather, namely Lord Krsna, accompanied by Lord Balarama,
as well as Krsna's first wife, Rukmini, His son
Pradyumna, Jambavati's son Samba and many other relatives and
family members. They reached the town of Bhojakata, and the
marriage ceremony was peacefully performed.
The King of Kalinga was a friend of Rukmi's and he gave him the
ill advice to play with Balarama and thus defeat Him in a
bet. Amongst the ksatriya kings, betting and gambling in chess
was not uncommon. If someone challenged a friend to play on
the chessboard, the friend could not deny the challenge.
Sri Balaramaji was not a very expert chess player, and this was
known to the King of Kalinga. So Rukmi was advised to retaliate
against the family members of Krsna by challenging Balarama to
play chess. Although not a very expert chess player, Sri
Balaramaji was very enthusiastic in sporting activities. He
accepted the challenge of Rukmi and sat down to play.
Betting was with gold coins, and Balarama first of all
challenged with one hundred coins, then 1,000 coins,
then 10,000 coins. Each time, Balarama lost, and
Rukmi became victorious.
Sri Balarama's losing the game was an opportunity for the King
of Kalinga to criticize Krsna and Balarama. Thus the King of
Kalinga was talking jokingly and purposefully showing his
teeth to Balarama. Because Balarama was the loser in the game,
He was a little intolerant of the sarcastic joking words. He
became a little agitated, and when Rukmi again
challenged Balarama, he made a bet of 100,000
gold coins. Fortunately, this time Balarama won.
Although Balaramaji had won, Rukmi, out of his cunningness,
began to claim that Balarama was the loser and that he
himself had won. Because of this lie, Balaramaji became most
angry with Rukmi. His agitation was so sudden and great that it
appeared like a tidal wave in the ocean on a full moon day.
Balarama's eyes are naturally reddish, and when He became
agitated and angry His eyes became more reddish. This time He
challenged and made a bet of a hundred million coins.
Again Balarama was the winner according to the rules of chess,
but Rukmi again cunningly began to claim that he had won.
Rukmi appealed to the princes present, and he especially
mentioned the name of the King of Kalinga. At that time
there was a voice from the air during the dispute, and it
announced that for all honest purposes Balarama, the actual
winner of this game, was being abused and that the
statement of Rukmi that he had won was absolutely false.
In spite of this divine voice, Rukmi insisted that Balarama had
lost, and by his persistence it appeared that he had death upon
his head. Falsely puffed up by the ill advice of his friend, he
did not give much importance to the oracle, and he began to
criticize Balaramaji. He said, "My dear Balaramaji, You two
brothers, cowherd boys only, may be very expert in tending cows,
but how can You be expert in playing chess or shooting arrows
on the battlefield? These arts are well-known only to the
princely order." Hearing this kind of pinching talk by Rukmi
and hearing the loud laughter of all the other princes present
there, Lord Balarama became as agitated as burning cinders. He
immediately took a club in His hand and, without any further
talk, struck Rukmi on the head. From that one blow, Rukmi fell
down immediately and was dead and gone. Thus Rukmi was killed
by Balarama on that auspicious occasion of Aniruddha's marriage.
These things are not very uncommon in ksatriya society, and the
King of Kalinga, being afraid that he would be the next to be
attacked, fled from the scene. Before he could escape even a
few steps, however, Balaramaji immediately captured him and,
because the King was always showing his teeth while criticizing
Balarama and Krsna, broke all his teeth with
His club. The other princes who were supporting the King of
Kalinga and Rukmi were also captured, and Balarama beat them
with His club, breaking their legs and hands. They did not try
to retaliate but thought it wise to run away from the bloody
scene.
During this strife between Balarama and Rukmi, Lord Krsna did
not utter a word, for He knew that if He supported Balarama,
Rukmini would be unhappy, and if He said that the killing of
Rukmi was unjust, then Balarama would be unhappy. Therefore,
Lord Krsna was silent on the death of His brother-in-law, Rukmi,
on the occasion of His grandson's marriage. He did not disturb
either His affectionate relationship with Balarama or
with Rukmini. After this, the bride and the bridegroom were
ceremoniously seated on the chariot, and they started for
Dvaraka, accompanied by the bridegroom's party. The bridegroom'
s party was always protected by Lord Krsna, the killer of the
Madhu demon. Thus they left Rukmi's kingdom, Bhojakata, and
happily started for Dvaraka.
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Second Volume,
Sixth Chapter, of Krsna, "The Genealogical Table of the Family
of Krsna."
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KB 61: The Genealogy of the Family of Krsna
CHAPTER SIXTY–ONE
The Genealogy of the Family of Krsna
Krsna had 16,108 wives, and in each of them He begot ten sons,
all of them equal to their father in the opulences of strength,
beauty, wisdom, fame, wealth and renunciation. "Like father,
like son." All the 16,108 wives of Krsna were princesses, and
when each saw that Krsna was always present in her respective
palace and did not leave home, she considered Krsna a
henpecked husband who was very much attached to her. Every one
of them thought that Krsna was her very obedient husband, but
actually Krsna had no attraction for any of them. Although each
thought that she was the only wife of Krsna and was very, very
dear to Him, Lord Krsna, being atmarama, self-sufficient,
felt neither attraction nor enmity toward any one of them; He
was equal to all the wives and treated them as a perfect
husband would, just to please them. For Him, there was no need
of even a single wife. In fact, since they were women, the
wives could not understand the exalted position of Krsna, nor
the truths about Him.
All the princesses who were wives of Krsna were exquisitely
beautiful, and each one of them was attracted by Krsna's eyes,
which were just like lotus petals, and by His beautiful face,
long arms, beautiful ears, pleasing smile, humorous talk and
sweet words. Influenced by these features of Krsna, they all
used to dress themselves very attractively, desiring to attract
Him by their feminine bodily appeal. They exhibited
their feminine characteristics by smiling and moving
their eyebrows, thus shooting sharp arrows of conjugal love
just to awaken Krsna's lusty desires for them. Still, they
could not arouse Krsna's mind or His sexual appetite.
This means that Krsna never had any sexual relations with any
of His many wives, save and except to beget children.
The queens of Dvaraka were so fortunate that they got Lord Sri
Krsna as their husband and personal companion, although He is
not approachable by exalted demigods like Brahma. Lord Krsna
and His queens remained together as husband and wife, and Krsna,
as an ideal husband, treated them in such a way that at every
moment there was an increase of transcendental bliss in their
smiling exchanges, talking and mixing together. Each and every
wife had hundreds and thousands of maidservants, yet when Krsna
entered the palaces of His thousands of wives, each one of them
used to receive Krsna personally by seating Him in a nice chair,
worshiping Him with all requisite paraphernalia, personally
washing His lotus feet, offering Him betel nuts, massaging His
legs to relieve them of fatigue, fanning Him to make Him
comfortable, offering all kinds of scented sandalwood pulp,
oils and aromatics, putting flower garlands on His neck,
dressing His hair, getting Him to lie down on the bed and
assisting Him in taking His bath. Thus they served Krsna always,
in every respect, especially when He was eating. They
always engaged in the service of the Lord.
Each of Krsna's 16,108 queens had ten
sons. The sons of the first
eight queens are listed as follows. By Rukmini, Krsna had the
following ten sons: Pradyumna, Carudesna, Sudesna, Carudeha,
Sucaru, Carugupta, Bhadracaru, Carucandra, Vicaru and Caru.
None of them were inferior in their qualities to their divine
father, Lord Krsna. The names of Satyabhama's ten
sons are as follows: Bhanu, Subhanu, Svarbhanu,
Prabhanu, Bhanuman, Candrabhanu, Brhadbhanu, Atibhanu,
Sribhanu and Pratibhanu. The ten sons of the next queen,
Jambavati, were headed by Samba. Their names are as
follows: Samba, Sumitra, Purujit, Satajit, Sahasrajit, Vijaya,
Citraketu, Vasuman, Dravida and Kratu. Lord Krsna was
specifically very affectionate to the sons of Jambavati. The
ten sons Lord Krsna had by His wife Satya, the daughter of King
Nagnajit, were as follows: Vira,
Candra, Asvasena, Citragu, Vegavan, Vrsa, Ama, Sanku, Vasu and
Kunti. Amongst all of them, Kunti was very powerful. Krsna's
ten sons by Kalindi were as follows: Sruta, Kavi,
Vrsa, Vira, Subahu, Bhadra, Santi, Darsa, Purnamasa and Somaka,
the youngest son. The ten sons Lord Krsna begot in His next
wife, Laksmana, the daughter of the King of Madras Province,
were named Praghosa, Gatravan, Simha,
Bala, Prabala, Urdhaga, Mahasakti, Saha, Oja and Aparajita.
The ten sons of His next wife, Mitravinda, were
as follows: Vrka, Harsa, Anila, Grdhra, Vardhana,
Unnada, Mahamsa, Pavana, Vahni and Ksudhi. The ten sons of His
next wife, Bhadra, were named Sangramajit,
Brhatsena, Sura, Praharana, Arijit, Jaya, Subhadra, Vama, Ayur
and Satyaka. Besides these eight chief queens, Krsna had 16,100
other wives, and all of them also had ten sons each.
The eldest son of Rukmini, Pradyumna, was married with Mayavati
from his very birth, and afterwards he married
Rukmavati, the daughter of his maternal uncle, Rukmi. From
Rukmavati, Pradyumna had a son named Aniruddha. In this way,
Krsna's family -- Krsna and His wives, along with their sons
and grandsons and even great-grandsons -- all combined together
to include very nearly one billion family members.
Rukmi, the elder brother of Krsna's first wife, Rukmini, was
greatly harassed and insulted in his fight with Krsna, but on
the request of Rukmini his life was spared. Since then Rukmi
held a great grudge against Krsna and was always inimical
toward Him. Nevertheless, his daughter married Krsna's
son, and his granddaughter married Krsna's grandson
Aniruddha. This fact appeared a little astonishing to
Maharaja Pariksit when he heard it from Sukadeva Gosvami, and
the King addressed him as follows: "I am surprised that Rukmi
and Krsna, who were so greatly inimical to one another, could
again be united by marital relationships between their
descendants." Pariksit Maharaja was curious about the mystery
of this incident, and therefore he inquired further from
Sukadeva Gosvami. Because Sukadeva Gosvami was a perfect yogi,
nothing was hidden from his power of insight. A perfect yogi
like Sukadeva Gosvami can see past, present and future in all
details. Therefore, from such yogis or mystics nothing can be
concealed. When Pariksit Maharaja inquired from
Sukadeva Gosvami, Sukadeva Gosvami answered as follows.
Pradyumna, the eldest son of Krsna, born of Rukmini, was Cupid
himself. He was so beautiful and attractive that the daughter
of Rukmi, namely Rukmavati, could not select any husband other
than Pradyumna during her svayamvara. Therefore, in that
selection meeting she garlanded Pradyumna in the presence of
all the other princes. When there was a fight among the princes,
Pradyumna came out victorious, and therefore Rukmi was obliged
to offer his beautiful daughter to Pradyumna. Although
enmity always blazed in Rukmi's heart
because of his having been insulted by Krsna's kidnapping of
his sister, Rukmini,
Rukmi could not resist consenting to the marriage
ceremony just to please Rukmini when his daughter selected
Pradyumna as her husband. And so Pradyumna became the son-in-
law as well as the nephew of Rukmi. Besides the ten sons
described above, Rukmini had one beautiful daughter with big
eyes, and she was married to Krtavarma's son,
whose name was Bali.
Although Rukmi was a veritable enemy of Krsna, he had great
affection for his sister, Rukmini, and wanted to please her
in all respects. On this account, when Rukmini's grandson
Aniruddha was to be married, Rukmi offered his granddaughter
Rocana to Aniruddha. Such a marriage between immediate cousins
is not very much sanctioned by the Vedic culture, but in order
to please Rukmini, Rukmi offered his daughter and granddaughter
to the son and grandson of Krsna, respectively. In this way,
when the negotiation of the marriage of Aniruddha with Rocana
was complete, a big marriage party accompanied Aniruddha and
started from Dvaraka. They traveled until they reached
Bhojakata, which Rukmi had colonized after his sister had been
kidnapped by Krsna. This marriage party was led by the
grandfather, namely Lord Krsna, accompanied by Lord Balarama,
and it included Krsna's first wife, Rukmini, His son
Pradyumna, Jambavati's son Samba and many other relatives and
family members. They reached the town of Bhojakata, and the
marriage ceremony was peacefully performed.
The King of Kalinga was a friend of Rukmi's and gave him the
ill advice to play chess with Balarama and thus defeat Him in a
bet. Among ksatriya kings, gambling on chess
was not uncommon. If someone challenged a ksatriya to play on
the chessboard, the ksatriya could not refuse the challenge.
Sri Balaramaji was not a very expert chess player, and this was
known to the King of Kalinga. So Rukmi was advised to retaliate
against the family members of Krsna by challenging Balarama to
play chess. Although not an expert chess player, Sri
Balaramaji was very enthusiastic in sporting activities. He
accepted Rukmi's challenge and sat down to play.
Betting was with gold coins, and Balarama first of all
challenged with one hundred coins, then one thousand coins,
then ten thousand coins. Each time, Balarama lost, and
Rukmi was victorious.
Sri Balarama's losing the game was an opportunity for the King
of Kalinga to criticize Krsna and Balarama. Thus the King of
Kalinga was talking jokingly while purposefully showing his
teeth to Balarama. Because Balarama was the loser in the game,
He was a little intolerant of the sarcastic joking words and
became somewhat agitated. Rukmi again
challenged Balarama and made a bet of a hundred thousand
gold coins, but fortunately this time Balarama won.
Nonetheless, out of cunningness
Rukmi claimed that Balarama was the loser and that he
himself had won. Because of this lie, Balaramaji became most
angry with Rukmi. His agitation was so sudden and great that it
appeared like a tidal wave in the ocean on a full-moon day.
Balarama's eyes are naturally reddish, and when He became
agitated and angry His eyes became more reddish. This time He
challenged and made a bet of a hundred million coins.
Again Balarama was the winner according to the rules of chess,
but Rukmi again cunningly claimed that he had won.
Rukmi appealed to the princes present, and he especially
mentioned the name of the King of Kalinga. During the dispute
there was a voice from the sky, and it
announced that for all honest purposes Balarama was the actual
winner of this game, that He was being abused, and that the
statement of Rukmi that he had won was absolutely false.
In spite of this divine voice, Rukmi insisted that Balarama had
lost, and by his persistence it appeared that he had death upon
his head. Falsely puffed up by the ill advice of his friend, he
did not give much importance to the oracle, and he began to
criticize Balaramaji. He said, "My dear Balaramaji, You two
brothers, cowherd boys only, may be very expert in tending cows,
but how can You be expert in playing chess or shooting arrows
on the battlefield? These arts are well known only to the
princely order." Hearing this kind of pinching talk by Rukmi
and hearing the loud laughter of all the other princes present
there, Lord Balarama became as agitated as burning cinders. He
immediately took His club in His hand and, without further
talk, struck Rukmi on the head. From that one blow, Rukmi fell
down immediately and was dead and gone. Thus Rukmi was killed
by Balarama on that auspicious occasion of Aniruddha's marriage.
These things are not very uncommon in ksatriya society.
The
King of Kalinga, afraid that he would be the next one
attacked, fled from the scene. Before he could escape even a
few steps, however, Balaramaji immediately captured him, and
because the King had always shown his teeth while criticizing
Balarama and Krsna, Balarama broke all the King's teeth with
His club. The other princes supporting the King of
Kalinga and Rukmi were also captured, and Balarama beat them
with His club, breaking their legs and hands. They did not try
to retaliate but thought it wise to run away from the bloody
scene.
During this strife between Balarama and Rukmi, Lord Krsna did
not utter a word, for He knew that if He supported Balarama,
Rukmini would be unhappy, and if He said that the killing of
Rukmi was unjust, then Balarama would be unhappy. Therefore,
Lord Krsna was silent on the death of His brother-in-law
Rukmi on the occasion of His grandson's marriage. He did not
disturb His affectionate relationship with either
Balarama or Rukmini. After this, the bride and
bridegroom were ceremoniously seated on the chariot, and they
started for Dvaraka, accompanied by the bridegroom's party. The
bridegroom's party was always protected by Lord Krsna, the
killer of the Madhu demon. Thus they left Rukmi's kingdom,
Bhojakata, and happily started for Dvaraka.
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Sixty-first
Chapter of Krsna, "The Genealogy of the Family
of Krsna."
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