Krsna Book Audio Dictation - Chapter 50
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Chapter Fifty. "Kṛṣṇa Erects the Mathurā (Dvārakā) Fort."
After killing Kaṁsa, his wife became widow. It is the custom in Vedic civilization that woman is never independent. They have got three stages of life, namely, in childhood a woman should live under the protection of the father; in youthhood a woman should live under the protection of the young husband; but after the death of the husband, either she should live under the protection of grown-up children or, if she has no grown-up children, she must go back to her father and live under her (his) protection as widow. It appears that Kaṁsa had no grown-up sons; therefore his wives, after being widow, returned to the shelter of her father. It appears also the Kaṁsa had two queens. One is Asti and the other is Prāpti, and both of them happened to be the daughter of King Jarāsandha, the lord of Bihar Province, which was in the olden days known as Magadharāja. So both the queens after being widowed returned to their father's house.
After reaching there, both the queens explained their awkward position after Kaṁsa's death, and the king of Magadha, Jarāsandha, was very much mortified hearing the pitiable condition of his daughters. When Jarāsandha was just informed of the death of Kaṁsa, he decided that he would make the world without any member of the Yadu dynasty. In other words, he decided that since Kṛṣṇa has killed Kaṁsa, therefore the whole dynasty should be killed.
On this decision, he began to make huge arrangement to attack the kingdom of Mathurā with his innumerable akṣauhiṇī senā. Akṣauhiṇī senā means a company of military phalanx consisting of many thousands of chariots, many thousands of horses, many thousands of elephants and many thousands of infantry soldiers. Jarāsandha possessed such thirteen—brackets—(of military phalanx), and in order to retaliate the death of Kaṁsa, he took with him all his military strength and attacked the capital of the Yadu kings, Mathurā, surrounding it from all directions.
Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who appeared as a ordinary human being, apparently saw the immense military strength of Jarāsandha as if it was just like the ocean which could cover the beach at any moment. He also perceived that the inhabitants of Mathurā were overwhelmed with fear out of the military display of Jarāsandha, who attacked Mathurā from all sides. Now He began to think within Himself the mission of His incarnation and how to tackle with the present situation before Him. He thought it wise that He was not going to conquer over the kingdom of Magadha; therefore, to kill the king of Magadha, namely Jarāsandha, was useless. Better His mission was to diminish the overburdened population of the world. So He took it an opportunity that so many men, chariots, elephants, horses, the military strength of Jarāsandha, had appeared before Him, and He decided to kill the military strength of Jarāsandha so that he would again go back and attempt organizing another military strength.
When Lord Kṛṣṇa was thinking like that, at that time two beautiful chariot, full with a driver, weapons, flags and other equipment, just arrived before Him from the outer space. Kṛṣṇa saw the two chariots present before Him. He immediately addressed His eldest brother, Balarāma, who is known as Saṅkarṣaṇa also, and began to address Him as follows: "My dear elder brother, You are the best amongst the Āryans. You are the Lord of the universe, and specifically, You are the protector of the Yadu dynasty, who has now greatest danger in front of the soldiers of Jarāsandha. As such they are very much aggrieved. Under the circumstances, just to give them proper protection, Your chariot is also present here, which is also full with necessary weapons for You. Therefore, I request You to sit down on Your chariot and kill all these soldiers and military strength of the enemy. Actually, both of Us have descended on this earth just to kill such unnecessary assembly of military strength and to give protection to the pious devotees. So We have now the opportunity to fulfill Our mission. Please let Us execute it."
Thus Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, the descendants of the Gadaha king, decided to finish the thirteen companies of military strength of Jarāsandha, and They equipped Themselves with military dress and got up on their chariots. Kṛṣṇa was specifically being on the chariot on which Dāruka was the driver, and whatever small quantity of military strength They possessed, They took with them and came out of the city of Mathurā and began to blow Their respective conchshells. But curiously enough, although the other party was equipped with greater military strength, still, just after hearing the vibration of the conchshell of Kṛṣṇa, they were shaken to their heart.
Jarāsandha, when he saw both Rāma and Kṛṣṇa, he was a little bit compassionate, because both Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma happened to be in relationship his grandsons. Jarāsandha specifically addressed Kṛṣṇa as Puruṣādhama. Actually, Kṛṣṇa is officially known in all Vedic literatures as puruṣa-uttama. Jarāsandha, although he had no such intention to address Kṛṣṇa as Puruṣottama, but great scholars, they derive the meaning of puruṣādhama as "one who makes all other personalities downwards." Actually, nobody can be equal or greater than the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
So Jarāsandha continued to say that it will be a great dishonor for him that he would fight with boys like Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. He addressed specifically to Kṛṣṇa, because He actually killed Kaṁsa. So he addressed Him as the killer of the relative. Kaṁsa killed so many of his nephews, but Jarāsandha did not take notice of it. But Kṛṣṇa, because He killed His maternal uncle, Kaṁsa, he tried to criticize Him. That is the way of demoniac dealing. Demons do not find out their own fault but tries to find out the fault of their other friends.
Jarāsandha also criticized Kṛṣṇa that He was not even a kṣatriya. Kṛṣṇa, being raised by Mahārāja Nanda, was not a kṣatriya but a vaiśya. Vaiśyas are generally called guptas. Also, the word gupta can be used as "hidden." So Kṛṣṇa was both hidden by Nanda Mahārāja, and as Nanda Mahārāja happened to be a vaiśya king, so he was raised by him, and Jarāsandha accused Kṛṣṇa with three kinds of faults, namely that He killed His own maternal uncle and He was not even a kṣatriya; therefore, he felt ashamed to fight with Him.
Now he turns towards Balarāma and addressed Him, "You, Rāma! If You like You can fight with Him, and if You have got patience, then You can wait for being killed by my arrows. Thus You can be promoted to heaven." It is stated in the scriptures as well as in the Bhagavad-gītā that a kṣatriya while fighting becomes benefited in two ways. If a kṣatriya gains victory over the fight, he enjoys the result of victory; but even if he is killed in the fight, he is promoted in the heavenly kingdom.
Next paragraph.
Kṛṣṇa, after hearing Jarāsandha speaking like that, answered, "My dear King Jarāsandha, those who are heroes, they do not talk much, (indistinct) they become engaged in showing their prowess. Because you are talking much, it appears that you are assured of his (your) death in this battle. Therefore, We do not care to hear you anymore, because it is useless to hear the words of a person who is going to die or one who is very much distressed."
Now after this Jarāsandha, in order to fight with Kṛṣṇa, surrounded Him from all sides with great military strength, and it appeared as the sun is covered by the air with cloud and dust
(break) time being. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa the sun was covered by the military strength of Jarāsandha. Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma's chariot was marked with the picture of Garuḍa and palm trees. The woman population of Mathurā City were all on the top of the houses and palaces and gates to see the wonderful fight. But when Kṛṣṇa's chariot was surrounded by Jarāsandha's military strength, they could not find Kṛṣṇa's chariot, and immediately they became so much aggrieved that some of them fainted. Kṛṣṇa, when He saw thus overwhelmed by the military strength of Jarāsandha and His small number of soldiers were being harassed by them, He immediately took up His bow of the name of Śārṅga. Kṛṣṇa, because He has got the specific bow…
Chapter Fiftieth continued.
When Kṛṣṇa took His bow known as Śārṅga, He began to take out His arrows from the case and was one after another setting on the string of the bows and throwing towards the enemy, as a result of which, gradually all the elephants, horses and infantry soldiers of Jarāsandha were continually being killed. And the incessant throwing of arrows by Kṛṣṇa appeared to be whirlwind of blazing fire killing all the military strength of Jarāsandha. When Kṛṣṇa was fighting in this way with His arrow, at that time gradually all the elephants began to fall down, cut off their heads; similarly all the horses, cut off their necks, were falling down. And when the horses fell down, the chariots also along with their flags, the chariot fighter and the chariot driver began to fall down. And as far as the infantry soldiers were concerned, almost all of them, being cut off their heads and hands and legs, began to fall down on the field of the battle.
In this way, many thousands of elephants and horses being killed, their blood began to flow down just like the waves of a river. In that river, the hands cut off of the men were appearing like snakes, their heads appeared like tortoise, and the dead body of the elephants appeared to be different small islands. Similarly, the dead horses also appeared to be like shark fishes. In this way, by the arrangement of the Supreme Will, there was a big river of blood filled up with all paraphernalia. The hands and legs of the infantry soldiers cut off were floating just like different kinds of fishes. The hairs of the soldiers were floating like seaweeds and moss, and the floating bows of the soldiers appeared to be different waves of the river. And over and above them, all the jewelry stones thrown out from the body of the soldiers and the commanders appeared to be so many pebbles floating down the river of the blood.
Lord Balarāma, who is also known as Saṅkarṣaṇa, with His club He began to fight in such a heroic way that the river of blood created by Kṛṣṇa still became overflooded. And by seeing the ghastly and horrible scene, those who were cowards, they were very much afraid of, and those who were heroes, they with great delight began to talk between themselves about the heroism of the two brothers.
The fighting of Lord Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma with Jarāsandha, equipped with the vast ocean of military strength and converting the whole situation into such ghastly scene, was not actually an ordinary fighting. People of ordinary merit could not estimate how it could be possible. But when we accept such activities as pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, under whose will everything could be possible, then we can make an estimate of the great fighting. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is creating, maintaining and dissolving the cosmic manifestation by His will only, for Him to create such devastating scene while fighting with an enemy is not an wonderful act. And yet, because Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma were fighting with Jarāsandha just like ordinary human being, the whole affair appeared to be an wonderful action.
In this way, when all the soldiers and military strength of Jarāsandha were killed and simply he was living, certainly he became very much depressed. In that stage of his life, Śrī Balarāmajī immediately arrested him exactly in the manner when one lion captures another lion with great strength. When Lord Balarāma was binding Jarāsandha with the rope of Varuṇa and ordinary ropes also, at that time Lord Kṛṣṇa, with some greater future plan, asked Him not to arrest him. When Jarāsandha was released in this way by Kṛṣṇa, Jarāsandha, as a great hero of the fighting, became too much ashamed, and then he decided that no more he should live as a king, but he would resign from his position of royal order and go to the forest for practicing meditation under severe austerity and penances.
But as he was returning home with some other royal friends, he was advised not to act like that but to regain strength to fight again with Kṛṣṇa in the near future. The princely friends of Jarāsandha began to instruct him that from ordinary estimation, it was not possible for him to become defeated by the strength of the Yadu kings, but the defeat which he had experienced was simply to his ill luck. The princely order encouraged him that so far his fighting was concerned, it was certainly heroic, and the defeat on account of past misdeeds should not be taken very seriously, because on the part of King Jarāsandha there was no fault in the matter of fighting.
In this way Jarāsandha, the king of Magadha Province, when he lost all his strength and he was released from the arrest almost in an insulting manner for the prince, he could do nothing but began to return to his kingdom. In this way, when Lord Kṛṣṇa conquered over the soldiers of Jarāsandha, although His military strength was very little arrangement in comparison to Jarāsandha, still, not a pinch of His strength was lost, whereas all the strength of Jarāsandha were killed.
At that time, the denizens of heaven became very much pleased and began to offer their respect to the Lord by showers of flowers and chanting glorification of the Lord. They accepted the victory of the Lord with great appreciation. When Jarāsandha returned back and everything was made safe from the danger of Mathurā City being imminently attacked, at that time the citizens of Mathurā organized the combined service of professional singers like sūtas, māgadha and poets who could compose nice songs, and in this way the citizens began to chant the victory glorification of Lord Kṛṣṇa. When Lord Kṛṣṇa was entering the city after the victory, at that time many bugles, conchshells, kettledrums began to be sounded, and vibration of various musical instruments like bherī, tūrya, vīṇā, flutes and mṛdaṅga, all of them joined together made a beautiful reception for Lord Kṛṣṇa.
While Kṛṣṇa was entering the city, the whole city was very much cleansed and sprinkled with water all over the different streets and roads, and the inhabitants, being too much engladdened, decorated their respective houses, stores and shops with flags and festoons. Everywhere the brāhmaṇas were chanting Vedic mantras at different places. The people, out of curiosity, constructed different grades at different crossing of roads and entrances of lanes and streets. When Lord Kṛṣṇa was entering the city of Mathurā, so nicely decorated in an festive attitude, at that time the ladies and the girls of Mathurā, in order to make the ceremony most auspicious, prepared different kinds of garlands of flowers and, as it is the Vedic customs, they took yogurt mixed with freshly grown green grasses and began to strew them here and there to make the victory jubilation more auspicious.
Kṛṣṇa was passing through the street, all the ladies and women began to see Him with great affection and brightening eyes. Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma also collected various kinds of booties, ornaments and jewels from the battlefield, and after collecting them carefully He brought them home and presented to the king, Ugrasena. Kṛṣṇa thus offered His respect in the victory celebration to His grandfather, because he was at that time the crowned king of the Yadu dynasty.
Jarāsandha, the king of Magadha, not only sieged the city of Mathurā once, but he attacked it for seventeen times in the same way, equipped with the same number of military phalanxes, and each and every time he was defeated similarly. All his soldiers and military strength were killed by Kṛṣṇa, and he had to return disappointed in the same way. The princely order of the Yadu dynasty each time arrested Jarāsandha in the same way, again released him in the insulting manner. Jarāsandha also shamelessly returned back home every time without being ashamed.
Next paragraph.
When each attack by Jarāsandha was being attempted, in the meantime another Muhammadan kingdom somewhere on the southern part of Mathurā, or the kingdom of the Yadus, became attracted by the opulence of the Yadu dynasty, and he also attacked the city of Mathurā. It is said that the king of the Yavanas (or the Muhammadans), known as Kālayavana, was induced by Nārada. The story is narrated in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa that sometimes Gargamuni, the priest of the Yadu dynasty, was taunted by his brother-in-law, which hearing, the kings of the Yadu dynasty laughed at him, and Gargamuni became angry on this laughter of the Yadu kings, and he decided that he would produce somebody who would be very much fearful to the Yadu dynasty.
So he appeased Lord Śiva and got from him the benediction of creating somebody fearful to the Yadu dynasty, and later on he begotten the Kālayavana son in the wife of a Muhammadan king, and later on this Kālayavana inquired from Nārada, "Who are the most powerful kings in the world?" And Nārada informed him that the Yadus are the most powerful kings. So being informed by Nārada, this Kālayavana attacked the city of Mathurā when Jarāsandha was attempting to attack Mathurā again for the eighth (eighteenth) time.
This Kālayavana king was very much anxious to declare war with some king of the world who would be a right combatant for him. But without finding such right combatant and being informed by Nārada, he thought it wise to attack Mathurā. And when he attacked Mathurā, he brought with him thirty millions of Muhammadan soldiers along with him, and he seized the Mathurā City all around.
When the Mathurā City was thus seized, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa began to consult with Baladeva how much the Yadu dynasty was placed into distress, being attacked by two formidable enemies, namely Jarāsandha and the Kālayavana. Time was very short. While the Kālayavana already seized the Mathurā City from all sides, it was expected that the day after next, Jarāsandha was also coming, equipped with similar number of division of soldiers as he attempted previously for seven (seventeen) times.
Kṛṣṇa was right in thinking about Jarāsandha to take the opportunity of attacking Mathurā again during the period of its being seized over by the Kālayavana. Therefore, He thought it wise to take precautionary measures for defending two strategic points, because if only from one strategic point both Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma were engaged to fight with the Kālayavana, from the other strategic point Jarāsandha may come back and attack the whole Yadu family to take revenge upon them, because he was defeated seven (seventeen) times. He may either kill them altogether or take them arrested at his place because Jarāsandha was too much powerful. As such, Kṛṣṇa decided to construct a formidable fort in a place where no two-legged animal, either man or demon, could enter into. He decided also to keep His relatives in that fortified place. Then He would begin fighting with the enemies.
It appears from this statement that formerly Dvārakā was also part of the kingdom of Mathurā, because in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is stated that Kṛṣṇa constructed fort somewhere in the midst of the sea. In Mathurā there is river Yamunā but there is no approach to the sea, and the remnants of the fort which Kṛṣṇa constructed on the Bay of Dvārakā are still existing.
Therefore, He first of all constructed a very strong wall in the midst of the sea, covering a space ninety-six square miles. The surrounding walls and the city itself within the sea was certainly wonderful and planned and constructed by Viśvakarmā. No ordinary architect can construct such fort within the sea, but architects like Viśvakarmā, who is considered to be the engineer amongst the demigods, can execute such wonderful craftsmanship anywhere, in any part of the universe. If huge planets could be floated in weightlessness in the outer space by the arrangement of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the wonderful architecture construction of a fort within the sea, covering a space of ninety-six square miles, was not a very wonderful act.
It is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that this new city developed within the sea had regular planned roads, streets, lanes, just suitable to the exact position of well-constructed city. Not only there were well-planned roads, streets and lanes, but there were well-planned parks and gardens filled with plants known as kalpa-vṛkṣa, or desire trees. These desire trees are not ordinary trees of this material world; the desire trees are found in the spiritual world. So by Kṛṣṇa’s supreme will everything is possible, so in this city of Dvārakā constructed by Kṛṣṇa such desire trees were implanted. This city was also full with many palaces and gopura, which is a big gate. These gopura gates are still found in some of the big temples. It is very high and constructed with high artistic skill. Such palaces and gates were tipped on the head by golden water pots—within brackets— (kalaśas). These water pots on the gates or on the palace are considered to be auspicious signs.
Almost all the palaces and gates were a skyscraper. In each and every house there were big pots of gold and silver to stock grains in the underground rooms, and there were many golden water pots within such rooms. The bedrooms were all bedecked with jewels, and the whole floors were mosaic pavement of marakata jewels. The city was full of different houses installed with Viṣṇu Deity, worshiped by the descendants of Yadu. All the palaces were skyscrapers. The residential quarters were so arranged that different castes of people, namely the brāhmaṇas, the kṣatriyas, the vaiśyas and the śūdras, in their respective quarter. It appears from this statement that the caste system as it is already confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā were existing even in that time. In the center of the city another residential quarter specifically made for King Ugrasena. This palace was dazzling amongst all other houses.
When the demigods saw that Kṛṣṇa was constructing a particular city of His own choice, he sent the celebrated pārijāta tree of the heavenly planets for being implanted in the new city, as well as he sent his parliamentary house, Sudharmā. The specific quality of this assembly house is that anyone who would participate within this assembly house would overcome the influence of invalidity due to old age. The demigod Varuṇa also presented one horse, which was all white except the ears being black, and this horse could run in the speed of the mind. Kuvera, the treasurer of the demigods, also presented the art of eight perfectional stage of material opulences.
In this way, all the demigods began to present their respective gifts according to their different capacities. In other words, there are demigods to the number of thirty-three billions, and each of them are entrusted with the particular department for managing the universal affairs. All the demigods, taking the opportunity of presence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and constructing a city of His own choice, thus presented their respective gifts and made the city of Mathurā (Dvārakā) unique within the universe.
This statement proves that there are innumerable demigods undoubtedly, but none of them are independent of Kṛṣṇa. Actually, as stated in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Kṛṣṇa is the supreme master, and all others are servants. So all the servants took opportunity of rendering service to Kṛṣṇa when He was personally present within this universe. This example should be followed by all others, especially those who are Kṛṣṇa conscious persons, to serve Kṛṣṇa by their respective ability.
In this way, when the new city was fully constructed according to the plan, Kṛṣṇa transferred all the inhabitants of Mathurā and entrusted Śrī Balarāma as the city father. After this, He consulted with Balarāma and, being garlanded with lotus flower, came out of the city to meet the Kālayavana, who had already seized around the Mathurā City, without taking any weapon in His hand.
Next paragraph.
Thus ends the Fiftieth Chapter in the matter of "Kṛṣṇa Erects the Mathurā (Dvārakā) Fort."