Rukmiṇī Haraṇa (Bhāgavata Purāṇa)

Rukmiṇī was the princess of Vidarbha and the daughter of King Bhīshmaka. She is an avatāra of Lakshmī. She heard of the beauty, courage and good qualities of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa from visitors to her father’s house, and she fell in love with him. She held that he alone was worthy to be her husband.

Her brother Rukmī planned her marriage to Śiśupāla against her will. Rukmiṇī then sent a secret message to Bhagavān Kṛshṇa by a trusted brāhmaṇa. She asked him to carry her away from outside the Gaurī temple during her ritual before the wedding. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa came, took her in front of a crowd of hostile kings, and she became his first and chief queen at Dvārakā.

Rukmiṇī and her longing

Rukmiṇī was the youngest child and the only daughter of Bhīshmaka, the great king of Vidarbha. She was the most beautiful and virtuous woman of her time. Her elder brothers were Rukmī, Rukmaratha, Rukmasenā, Rukmeśa and Rukmamālī. All their names begin with rukma (gold), and all were under the influence of Rukmī.

Visitors came to the palace and described the beauty, courage, generosity, righteous conduct and wealth of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa. Rukmiṇī heard them and was filled with devotion and longing. She decided that Kṛshṇa, and only Kṛshṇa, was worthy of her. He in turn thought her the only woman fit for him. All the family’s relatives wanted this marriage. Only Rukmī blocked it, driven by hatred of Kṛshṇa. He arranged his sister’s betrothal to Śiśupāla, king of Cedi.

Source: Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, chapter 52.

Rukmiṇī’s secret message

Rukmiṇī knew the matter was urgent. She sent a brāhmaṇa who was dear to her as her secret messenger to Dvārakā. The brāhmaṇa reached the island city, was let in by the gatekeepers, and found Bhagavān Kṛshṇa sitting on a golden throne. Kṛshṇa rose at once, welcomed him, seated him and gave him every comfort. Then, with his own hands, he pressed the brāhmaṇa’s feet and asked about his journey and his welfare.

When the brāhmaṇa had rested, Bhagavān Kṛshṇa sat beside him and gently asked why he had come. The brāhmaṇa gave Rukmiṇī’s message in her own words.

Rukmiṇī wrote:

“O Acyuta, I have heard of your beauty and your qualities. My mind, without shame, is lost in love for you. O Kṛshṇa, you are the best of men in family, character, form, learning, youth, wealth and *tejas (radiance). What young woman of good judgment would not choose you as her husband? So I have given my body, my senses and all that I am to you. Come to Vidarbha and take me away. Let Śiśupāla, like a jackal that goes for the lion’s share, not lay his hand on me.*

You may ask how you can take me without entering the *antaḥpura (the women’s quarters) and fighting my relatives. I have a plan. On the day before the wedding, the bride goes in a procession outside the palace to worship the family devatā, the devī Gaurī. Come there and take me in the rākshasa way, by beating anyone who resists. If I do not win your grace in this birth, then birth after birth I will fast and pray until you are mine.”*

Source: 10th Skanda, chapter 52.

Kṛshṇa sets out

When Bhagavān Kṛshṇa heard these words, his heart leapt with joy. He took the brāhmaṇa’s hand and said: “She has the same longing that I have. Rukmī’s hatred has kept us apart. I will overcome Śiśupāla and all the others and bring her, as fire is drawn out of wood.”

He ordered his charioteer Dāruka to get the chariot ready at once. It was yoked with the horses Śaivya, Sugrīva, Meghapushpa and Balāhaka, and it was ready immediately. Kṛshṇa climbed in with the brāhmaṇa and drove through the night. He went the whole way from Dvārakā to Vidarbha in one night.

Balarāma learned that Kṛshṇa had gone alone to face the allies of Śiśupāla: Jarāsandha, Śālva, Dantavaktra and thousands of hostile kings. He followed quickly with a large army of elephants, horses, chariots and foot soldiers.

Source: 10th Skanda, chapter 53.

The wedding preparations at Kuṇḍina

In Kuṇḍinapura, Bhīshmaka had arranged the wedding with great ceremony. The streets were sprinkled with water and hung with flags, festoons and garlands. Brāhmaṇas were fed and given gold, silver, clothes and cows. The city was full of music. The hostile kings came in full strength: Śiśupāla, Jarāsandha, Śālva, Dantavaktra, Pauṇḍraka and others, all enemies of Kṛshṇa. They had come both to see the wedding and to fight if Kṛshṇa appeared. Bhīshmaka received them all with fitting honour and gave them houses prepared for them.

When Bhagavān Kṛshṇa arrived, the people of Kuṇḍina came out to look at him and could not turn their eyes away. They said: “She alone is worthy to be his wife, and he alone is worthy to be her husband. Whatever small *puṇya (merit) we have gathered, may it please the Creator, so that this marriage may happen.”*

Source: 10th Skanda, chapter 53.

The abduction at the Gaurī temple

On the morning before the wedding, Rukmiṇī went in procession to the Gaurī temple. She wore new clothes and ornaments, and Vedic brāhmaṇas had tied auspicious threads on her wrists. With her went her mothers, her attendants, guards, musicians, sūtas (bards) and brāhmaṇa women carrying offerings.

Before the image of Devī Gaurī she bowed down. She worshipped Gaurī and Śiva with water, perfume, unbroken rice, incense, clothes, flower garlands, gem necklaces, fruits, sugarcane, salt and cakes. She also bowed to the brāhmaṇa women. Then she prayed: “O Mother of Gaṇeśa and Kumāra, giver of all good, may Kṛshṇa be my husband.”

She took the prasāda (blessed offering) of the Devī and came out of the temple holding the hand of a servant girl, her anklets ringing, walking like a royal swan.

The kings who had gathered were struck by her beauty and fell from their vehicles in a daze. At that moment Rukmiṇī looked up and saw Kṛshṇa. She was about to climb into the chariot that had brought her, when Bhagavān Kṛshṇa took her hand and placed her on his own chariot, which bore the flag of Garuḍa. He drove away calmly in front of all his enemies, ignoring them as easily as a lion leaves a pack of wolves with the prey he has taken.

Source: 10th Skanda, chapter 53.

The defeat of the pursuing kings

The allied kings were angry and shamed. They took up arms and chased him. The Yādava heroes Gada, Balarāma, Sātyaki and others turned to face them and struck back hard. Charioteers, horsemen, elephant riders and foot soldiers fell in thousands. Jarāsandha, Śiśupāla, Śālva and the rest of the armies were driven off and went back to their kingdoms. Śiśupāla was pale and lost, and his allies had to comfort him by saying that the tide of time would turn.

Source: 10th Skanda, chapter 54.

Rukmī’s defeat and disfigurement

Rukmī burned with hatred and shame. In front of all the kings he vowed that he would not go back to Kuṇḍina until he had killed Kṛshṇa and won back his sister. He chased Bhagavān Kṛshṇa alone, in one chariot. He shot arrows at Kṛshṇa and shouted taunts, but Kṛshṇa broke bow after bow and weapon after weapon. At last Rukmī leapt from his chariot with a sword. Kṛshṇa broke the sword and was about to kill him with his own blade, when Rukmiṇī threw herself at Kṛshṇa’s feet. She was terrified, her ornaments were falling and her face had lost its colour. She wept and begged him to spare her brother.

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa was moved by her distress. He spared Rukmī’s life, but he tied him with cloth and shaved half his beard and moustache, leaving him disfigured. Balarāma arrived and saw the shamed Rukmī. He freed him and gently scolded both of them. He told Kṛshṇa that disfiguring a relative was the same as killing him. He told Rukmiṇī that she should not weep for one who had acted with hatred. He said to her: “Do not be distressed. A relative’s fault does not cancel your love, but it does not mean you must protect him from the results of his own *karma.”* Then Balarāma spoke to her of the ātma-tattva (the truth of the self). The ātmā is one in all beings. The body is laid over it by avidyā (ignorance). Bondage and liberation, friend and enemy, are all projections of māyā.

Because of his vow, Rukmī never went back to Kuṇḍina. He built a new city called Bhojakaṭa and lived there in unfulfilled anger.

Source: 10th Skanda, chapter 54.

The marriage at Dvārakā

The wedding of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa and Rukmiṇī was celebrated at Dvārakā with great splendour. Rukmiṇī, the avatāra of Mahālakshmī, became Kṛshṇa’s chief and most beloved queen.

Source: 10th Skanda, chapter 54.

The Vishṇu Purāṇa account

The Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, in its fifth part (Pañcamāmsa), chapter 26, gives the account of Rukmiṇī in a short form that keeps all the main points. It describes the abduction as a rākshasa-vivāha. This is the Vedic form of marriage by force or abduction, one of the eight recognised forms of marriage. Here a kshatriya takes a willing woman by his courage before all rivals. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa took Rukmiṇī openly from the procession outside the temple, before the whole gathering of hostile kings.

The Vishṇu Purāṇa also records what followed. Kṛshṇa defeated Rukmī and shamed him. The Bhāgavata account gives the details of Balarāma’s part, and the Vishṇu Purāṇa stresses Kṛshṇa’s own act of sparing Rukmī’s life at Rukmiṇī’s tearful plea. Rukmiṇī was made the first and chief queen at Dvārakā. The chapter closes with a point about descent: from this marriage was born Pradyumna, the avatāra of Kāmadeva and the future destroyer of Śambara. His own story is told in the next chapter.

Sources

• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, chapter 52 (Rukmiṇī’s longing and secret message)
• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, chapter 53 (Kṛshṇa sets out, the wedding preparations at Kuṇḍina, the abduction at the Gaurī temple)
• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, chapter 54 (the defeat of the pursuing kings, Rukmī’s defeat, the marriage at Dvārakā)
• Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Pañcamāmsa, chapter 26