Syamantaka Maṇi

The Syamantaka Maṇi is a shining jewel that Sūrya gave to Satrājit, a chief of the Yādavas. It is as bright as the sun. Each day it gives an abundance of gold to the land that keeps it in purity.

The jewel is sacred to Bhagavān Sūrya and was long linked with the fortunes of the Vṛshṇis. Who owned it drew Bhagavān Śrī Kṛshṇa into a famous cycle of suspicion, battle and clearing of his name. At the end of the Yādavas, at the drinking festival of Prabhāsa, the old quarrel over this same jewel was stirred up again. It became one of the sparks that set the clan against itself.

The divine jewel

The Syamantaka is no ordinary gem. Sūrya himself gave it. It blazes with the light of the sun and pours out measures of gold for the realm that keeps it. It keeps away disaster, drought and disease wherever dharma is upheld. Bhagavān Sūrya abides within it, so keeping it is tied to the puṇya of its holder.

The jewel first came to Satrājit’s house. Then came the well-known cycle of Prasena’s death, the cave of Jāmbavanta, and the false charge against Kṛshṇa, who was later cleared. After that, Satrājit gave his daughter Satyabhāmā to Kṛshṇa in marriage. Several Purāṇas keep this account: the Bhāgavata, Brahmāṇḍa, Matsya and Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇas.

The gem at Prabhāsa

Long afterward, the time set for the Vṛshṇis had come. They gathered at Prabhāsa, a tīrtha (pilgrimage place), for the festival. Wine loosened old grievances. Sātyaki and Kṛtavarma exchanged bitter words. In that quarrel the matter of the Syamantaka Maṇi, which belonged to Satrājit’s line, was thrown out again. Sātyaki told its history in front of Kṛshṇa.

Satyabhāmā, Satrājit’s daughter, heard the old wound opened again. She wept in deep grief and sank against Kṛshṇa, which stirred his anger. So the jewel that once brought the Yādavas gold and glory became, in the end, one of the goads to their ruin. All of it moved toward the fulfilment of the brahmins’ curse and the decree of Kāla (Time). The Mausala Parva, Chapter 3, tells this.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Mausala Parva, Chapter 3
• Bhāgavata Purāṇa (Syamantaka account)
• Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa (Syamantaka account)
• Matsya Purāṇa (Syamantaka account)
• Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa (Syamantaka account)