Satrājit
Satrājit · satrā-jit
Satrājit is a king of the Yadu vaṃśa (the line of Yadu), the son of Nimna and the brother of Prasena. He received the Syamantaka maṇi (jewel) from Sūrya. When the jewel was lost with his brother, Śrī Kṛshṇa won it back from Jāmbavān and returned it to him. Satrājit was later killed by Śatadhanvā. He was the father of Bhaṅgakāra and of Satyabhāmā, the dear wife of Śrī Kṛshṇa. The Agni Purāṇa tells of him in the account of the Yadu vaṃśa that Agni Deva gives to Vasishṭha Maharshi.
The Bhāgavata Purāṇa tells his account at length. A great devotee of Sūrya, he received the jewel from Sūrya himself, and it gave eight bhāras of gold each day. He would not give it up when Śrī Kṛshṇa asked for it for King Ugrasena, and when his brother Prasena was lost he cast the blame on Śrī Kṛshṇa. When Śrī Kṛshṇa brought the jewel back from Jāmbavān’s cave and returned it to him before the assembly, Satrājit, ashamed and repentant, gave him his daughter Satyabhāmā with the jewel; Śrī Kṛshṇa left the jewel with him. Later Śatadhanvā, stirred up by Akrūra and Kṛtavarmā, killed him in his sleep and took the jewel, and Śrī Kṛshṇa had the rites done that bring the dead to the puṇya-lokas.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 24; Skandha 10, Chapters 56–57, 83
His line
Hṛdika, of the line of Kroshṭu, had ten sons, among them Kṛtavarmā, Śatadhanvā and Devārha. Devārha’s son was Kambalabarhi, and his son Samaujas had three sons, Sudaṃshṭra, Suvāsa and Dhṛshṭa. Dhṛshṭa had two wives, Gāndhārī and Mādrī, and among his sons were Anamitra and Śini. To Anamitra was born Nimna, and to Nimna were born Prasena and Satrājit.
Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 275
The Syamantaka maṇi
Satrājit received the Syamantaka maṇi from Sūrya. His brother Prasena wore it and went hunting, and a lion killed Prasena and took the jewel. Jāmbavān killed that lion and took the maṇi. Then Śrī Kṛshṇa defeated Jāmbavān in battle, took Jāmbavatī and the maṇi, returned to Dvārakāpurī and gave the maṇi back to Satrājit.
Śatadhanvā, one of the ten sons of Hṛdika, killed Satrājit. Śrī Kṛshṇa killed Śatadhanvā, took back the jewel and gained fame. In the presence of Balarāma and the other Yādavas he gave the maṇi to Akrūra, and by this the false charge laid on Śrī Kṛshṇa was removed.
Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 275
His children
To Satrājit were born a son, Bhaṅgakāra, and a daughter, Satyabhāmā, who became the wife of Śrī Kṛshṇa. The Agni Purāṇa names Satyabhāmā with Rukmiṇī and Satyā, the daughter of Nagnajit, as the dear wives of Śrī Kṛshṇa, and calls her his ārādhya-devī, the one he held in honour.
Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 275, 276
Per Bhāgavata Purāṇa
His line. In the line of Vṛshṇi, son of Sātvata, Vṛshṇi’s sons were Sumitra and Yudhājit; Yudhājit’s sons were Śini and Anamitra; Anamitra’s son was Nimna; and Nimna’s sons were Satrājita and Prasena.
The jewel from Sūrya. Śuka opens the account to Parīkshit with one sentence: Satrājit, who had offended Śrī Kṛshṇa, himself took the step of giving him his daughter, together with the Samantaka jewel. Parīkshit asked what the offence was, where the jewel came from, and why he gave his daughter. Śuka answered that Satrājit was a great devotee of Sūrya, and Sūrya was fond of him; pleased with his bhakti, Sūrya gave him the Samantaka (Syamantaka) jewel. Wearing it on his neck, Satrājit came to Dvārakā shining like Sūrya himself, so that people could not look at him. They ran to Śrī Kṛshṇa, who was playing at dice, and praised him: “O Nārāyaṇa, bearer of the śaṅkha, cakra and gadā, whom Yaśodā bound with a rope, O lotus-eyed Govinda, delight of the Yadus! Sūrya is coming to see you, knowing that you live hidden among the Yādavas.” Śrī Kṛshṇa laughed at the innocent people and said: “This is not Bhagavān Sūrya. It is Satrājit, shining with the jewel.”
A festival was held in Satrājit’s house for his arrival, and he had the jewel installed by knowers of the Veda in the shrine of his deity. Each day it produced eight bhāras of gold, and wherever it is installed and worshipped there is no famine, no deadly epidemic, no affliction of the grahas, no snakes, no sickness of mind or body, nothing inauspicious and no thieves.
His offence. Once Śrī Kṛshṇa asked Satrājit to give the jewel for Ugrasena, lord of the Yādavas. Greedy for wealth, Satrājit had not the discernment to grant it, and refused. Then his younger brother Prasena wore the jewel to hunt in the forest and did not return, for a lion killed him and his horse, and Jāmbavān killed the lion and took the jewel to his cave. Satrājit grieved, and said: “My brother went to the forest wearing the jewel. Most likely Śrī Kṛshṇa killed him.” The people whispered it from ear to ear. To wipe away this slander Śrī Kṛshṇa went with some citizens to search, found Prasena and the lion, entered Jāmbavān’s cave alone, and after twenty-eight days of battle received from Jāmbavān both his daughter Jāmbavatī and the jewel. While they waited for him, the grieving people of Dvārakā reviled Satrājit and prayed to Durgā Devī for Śrī Kṛshṇa’s return.
His remorse and his gift. In the assembly, before King Ugrasena, Śrī Kṛshṇa called Satrājit, told how the jewel was found and gave it to him. Satrājit took it, deeply ashamed and repentant, and went home with his head bowed. Troubled by the enmity of the mighty Yādavas, he thought: “How shall I wipe out my fault? How may Śrī Kṛshṇa be pleased? I am a fool without foresight, a small man greedy for wealth. I will give him my daughter, a jewel among women, and the Syamantaka too; there is no other way to atone.” On his own initiative, consulting Vasudeva and others, he offered Satyabhāmā and the jewel to Śrī Kṛshṇa. Many, Kṛtavarmā among them, had wished to marry her; Śrī Kṛshṇa married her by the rites, for she had good conduct, beauty and largeness of heart. But he said: “I will not take the Syamantaka. Let it stay with you, a devotee of Sūryadeva; its fruit, the gold, will come to us.”
His death. When Balarāma and Śrī Kṛshṇa had gone to the Kuru country on hearing the common report that the Pāṇḍavas had been burnt in the house of lac, Akrūra and Kṛtavarmā said to Śatadhanvā: “Satrājit promised Satyabhāmā to one of us and then slighted us by giving her to Śrī Kṛshṇa. Why should he not follow his brother to the city of Yama?” Śatadhanvā, wicked and at the end of his days, killed Satrājit in his sleep out of greed for the jewel, as a butcher kills animals, paying no heed to the weeping women, and took the Syamantaka away. Satyabhāmā fainted, crying, “Father! Father! Alas, I am killed!” Satrājit’s body was laid in a vessel of oil while she went to Hastināpura to tell Śrī Kṛshṇa. After Śatadhanvā was slain, Śrī Kṛshṇa came to Dvārakā and with the kinsmen had all the rites performed for Satrājit that bring the dead to the puṇya-lokas. Later, asking Akrūra to show the jewel, Śrī Kṛshṇa said that since Satrājit had no son, his daughter’s sons would offer him tarpaṇa and piṇḍa, clear his debts and receive what remained.
In Satyabhāmā’s words. Telling Draupadī how she became Śrī Kṛshṇa’s wife, Satyabhāmā says that her father Satrājit, grieving at the death of his younger brother Prasena, blamed Śrī Kṛshṇa for having him killed and stealing the jewel; when Śrī Kṛshṇa conquered Jāmbavān and brought it back, her father feared for his offence and, though he had vowed her to another, gave her to Śrī Kṛshṇa.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 24; Skandha 10, Chapters 56–57, 83
Sources
- Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 275–276
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 24; Skandha 10, Chapters 56–57, 83