Pārijāta

Pārijāta

The Pārijāta is the divine tree of svarga, the world of the devas. The Bhāgavata Purāṇa tells that Śrī Kṛshṇa brought it down from svarga to Dvārakā for his beloved queen Satyabhāmā, carrying it on Garuḍa, and planted it in the garden beside her house, where the bees of svarga followed it for the honey of its fragrance. The same Purāṇa also tells that Mahendra (Indra) sent the Pārijāta to Śrī Hari, together with the deva-sabhā Sudharmā, when Dvārakā was built. Pārijāta trees grow too on Kailāsa, on the mountain Trikūṭa, in the forests of Vaikuṇṭha and in the gardens of Dvārakā.

Brought from svarga for Satyabhāmā

Śuka tells Parīkshit that after Śrī Kṛshṇa had slain Bhaumāsura (Narakāsura), he went with his beloved Satyabhāmā to the palace of Devendra and gave back to Aditi her pair of kuṇḍalas (earrings). Mahendra and Śacī Devī worshipped him. Then, urged by Satyabhāmā, Śrī Kṛshṇa conquered the devas, Indra among them, uprooted the Pārijāta tree, set it on Garutmān and brought it to Dvārakā. The tree was planted in the garden adjoining Satyabhāmā’s house and brought it beauty, and bees followed it from svarga, greedy for the honey full of its fragrance.

Śuka adds his own word on the devas: Indra had bowed his head, touched Śrī Kṛshṇa’s feet with the tips of his kirīṭa and prayed to him to slay Naraka, and Śrī Kṛshṇa had done that work for him; yet once his own work was done, great though he is, Indra took up enmity with Śrī Kṛshṇa over the tree. “This ajñāna of the devas, and their pride that they are rich, deserve blame.”

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 59

Uddhava, telling Vidura the līlās of Śrī Kṛshṇa, also remembers it: Śrī Kṛshṇa, in the manner of one who delights in enjoyments, wishing to please his beloved Satyabhāmā, brought the pārijāta tree from svarga. At this Indra flared up, blind with anger, took his vajra in hand and attacked Śrī Kṛshṇa with his army, urged on by his own beloved.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 3

Indra’s gift to Dvārakā

When Śrī Kṛshṇa built the city of Dvārakā, the lokapālas sent him their gifts. Mahendra sent to Śrī Hari the sabhā of the devas named Sudharmā, in which one who sits is freed from old age and the other conditions of mortals, and also the Pārijāta tree. Varuṇa sent white horses swift as the mind, each with one ear black. In the gardens of the city there were trees of the devas: haricandana, mandāra, pārijāta and others, with coral creepers.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 50

The Pārijāta among Śrī Kṛshṇa’s glories

The Pārijāta is named again and again among the glories of Śrī Kṛshṇa. Yudhishṭhira, asking Arjuna after the Yādavas of Dvārakā, says that the sixteen thousand young wives of Śrī Kṛshṇa, Satyabhāmā and the others, whose one chief duty is the service of his lotus feet, by that strength conquered the devas in battle and made their own the Pārijāta and the other divine enjoyments fit for Śacī Devī, the beloved of Indra. At Hastināpura, answering the pride of the Kauravas, Balarāma asks whether Śrī Kṛshṇa, who took possession of the deva-sabhā Sudharmā and brought the Pārijāta, the tree of svarga, and enjoys them, is not worthy of the royal throne. And in the summary of the whole Purāṇa, Sūta names among Śrī Kṛshṇa’s deeds that he brought the Pārijāta tree and the sabhā Sudharmā from svarga, the dwelling of the devatās.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapter 14; Skandha 10, Chapter 68; Skandha 12, Chapter 12

Where else the Pārijāta grows

  • In Rukmiṇī‘s palace at Dvārakā, a breeze blew into her chamber bearing the fragrance of the grove of pārijāta trees shining in the garden, while Rukmiṇī served Śrī Kṛshṇa (Skandha 10, Chapter 60).
  • In the forest of Vaikuṇṭha, the flowers praise the tapas of Tulasī, whose fragrance Śrī Hari greatly regards: mandāra, malle (jasmine), goriṇṭa (henna), kaluva (water-lily), sampeṅga (campaka), arjapushpa, surapoṇṇa, nāgakesara, pogaḍa, padma and pārijāta. Brahmā tells this to the devas, in Maitreya‘s account to Vidura (Skandha 3, Chapter 15).
  • On Kailāsa, when Brahmā went there, the mountain shone with kalpavṛkshas, pārijāta trees and many other trees (Skandha 4, Chapter 6).
  • On the mountain Trikūṭa, in Ṛtumat, the garden of Varuṇa where the trees of devaloka flower in every season, the pārijāta grows beside the mandāra, the aśoka, the campaka and many more (Skandha 8, Chapter 2).

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 15; Skandha 4, Chapter 6; Skandha 8, Chapter 2; Skandha 10, Chapter 60

Sources

  • Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapter 14; Skandha 3, Chapters 3, 15; Skandha 4, Chapter 6; Skandha 8, Chapter 2; Skandha 10, Chapters 50, 59–60, 68; Skandha 12, Chapter 12