Śūra (Father of Vasudeva)
Śūra, “the valiant one”
Śrutakīrti has other meanings too: see all meanings of Śrutakīrti. Śūrasena has other meanings too: see all meanings of Śūrasena.
Śūra, also called Śūrasena, was a king of the Yādavas, the son of Devamīḍha and the husband of Mārishā. He was the father of Vasudeva, of Vasudeva’s nine brothers and of five daughters, the eldest of whom was Pṛthā, known as Kuntī, the mother of the Pāṇḍavas. So he was the grandfather of Śrī Kṛshṇa and Balarāma, and the Bhāgavata Purāṇa calls Śrī Kṛshṇa Śūraputra and Śūravaṃśīya, “of the line of Śūra”. He ruled the Yādavas from Mathurā, and from his time Mathurā was the capital of all the Yādava kings. Throughout the account of Śrī Kṛshṇa’s birth and childhood, Vasudeva is called “the son of Śūra”.
His sons and daughters
Śuka tells Parīkshit the line of the Yādavas. The wife of Śūra, the son of Devamīḍha, was named Mārishā. By her Śūra had ten sons, all spotless:
Vasudeva was to be the father of Śrī Hari, and so when he was born the dundubhis and bherīs (kettle-drums) of the devatās sounded of themselves. For this he became famous as Ānakadundubhi.
The ten brothers had five sisters: Pṛthā, Śrutadevā, Śrutakīrti, Śrutaśravā and Rājādhidevī. Śūra had a friend named Kunti who had no children, and Śūra gave Pṛthā to him as a foster-daughter; from then on she is called Kuntī. Kuntī married Pāṇḍu. Śrutadevā married Vṛddhaśarmā, king of Karūsha, and was the mother of Dantavaktra. Śrutakīrti married Dhṛshṭaketu, king of Kekaya, and bore five sons, Santardana, Pratardana and others. Rājādhidevī married Jayasena and bore two sons, Vinda and Anuvinda, rulers of Avantī. Śrutaśravā married Damaghosha, king of Cedi, and was the mother of Śiśupāla.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 24
King at Mathurā
Long ago Śūrasena Mahārāja, lord of the Yādavas, lived in the city of Mathurā and ruled both the Mathurā-maṇḍala and the Śūrasena-maṇḍala. From the time of that Śūrasena, Mathurā became the capital of all the Yādava kings, and there Śrī Hari has his eternal presence. In Mathurā, Vasudeva, the son of Śūra, married Devakī.
From then on the Purāṇa names Vasudeva again and again as Śūra’s son: Devakī bore the form of Acyuta placed in her by Vasudeva, son of Śūra; moved by Śrī Hari, Vasudeva, son of Śūra, carried the newborn Śrī Kṛshṇa to the cowherd settlement of Nanda; Nanda and the gopālakas took leave of Vasudeva, son of Śūra, when he had spoken with them in Mathurā; Nanda, on his way home, remembered that the word of Vasudeva, son of Śūra, never fails; and when Kaṃsa was slain, Vasudeva, son of Śūra, had the upanayana of his two sons performed. Nanda greeted Uddhava with the words, “Vasudeva, son of Śūra, is our friend.”
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapters 1–3, 5–6, 45–46
Father of Kuntī
When Arjuna came back from Dvārakā without lustre, Yudhishṭhira asked him after their kin there, and among his first questions was: “Is our mother’s father, the venerable Śūrasena, well?” When Akrūra came to Hastināpura, Kuntī, remembering her father’s house with tears, asked him whether her parents, Śūra and his wife, her brothers and sisters still remembered her and her sons. At the time of the solar eclipse at Samantapañcaka, Kuntī met her brothers, Vasudeva and the others, her sisters, their sons, her parents, Śūra and the others, and her brothers’ wives, Devakī and the others; she talked with them lovingly and let go of the troubles of her heart.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapter 14; Skandha 10, Chapters 49, 82
The line of Śūra
Śrī Kṛshṇa is named for his grandfather. Setting out to bring Rukmiṇī from Vidarbha, he is called Śūraputra, the son of the Śūra line. Jarāsandha, consoling Śiśupāla, says that he attacked Śrī Kṛshṇa of the Śūra line seventeen times, and in the battle at Śoṇitapura it is Śrī Kṛshṇa of the Śūra line who drives back the followers of Śaṅkara with arrows from his bow Śārṅga. When Citralekhā drew the beings of the three worlds for Ushā, among the humans she drew the Yādavas, and among them Śūra, Vasudeva, Balarāma, Śrī Kṛshṇa and Pradyumna.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapters 53–54, 62–63
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapter 14; Skandha 9, Chapter 24; Skandha 10, Chapters 1–3, 5–6, 45–46, 49, 53–54, 62–63, 82