Jāmbavatī
Jāmbavatī was one of the eight chief queens of Bhagavān Śrī Kṛshṇa. She was the daughter of Jāmbavān, the great king of the bears who had served Śrī Rāma. Her name is also written Jāmbāvatī. The Garuḍa Mahā Purāṇa calls the eight queens mahā-patnīs, and the Brahma Vaivarta Mahā Purāṇa calls them ashṭa-mahishīs. She lived with Śrī Kṛshṇa in Dvārakā.
Who she was
Jāmbavatī was the daughter of Jāmbavān, the great ṛksha (bear) devotee who had served Śrī Rāma and who held the Syamantaka gem. The Brahma Khaṇḍa of the Garuḍa Mahā Purāṇa traces her back to an earlier life as a daughter of Soma (Candra). It tells that she was a being of great spiritual strength, and that she chose a birth in Jāmbavān’s family so that she could finally be united with Kṛshṇa. Her name stayed the same in both births.
Devotion in her earlier life
As the daughter of Soma, every part of her life was given to Bhagavān Vishṇu.
- Her words spoke only the name and the glories of Bhagavān Vishṇu.
- Her eyes always looked for his form.
- Her ears were always ready for his word.
- Her hands always held the things for his arcana (worship).
- Her feet always moved toward pradakshiṇā (walking around him).
- Her one wish was to be the servant at the feet of Śrī Svāmī.
Through her love for Bhagavān Vishṇu she learned that saṃsāra does not last, and that a life given to Bhagavān Vishṇu is the only true joy.
The pilgrimage and the darśana of Śrīnivāsa
She went on a tīrtha-yātrā to Veṅkaṭādri with her father Soma and her guru Jaigīshavya Maharshi. The Garuḍa Mahā Purāṇa also names Śeshācala as the place of the journey. At Nṛsiṃha Tīrtha she saw Bhagavān Śrīnivāsa. He appeared to her in a form of matchless beauty. Her whole being trembled. She could only say, “Nātha, accept me as your servant at your feet.”
Bhagavān Śrīnivāsa then gave her the Veṅkaṭeśa-mantra and told her to stay on the hill and do japa and tapas with it.
ॐ वेङ्कटेशाय नमः ॐ
Oṃ Veṅkaṭeśāya namaḥ Oṃ. This means: Oṃ, salutation to Bhagavān Veṅkaṭeśa, Oṃ.
She broke into a dance of joy. Apsarasas (celestial dancers) joined her from the sky, and the deva-dundubhis (drums of the devas) sounded.
Tapas and rebirth
She spent the rest of her earlier life in tapas at Ṛshi Tīrtha. This ground is made holy by the footprints of the Saptarshis (the seven ṛshis). When the Kṛshṇa-avatāra came, she gave up that body through yoga-dhāraṇā (steady yogic concentration) and was at once born again as the daughter of Jāmbavān. In that birth too her devotion did not change.
Śrī Kṛshṇa says to Garuḍa in the Garuḍa Mahā Purāṇa: “The wish to give oneself wholly to Bhagavān Kṛshṇa is the highest peak of bhakti. It is no common wish. Jāmbavatī’s bhakti was fulfilled. Viśvanātha himself married her by the rule of the vidhi (the rite laid down by the texts). Her joy had no limit.”
Marriage to Kṛshṇa in the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa
The Brahma Vaivarta Mahā Purāṇa tells that her father Jāmbavanta gave her to Kṛshṇa after the battle of twenty-one days over the Syamantaka Maṇi (gem). Jāmbavanta knew Kṛshṇa to be Śrī Rāma himself. He surrendered fully, and offered the gem, his daughter and his devotion all at once. So her marriage to Kṛshṇa came from her father’s knowing Bhagavān Kṛshṇa as Śrī Rāma across the yugas. This is told in the Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 122.
The same Purāṇa says that Jāmbavatī is an aṃśa (part) of Pārvatī. When Kṛshṇa went up to Goloka (the Goloka-ārohaṇa), all the divine parts that had taken form to take part in the earthly līlā (play) merged back into their sources. Jāmbavatī’s teja (radiance) merged back into Pārvatī, and the cycle was complete. This is told in the Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 129.
Her request for a son
The Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 14, tells that Śambarāsura was destroyed through Pradyumna. After that, Jāmbavatī saw the eight sons of Rukmiṇī. They were Cārudeshṇa, Sucāru, Cāruveśa, Yaśodhara, Cāruśravas, Cāruyaśas, Pradyumna and Śambhu. She herself had no child. She went to Kṛshṇa and begged him for a son equal to himself: heroic, mighty, beautiful and free of pāpa (sin). She reminded him that he had once kept a vrata (vow) for twelve years so that Rukmiṇī might have her sons. Kṛshṇa took leave of his elders and went to the āśrama of Upamanyu in the Himālaya to do the tapas that would grant her wish.
In this passage the Anuśāsana Parva twice calls Jāmbavatī the “daughter of a Vidyādhara” (a Vidyādhara is a kind of celestial being). The Telugu text reads:
విద్యాధరపుత్రి
This means “the daughter of a Vidyādhara”.
Mother of Sāmba, and her entry into the fire
Jāmbavatī’s son was Sāmba, born of her union with Kṛshṇa. The tool of the destruction of the Yādavas came into the world through Sāmba.
In their pride, the Vṛshṇi youths dressed Sāmba as a pregnant woman. They mockingly asked the ṛshis Viśvāmitra, Kaṇva and Nārada what child he would bear. The angry ṛshis said that Sāmba would give birth to a terrible iron mushala (pestle) for the ruin of the Vṛshṇis and Andhakas. On the next day Sāmba did bring forth the pestle. The brāhmaṇa-śāpa (the curse of the brāhmaṇas) worked through it to destroy the clan. This is told in the Mahābhārata, Mausala Parva, Chapter 1.
After the mutual slaughter at Prabhāsa, the departure of Kṛshṇa and Balarāma, and the resettling of the survivors by Arjuna, Jāmbavatī chose not to outlive her husband. With Rukmiṇī, Gāndhārī (a consort of Kṛshṇa), Śaibyā and Haimavatī, she entered the fire and followed Kṛshṇa to his highest home. This is told in the Mahābhārata, Mausala Parva, Chapter 7.
Sources
- Garuḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa, Chapters 23–29
- Brahma Vaivarta Mahā Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapters 122 and 129
- Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 14
- Mahābhārata, Mausala Parva, Chapters 1 and 7