Rukmi

Rukmi was the elder brother of Rukmiṇī and the crown prince of Vidarbha under King Bhīṣmaka. In the account of Rukmiṇī’s marriage to Kṛṣṇa, he is the main opponent. He hated Kṛṣṇa and was set on giving his sister to Śiśupāla. Balarāma defeated him at the gates of Kuṇḍina. The Viṣṇu Purāṇa tells that years later Balarāma killed him at a dice game.

Opposition to Kṛṣṇa’s marriage

The family purohita (priest) Śatānanda advised that Rukmiṇī should be given to Kṛṣṇa. Rukmi answered with fierce opposition. He looked down on Kṛṣṇa and called him a cowherd. He insisted on giving Rukmiṇī to Śiśupāla, the king of Cedi, who was his ally.

Rukmi called a great gathering at Kuṇḍina. He invited the kings of Aṅga, Kaliṅga, Magadha, Saurāṣṭra and Mahārāṣṭra. In this way he built a union of kings so that Kṛṣṇa would meet overwhelming force. Rukmi and his allies Śiśupāla, Śālva and Dantavakra met Kṛṣṇa’s procession outside the city gates. They insulted him harshly and challenged him to battle.

The Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa tells this in the Śrī Kṛṣṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapters 105 and 106.

Defeat by Balarāma

The insults made Balarāma furious. He took up his hala (plough) and his musala (club) and fell on the allied army. He broke their vehicles and drove them away. Rukmi and his allies were beaten and ran. Śatānanda then led Kṛṣṇa with honour through the hundred gates of Kuṇḍina.

The Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa tells this in the Śrī Kṛṣṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 106.

Death at the dice game: the Viṣṇu Purāṇa account

The Viṣṇu Mahā Purāṇa tells Rukmi’s death in the Pañcamāṃśa, Chapter 28. It happened years after his defeat at Kuṇḍina. The occasion was the marriage of Aniruddha, Kṛṣṇa’s grandson, to Rukmi’s own granddaughter. The wedding brought the two hostile families together in a joyful gathering.

During the celebration, a dice game was played. Rukmi challenged Balarāma to a game, and Balarāma accepted. Rukmi won a round, and, still holding his old grudge, he made taunting remarks. He said that Balarāma was only a ploughman, a farm worker, with no right to play the dice of kings. The taunt struck Balarāma as an insult to his whole self and to the honour of the Yādavas.

Balarāma’s anger was sudden and complete. He seized Rukmi and struck him dead on the spot. He also killed the king of Kaliṅga, who had made similar scornful remarks. So Aniruddha’s wedding was broken by the deaths of the bride’s grandfather and of another king.

The Viṣṇu Purāṇa records that Kṛṣṇa neither approved nor blamed Balarāma’s act. He stayed silent. He did so out of regard for his queen Rukmiṇī, whose brother had just been killed, and out of regard for Balarāma, whose rightful anger he would not correct in public. Years earlier, at Rukmiṇī’s plea, Kṛṣṇa had spared Rukmi’s life.

The Bhāgavata account of Rukmiṇī’s abduction

The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa (10th Skandha, Chapters 52 to 54) gives the full story of Rukmi. His league of hostile kings gathered at Kuṇḍina for the forced wedding. After Kṛṣṇa took Rukmiṇī away, Rukmi chased Kṛṣṇa’s chariot himself. He shot arrow after arrow at Kṛṣṇa, and all his bows were broken. He attacked with a sword, and the sword was shattered. He was then tied up and disfigured, with half his beard and moustache shaved off, but not killed, because Rukmiṇī fell weeping at Kṛṣṇa’s feet. Balarāma then freed the tied Rukmi and gently scolded both sides. After this, Rukmi built his city of Bhojakaṭa and never went back to Kuṇḍina.

Udyoga Parva: the rejected offer of the Vijaya bow

The Mahābhārata tells a special episode in the Sainyaniryāṇa Parva, within the Udyoga Parva, Chapter 158. Rukmi came to the Kurukṣetra front as both sides were fixing their positions. He came with his own army, carrying the Vijaya, the divine bow of Mahendra and one of the three highest bows of the world. He offered to fight for whichever side would take him.

He went first to the Pāṇḍava camp. Arjuna refused him. Arjuna named Rukmi’s past rivalry with Kṛṣṇa, and his oath to beat Kṛṣṇa or never return to Vidarbha, an oath he swore and did not keep. Arjuna also named his founding of Bhojakaṭa in shame. Arjuna judged Rukmi to be an ally who could not be trusted, whose ego would harm the Pāṇḍava cause.

Rukmi then went to Duryodhana, who also refused him. Duryodhana saw that Rukmi wanted personal glory and was not truly loyal to the Kaurava cause.

Turned away by both sides, Rukmi left without fighting in the Kurukṣetra war. The Vijaya bow, equal in power to the Gāṇḍīva and one of the three divine bows, was never drawn in this war. The chapter names the three divine bows: the Gāṇḍīva of Varuṇa, the Vijaya of Mahendra, and the Śārṅga of Bhagavān Viṣṇu in the form of Kṛṣṇa.

Sources

• Brahma Vaivarta Mahā Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Janana Khaṇḍa (Chapters 105 and 106)
• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skandha, Chapters 52 to 54
• Viṣṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Pañcamāṃśa, Chapters 26 and 28
• Mahābhārata, Udyoga Parva, Chapter 158