Yadu Vaṃśa

Yadu Vaṃśa, “the line of Yadu”

Kuśa has other meanings too: see all meanings of Kuśa. Citraketu has other meanings too: see all meanings of Citraketu. Citraratha has other meanings too: see all meanings of Citraratha. Haṃsa has other meanings too: see all meanings of Haṃsa. Keśī has other meanings too: see all meanings of Keśī. Śrutakīrti has other meanings too: see all meanings of Śrutakīrti. Subāhu has other meanings too: see all meanings of Subāhu. Sudevā has other meanings too: see all meanings of Sudevā. Sūratha has other meanings too: see all meanings of Sūratha. Vijaya has other meanings too: see all meanings of Vijaya. Babhru has other meanings too: see all meanings of Babhru. Jaya has other meanings too: see all meanings of Jaya. Nala has other meanings too: see all meanings of Nala. Pushkara has other meanings too: see all meanings of Pushkara. Rohiṇī has other meanings too: see all meanings of Rohiṇī. Śakuni has other meanings too: see all meanings of Śakuni. Sumitra has other meanings too: see all meanings of Sumitra. Vasu has other meanings too: see all meanings of Vasu.

A vaṃśa is a family line or dynasty. The Yadu vaṃśa is the branch of the Candra (lunar) dynasty that comes from Yadu, the eldest son of King Yayāti. Yadu was cursed by his father to rule only kingdoms on the edges of the land. Even so, his line became the most spiritually glorious of all dynasties, because Bhagavān Kṛshṇa was born in it.

The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa traces the Yadu family through several branches: the Haihaya branch (which produced Kārtavīrya Arjuna), the Kroshṭu branch (Jyāmagha, Vidarbha and the family of Rukmiṇī), the Sātvata, Vṛshṇi and Andhaka branch (which produced Kṛshṇa), and other side lines. The Vāyu Purāṇa gives its own detailed account as well.

The Agni Purāṇa, as Agni Deva tells it, gives the whole line in one chapter: Yadu’s five sons, the Haihaya branch with Kārtavīrya Arjuna and its five kulas, the long line of Kroshṭu “in which Śrī Mahāvishṇu himself was born”, Sātvata and his four lines, the Kukura, Bhajamāna and Kṛmi branches, the account of the Syamantaka maṇi, and Śūra‘s line down to Vasudeva, the Pāṇḍavas‘ mother Pṛthā, Balarāma, Śrī Kṛshṇa and Subhadrā. It tells that the Yādavas, three crores in number, were all protected by Śrī Kṛshṇa, and that at the end of his avatāra they perished by the musala.

The Bhāgavata Purāṇa gives the line in Skandha 9, Chapters 23–24, where Śrī Śuka Maharshi tells it to Parīkshit Mahārāja, and it says that whoever hears of the line of Yadu is freed from every pāpa, for in this very line the Parabrahman, Śrī Hari, took a human form and descended. Yadu, who would not give his youth to his father Yayāti, was made lord of the south. His four sons were Sahasrajit, Kroshṭu, Nala and Ripu. From Sahasrajit came the Haihayas and Kārtavīryārjuna, who received yoga and its siddhis from Dattātreya and ruled for eighty-five thousand years; from his son Madhu came the Mādhavas and the Vṛshṇis. From Kroshṭu came the cakravartī Śaśabindu, with ten thousand wives and a hundred crore sons, and later Jyāmagha, whose queen Śaibyā bore Vidarbha. From Vidarbha’s son Kratha the line ran through twenty generations to Sātvata, whose seven sons founded the great Yādava houses: the Bhojas of Mahābhoja; the Vṛshṇis, with Satrājita, Sātyaki and Akrūra; the Andhakas, with Āhuka, Devaka and Ugrasena, and Ugrasena’s son Kaṃsa; and the line of Babhru and Devāvṛdha, through whose power alone 14,065 of their line attained moksha. To Śūra, son of Devamīḍha, were born Vasudeva and his nine brothers and five sisters, Pṛthā, mother of the Pāṇḍavas, among them. Vasudeva married the seven daughters of Devaka, and to Devakī Śrī Hari himself was born as the eighth son, with Balarāma, the avatāra of Śesha, before him.

The Bhāgavata names the ten sons of each of Śrī Kṛshṇa’s eight chief queens and the eighteen mahārathas among his sons, and traces the line through Pradyumna, Aniruddha and Vajra to Śatasena. It says that no one in this line was born poor, short-lived or without devotion to brāhmaṇas; that the devatās were born in it at Śrī Hari’s command; that its clans numbered a hundred and one; and that the people of Ugrasena’s kingdom numbered ten lakh crore. Driven from Mathurā by Kaṃsa, the Yādavas were brought home by Śrī Kṛshṇa and later carried to Dvārakā in the sea. At the end, when only the Yadu vaṃśa remained of the burden of the earth, Śrī Kṛshṇa withdrew it, with the maharshis’ śāpa at Piṇḍāraka as the pretext: at Prabhāsa the Yādavas, bewildered by his māyā, fought one another with grass that became clubs, and of the whole line Vajra alone remained.

Yadu: The Cursed Eldest Son

Yadu was the eldest son of Yayāti and Devayānī. When Śukrācārya cursed Yayāti with old age, Yadu was the first son to refuse to take on his father’s old age (jarā) in his place. Because of this refusal, Yayāti cursed Yadu: his descendants would not rule the best kingdoms or the central heartland of Āryāvarta. In spite of this curse, the Yadu vaṃśa became the most celebrated of all family lines, the dynasty in which Bhagavān Vishṇu himself chose to take avatāra.

Yadu’s Five Sons

Yadu had five sons, who founded the main Yādava branches: Sahasrajit, Kroshṭu, Nala, Ripu and Anikandhu (the names differ a little from one Purāṇa to another). The two main lines followed in the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa come through Sahasrajit (leading to the Haihaya branch and Kārtavīrya) and through Kroshṭu (leading to Jyāmagha, Vidarbha, and finally the Vṛshṇis and Kṛshṇa).

The Haihaya Branch: Kārtavīrya Arjuna

The Haihaya line runs: Sahasrajit → Śatajit → Haihaya → Dharmanetra → Kuntī → Sañjaya → Mahishmān → Bhadrasena → Durmada → Kanaka → Kṛtavīrya → Kārtavīrya Arjuna (also called Sahasrabāhu, “the thousand-armed”).

Kārtavīrya was the greatest cakravartī (ruler of the whole world). He ruled for 85,000 years with four divine varas (boons) from Dattātreya, and he is the most powerful king of this branch.

The Kroshṭu Branch: From Śaśabindu to Jyāmagha

The Kroshṭu line runs: Kroshṭu → Vṛjinīvān → Svāhī → Rukeśa → Citraratha → Śaśabindu → Akshara → Suyajña → Uśanas → Marutta → Vīrakambalabarhi → Rukmakavaca → five sons, including Jyāmagha.

Śaśabindu was a great saptadvīpa-cakravartī (ruler of all seven continents) with more than 10,000 sons. Jyāmagha’s story leads to Vidarbha, then on through the royal family of Vidarbha to Bhīshmaka, whose daughter Rukmiṇī became Kṛshṇa‘s chief queen.

The Vṛshṇi and Andhaka Branch: From Sātvata to Kṛshṇa

Sātvata had seven sons: Bhajamāna, Bhaji, Divya, Vṛshṭi, Devāvṛdha, Andhaka and Mahābhoja.

Devāvṛdha and Babhru: Babhru, the son of Devāvṛdha, was born from the tīrtha (holy bathing place) of the Parṇāśā river. His spiritual attainment was so great that 14,000 people reached moksha (liberation) through his teaching.

The Andhaka line: Andhaka → Kukura → Vahni → Vilomā → Kapotaromā → Tumburu → Dundubhi → Abhijit → Punarvasu → Āhuka → Ugrasena and Devaka. Ugrasena’s son was Kaṃsa. Devaka’s daughter was Devakī.

Vasudeva, of the Vṛshṇi branch, married Devakī. Their eighth son was Kṛshṇa, born on the eighth tithi (lunar day) of the dark fortnight of Śrāvaṇa, in the Abhijit nakshatra (lunar mansion).

Kṛshṇa’s Birth and Who His Family Were

In Chapter 71, the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa links the Vṛshṇi family line directly to the account of Kṛshṇa‘s divine birth. Nanda and Yaśodā are Droṇa and Dharā, born again. In an earlier age, Vasudeva and Devakī had been Kaśyapa and Aditi. Kṛshṇa was born in Kaṃsa‘s prison at Mathurā. That same night Vasudeva carried him to Nanda‘s home in Gokula, where he was swapped for a newborn girl who was an aṃśa (part) of Devī. Kṛshṇa grew up in Nanda’s house.

His chief wives and sons were: Rukmiṇī (8 sons), Satyabhāmā (10 sons), Jāmbavatī (sons), Nāgnajitī (sons), and 16,000 further wives. His sister Subhadrā married Arjuna, and their son Abhimanyu fell at Kurukshetra.

The Purāṇa also names who some people had been in earlier births. Śiśupāla, king of the Cedis, was Rāvaṇa born again, and Dantavakra was Kumbhakarṇa born again. When Kṛshṇa killed Śiśupāla and Dantavakra, he brought to an end a karma that had run across two great yugas (ages).

The Yadu Vaṃśa in the Vāyu Purāṇa

The Vāyu Purāṇa (Uttarārdha, Chapters 3 and 4) gives its own detailed account of the Yadu family. It agrees with the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa‘s list and adds more detail.

Yadu’s Five Sons

The Vāyu Purāṇa names Yadu‘s five sons as Sahasrajit, Kroshṭu, Nīla, Jita and Laghu, all of them like sons of the devas. From Sahasrajit came Śatajit. Śatajit had three sons, Haihaya, Haya and Veṇuhaya, and from them came the Haihaya branch.

Kārtavīrya Arjuna in the Vāyu Purāṇa

The Vāyu Purāṇa tells in detail how Kārtavīrya Arjuna came to be and how he ruled. His line runs: Haihaya → Dharmatattva → Mahishmanta → Bhadraśreṇya (king of Vārāṇasī) → Durmada → Kanaka → Kṛtavīrya → Kārtavīrya Arjuna. (The Vāyu Purāṇa’s Haihaya line includes a Saṃjñeya or Mahishmanta step that is not always found in the Brahmāṇḍa list.)

Kārtavīrya Arjuna did very severe tapas (spiritual discipline) for ten thousand years, offering upāsanā to Dattātreya, the son of Atri. Dattātreya gave him four extraordinary varas (boons):

1. a thousand arms
2. the power to hold back adharma, so that he would protect what was given and not allow dharma to be broken
3. the conquest of the whole earth with its seven dvīpas (continents)
4. death only at the hands of one born to a higher station

With these varas he ruled the earth of seven dvīpas. He performed ten thousand yajñas (fire rituals) with golden altars and golden yūpa posts (sacrificial posts). Nārada and the gandharvas (celestial singers) sang his praises, and no king in the seven continents was his equal. He played in the ocean with his thousand arms, churning its waters. He captured Rāvaṇa in battle and kept him prisoner in Māhishmatī until Pulastya Ṛshi came and won his release. He ruled for 85,000 years and was cakravartī nine times.

Āpava Ṛshi (Vasishṭha) cursed Kārtavīrya Arjuna. This happened when Agni, who had been given the seven-dvīpa earth as bhikshā (alms), burned through forests and āśramas (hermitages), including Vasishṭha’s own. Vasishṭha declared that a brāhmaṇa who was not a kshatriya, the mighty Paraśurāma, would cut off all his thousand arms and kill him. And so it happened: Paraśurāma’s axe cut off those thousand arms and ended his life in battle.

After Kārtavīrya Arjuna came his hundred sons. Five of them were great mahārathas (chariot warriors): Śūra, Śūrasena, Vṛshṭyādya, Vṛsha and Jayadhvaja. From Jayadhvaja came Tālajaṅgha. His hundred sons became the Tālajaṅghas. The Haihaya sub-clans were the Vītihotras, Bhojas, Āvantyas, Tuṇḍikeras and Tālajaṅghas.

Jyāmagha and Śaibyā

From Kroshṭu, through many generations, came Rukmakavaca, who had five sons: Rukmeshu, Pṛthurukma, Jyāmagha, Parigha and Hari. Jyāmagha gave up any claim to his brothers’ kingdoms and went into the forest with only his strong-willed wife Śaibyā, daughter of Śibi. They had no son, yet Jyāmagha never took another wife. Once, after a victory in battle, he brought home a young woman and announced that she was his daughter-in-law, the wife of a son who was not yet born. Through the power of Śaibyā’s tapas she conceived, and Vidarbha was born. The young woman became Vidarbha’s wife. From Vidarbha came Krathu, Kauśika and Lomapāda, who founded the Vidarbha line. From this line, in time, came Sātvata himself.

The line continues through many generations to Purūdvaha (born of Ekākshī), then Sattva, then Sātvata. Whoever knows this family line of Jyāmagha gains children, wisdom and sāyujya (union) with Candra.

Per Bhāgavata Purāṇa

Śrī Śuka Maharshi tells the line of Yadu to Parīkshit Mahārāja at the close of Skandha 9 of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa: “Now I will describe the line of Yadu. Yadu is the eldest son of Yayāti.” This account of the line, he says, is very holy and takes away all the faults of men; the one who hears of the line of Yadu is freed from all pāpas. For in that very line Bhagavān Śrī Hari, the Parabrahman, took a human form and descended.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 23

Yadu and his father’s old age

Yadu and Turvasu were born to Yayāti by Devayānī, daughter of Śukrācārya. When Śukrācārya’s śāpa brought old age upon Yayāti, and Śukra allowed him to exchange it with anyone who would consent, Yayāti asked his eldest son first: “O son! Take this old age that your grandfather has given me, and give me your youth.” Yadu answered: “I have no wish to take the old age that has come to you in middle age and live as an old man. Without enjoying the pleasures of the senses, a man does not gain vairāgya (dispassion).” Turvasu, Druhyu and Anu refused in the same way, and Pūru, the youngest, took on his father’s old age. When Yayāti at last gave up his desires, he made Druhyu lord of the south-east, Yadu lord of the south, Turvasu of the west and Anu of the north, and crowned Pūru samrāṭ over them all.

Long after, when Śrī Kṛshṇa made his maternal grandfather Ugrasena king of the Yādavas, he said to him: “Because of the śāpa of Yayāti, the Yādavas may not sit on the royal throne. But by my word there will be no fault.”

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapters 18–19; Skandha 10, Chapter 45

Yadu’s four sons and the Haihayas

Yadu had four sons: Sahasrajit, Kroshṭu, Nala and Ripu. The eldest, Sahasrajit, had a son Śatajit, and Śatajit’s sons were Mahāhaya, Veṇuhaya and Haihaya.

From Haihaya the line runs, each the son of the one before: Haihaya → Dharma → Netra → Kunti → Sohañji → Mahishmān → Bhadrasena. Bhadrasena had two sons, Durmada and Dhanaka. Dhanaka had four sons: Kṛtavīrya, Kṛtāgni, Kṛtavarmā and Kṛtaujas.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 23

Kārtavīryārjuna

Kṛtavīrya’s son was Arjuna, called Kārtavīryārjuna. He became lord of the seven khaṇḍas, and he received yoga and the yoga-siddhis from Dattātreya, the aṃśāvatāra of Śrī Hari. No mahārāja whatever can equal Kārtavīryārjuna in yajña, dāna, tapas, yoga, jñāna, valour, victory and the punishing of the wicked. With strength that never failed, for eighty-five thousand years without a break he enjoyed the pleasures of the six senses, which never weakened. He never knew a day when his wealth was lost, and for those who remember him too, wealth is not lost.

Kārtavīryārjuna had ten thousand sons, but in the battle with Paraśurāma only five came out alive: Jayadhvaja, Śūrasena, Vṛshabha, Madhu and Ūrjita.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 23

The Tālajaṅghas, and the names Yādava, Vṛshṇi and Mādhava

Jayadhvaja‘s son was Tālajaṅgha, who had a hundred sons; they took the name of Tālajaṅgha kshatriyas, and the eldest of them was Vītihotra. Sagara Mahārāja received the Āgneyāstra from Aurva Maharshi and with it slew those Tālajaṅghas.

Madhu, son of Kārtavīryārjuna, had a hundred sons, of whom Vṛshṇi was the eldest. From Yadu, Vṛshṇi and Madhu the line spread, and those of the line became famous by the names Yādavas, Vṛshṇis and Mādhavas.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 23

The line of Kroshṭu: Śaśabindu

From Kroshṭu, Yadu‘s son, the line runs: Kroshṭu → Vṛjinavān → Śvāhi → Ruśaka → Citraratha → Śaśabindu.

Śaśabindu was very great, a great yogī and also a great bhogī (enjoyer). That Śaśabindu Cakravartī, who never knew defeat, possessed the fourteen kinds of excellent things, beginning with the elephant, the horse and the chariot. He had ten thousand wives, and in them he begot ten thousand lakhs of sons. Of those hundred crore sons six were foremost, beginning with Pṛthuśravas and Pṛthukīrti.

Pṛthuśravas had a son famous as Dharma, and Dharma’s son Uśana performed a hundred aśvamedha yāgas. Uśana’s son was Rucaka, who had five sons: Purujit, Rukma, Rukmeshu, Pṛthu and Jyāmagha.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 23

Jyāmagha, Śaibyā and Bhojyā

Jyāmagha had no child by his wife Śaibyā, yet out of fear of his wife he did not marry another woman. Once, having conquered an enemy king, he brought from that king’s antaḥpura (inner palace) a maiden named Bhojyā, of the Bhoja vaṃśa. Śaibyā saw Bhojyā seated in the chariot, grew angry and said: “O deceiver! You have seated her in my place in the chariot. Who is she?” Jyāmagha said: “Your daughter-in-law.” Śaibyā smiled and asked: “I have no children, and I have no co-wife either. How can she be my daughter-in-law?” The king said: “O mahārāṇī! The son who is to be born to you will marry her.” The Viśvedevas and the Pitṛ devatās approved this word of Jyāmagha.

After some time Śaibyā conceived and bore a fine boy, named Vidarbha. He grew up and married the sādhvī Bhojyā, and so she truly became Śaibyā’s daughter-in-law.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 23

The sons of Vidarbha, and the line of Cedi

The next chapter, the last of Skandha 9, is called “the line of Vidarbha“. By Bhojyā, Vidarbha had three sons: Kuśa, Kratha and Romapāda. Romapāda, the third, gave joy to those of the Vidarbha line.

Romapāda’s line runs: Romapāda → Babhru → Kṛti → Uśika → Cedi. Śiśupāla, Damaghosha and others belong to that line of Cedi.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 24

The line of Kratha, down to Sātvata

From Kratha the line runs, each the son of the one before: Kratha → Kunti → Dhṛshṭi → Nirvṛti → Daśārha → Vyoma → Jīmūta → Vikṛti → Bhīmaratha → Navaratha → Daśaratha → Śakuni → Karambhi → Devarāta → Devakshatra → Madhu → Kuruvaśa → Anu → Puruhotra → Āyu → Sātvata. (This Daśaratha and this Śakuni are kings of Kratha’s line, and this Madhu is the son of Devakshatra.)

Sātvata had seven sons: Bhajamāna, Bhaji, Divya, Vṛshṇi, Devāvṛdha, Andhaka and Mahābhoja.

Bhajamāna had three sons by his first wife, Nimlāci, Kiṅkiṇa and Dhṛshṭi, and three by his second wife, Śatājit, Sahasrājit and Ayutājit.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 24

Devāvṛdha and Babhru

The son of Devāvṛdha was Babhru. Of these two the elders recite two ślokas, which the Purāṇa gives in their meaning: what we hear of Babhru and Devāvṛdha from afar, so they truly are when one goes near and sees them. Among men Babhru is the best, and Devāvṛdha is equal to the devatās. After them, fourteen thousand and sixty-five of the line of Babhru and Devāvṛdha attained moksha through the power of those two alone.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 24

Mahābhoja and the Bhojas

Mahābhoja, another son of Sātvata, was also a dharmātmā, like Babhru and Devāvṛdha. In his line arose the kings called the Bhojas.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 24

The line of Vṛshṇi: Satrājita, Sātyaki and Akrūra

Vṛshṇi, son of Sātvata, had two sons, Sumitra and Yudhājit. Yudhājit had sons Śini and Anamitra. Anamitra’s son was Nimna, and Nimna’s sons were Satrājita and Prasena.

Anamitra had another son also named Śini, different from Yudhājit’s son Śini. From him the line runs: Śini → Satyaka → Yuyudhāna → Sātyaki → Jaya → Kuṇi → Yugandhara.

Anamitra had a third son, also named Vṛshṇi, different from Sātvata’s son Vṛshṇi. This Vṛshṇi had sons Śvaphalka and Citraratha. By his wife Gāndinī, Śvaphalka had the famous Akrūra and twelve other renowned sons: Āsaṅga, Sārameya, Mṛdura, Mṛduvit, Giri, Dharmavṛddha, Sukarma, Kshetropeksha, Arivardhana, Śatrughna, Gandhasūda and Pratibāhu; and they had a younger sister named Sucīrā. Akrūra had two sons, Devavanta and Upadeva.

Citraratha, the other son of this Vṛshṇi, had many sons, Pṛthu, Vidūratha and others, all of them the best of the Vṛshṇi line, who gave joy to it.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 24

The line of Andhaka: Āhuka, Devaka and Ugrasena

Andhaka, son of Sātvata, had four sons: Kukura, Bhajamāna, Śuci and Kambalabarhisha.

From Kukura the line runs: Kukura → Vahni → Viloma → Kapotaroma → Anu → Andhaka → Dundubhi → Aridyota → Punarvasu. Anu, son of Kapotaroma, had Tumburu as his friend. Punarvasu had a son, Āhuka, and a daughter, Āhutī. Āhuka had two sons, Devaka and Ugrasena.

Devaka had four sons, Devavanta, Upadeva, Sudeva and Devavardhana, and seven younger daughters: Dhṛtadevā, Śāntidevā, Upadevā, Śrīdevā, Devarakshitā, Sahadevā and Devakī. Vasudeva married all seven.

Ugrasena had nine sons: Kaṃsa, Sunāma, Nyagrodha, Kaṅka, Śaṅku, Suhū, Rāshṭrapāla, Sṛshṭi and Tushṭimanta. He also had five daughters, Kaṃsā, Kaṃsavatī, Kaṅkā, Śūrabhū and Rāshṭrapālikā, whom Devabhāga and the other younger brothers of Vasudeva married.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 24

The line of Vidūratha: Hṛdīka and Kṛtavarmā

From Vidūratha, son of Citraratha, the line runs: Vidūratha → Śūra → Bhajamāna → Śini → Svayaṃbhoja → Hṛdīka. Hṛdīka had three sons: Devabāhu, Śatadhanu and Kṛtavarmā.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 24

Śūra, son of Devamīḍha, and his children

The wife of Śūra, son of Devamīḍha, was famed by the name Mārishā. By her Śūra had ten sons, all spotless: Vasudeva, Devabhāga, Devaśravas, Ānaka, Sṛñjaya, Śyāmaka, Kaṅka, Śamīka, Vatsaka and Vṛka.

Vasudeva was to be the father who would give birth to Śrī Hari. So when he was born, the dundubhis and bherīs (kettle-drums) of the devatās sounded of themselves, and for this reason he became famous as Ānakadundubhi.

The ten brothers had five sisters: Pṛthā, Śrutadevā, Śrutakīrti, Śrutaśravā and Rājādhidevī. Śūra had a childless friend named Kunti, and he gave Pṛthā to Kunti as a foster-daughter. Kuntī pleased Durvāsa Maharshi greatly by her service and received from him a vidyā for calling the devatās. To test it she called the most pure Sūrya, who came at once and stood before her. Amazed, she said: “O Sūryadeva! I used the vidyā only to gain faith in it. Forgive me and go.” Sūryadeva said: “O Kuntīdevī! My darśana will not be in vain. I will give you a son, and I will bless you so that no fault comes to your maidenhood.” He placed the garbha in her and went to Sūryaloka, and at once a boy like a second Sūrya was born. Afraid of the world, she left the boy, with great difficulty, in the waters of a river. Pāṇḍu, Parīkshit‘s great-grandfather, who showed valour for the sake of truth, married Kuntī.

Śrutadevā was married by Vṛddhaśarmā, king of the Karūsha country. Vijaya, under the śāpa of Sanaka and the other ṛshis, had been born as Hiraṇyāksha, son of Diti; that same Hiraṇyāksha was born again from Śrutadevā as Dantavaktra. Dhṛshṭaketu, king of Kekaya, married Śrutakīrti, and she bore five sons, Santardana, Pratardana and others, who became the princes of Kekaya. Jayasena married Rājādhidevī; their two sons, Vinda and Anuvinda, became rulers of Avantī. Damaghosha, king of Cedi, married Śrutaśravā, and her son was Śiśupāla.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 24

The sons of Vasudeva’s brothers

Vasudeva‘s brothers married the daughters of Ugrasena:

• Devabhāga, by Kaṃsā, had two sons, Citraketu and Bṛhadbala.
• Devaśravas, by Kaṃsavatī, had two sons, Suvīra and Ishumanta.
• Ānaka, by Kaṅkā, had two sons, Satyajit and Purujit.
• Sṛñjaya, by Rāshṭrapālikā, had sons Vṛsha, Durmarshaṇa and others.
• Śyāmaka, by Śūrabhū, had two sons, Harikeśa and Hiraṇyāksha.

Of the other brothers: Vatsaka, by the apsarā Miśrakeśī, had sons Vṛka and others, and this Vṛka, by Durvārkshī, had sons Taksha, Pushkara, Śāla and others. Śamīka, by Sudāminī, had sons Sumitra, Arjunapāla and others. Kaṅka, by Karṇikā, had sons Ṛtadhāma and Jaya.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 24

The wives and sons of Vasudeva

Vasudeva had wives Pauravī, Rohiṇī, Bhadrā, Madirā, Rocanā, Ilā, Devakī and others, and Devakī was the chief among them.

• By Rohiṇī: Bala, Gada, Sāraṇa, Durmada, Vipula, Dhruva, Kṛta and others.
• By Pauravī: twelve sons, Bhūta the eldest, Subhadra, Bhadravāha, Durmada, Bhadra and others.
• By Madirā: Nanda, Upananda, Kṛtaka, Śūra and others.
• Kausalyā, that is Bhadrā, had only one son, Keśī, who gave joy to the line.
• By Rocanā: Hasta, Hemāṅgada and others; by Ilā, Uruvalka and other leading Yādavas.
• By Dhṛtadevā: one son, Vipṛshṇa.
• By Śāntidevā: Śrama, Pratiśruta and others.
• By Upadevā: ten kings, Kalpavarsha the eldest.
• By Śrīdevā: six sons, Vasu, Haṃsa, Suvaṃśa and others.
• By Devarakshitā: nine sons, Gada and others.
• By Sahadevā: eight sons, Puruviśruta and others, just as the Vasus were born to Dharma himself.

Generous Vasudeva begot by Devakī eight sons, counting Śrī Hari: Kīrtimanta, Susheṇa, Bhadrasena, Ṛju, Sammardana, Bhadra and Balarāma, the avatāra of Śesha; and to Devakī and Vasudeva Śrī Hari himself was born as the eighth son. They also had a daughter, Subhadrā, of whom Śuka says to Parīkshit: “That great puṇyātmā is your father’s mother.”

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 24

Why Śrī Hari descended in this line

Whenever in this world dharma declines and pāpa grows, Śrī Hari, Jagannātha, himself takes avatāra. He is beyond prakṛti, pure awareness, dwelling in all beings as their ātmā; he takes avatāra by his own māyā-śakti and performs līlās, and there is no other cause for his birth or his acts. When rākshasas were born as kings, gathered armies of many akshauhiṇīs and became a burden to Bhūmi, Śrī Hari set out to lessen that burden. The līlās he performed with Balarāma, the avatāra of Saṅkarshaṇa, even the leaders of the devatās cannot imagine.

He spread his most pure kīrti to bless the bhaktas who would be born in the Kali yuga, and for those who sing it, it removes bodily suffering, grief of the mind and ajñāna. His fame, amṛta to the ears of the good, is itself a great tīrtha: one who sips from it just once, with the ear as his cupped palms, washes away the bond of karma. The Bhojas, Vṛshṇis, Andhakas, Madhus, Śūrasenas, Daśārhas, Kurus, Sṛñjayas and Pāṇḍus ceaselessly praised the līlās of Śrī Kṛshṇa. Born in his own form and then taking a human form, he left his father’s house, the prison, for Nanda‘s Gokula; he took many wives and begot hundreds of sons; he removed the burden of Bhūmi through the war of the Kurus; and having taught Uddhava the supreme truth, he went to his own dhāma, Vaikuṇṭha.

Elsewhere the Purāṇa says that by Śrī Kṛshṇa’s birth the Yadu line became most praiseworthy; that Śrīman Nārāyaṇa with Ananta descended from the Ocean of Milk into the ocean of the Yadu line; that Kṛshṇa and Arjuna, the aṃśas of Nara and Nārāyaṇa, uplifted the Yadu and the Kuru vaṃśas; and that Śrī Hari rules and protects the Andhakas, Vṛshṇis and Yādavas. Acyuta placed his lotus hand on the heads of the Yādavas of the Sātvata line, and Lakshmī Devī asks him to place it on hers. For the Pāṇḍavas and the Yādavas Śrī Kṛshṇa was protector, guide, daiva (deity), beloved and kula-prabhu (head of the clan), and he even did the tasks they asked of him; they fixed their minds on Īśvara through kinship. Yet, Uddhava tells Vidura, the Yādavas lived with Śrī Hari and did not know him, as the fish did not recognise the moon while he was in the ocean: they took him for merely a great Yādava, not Parabrahma.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 24; Skandha 1, Chapters 10, 14; Skandha 2, Chapter 4; Skandha 3, Chapter 2; Skandha 4, Chapter 1; Skandha 5, Chapters 6, 18; Skandha 7, Chapter 1

The sons of Śrī Kṛshṇa

Each of Śrī Kṛshṇa‘s wives bore him ten sons, and Śuka names the sons of the eight chief queens:

The sons of Rukmiṇī were valiant and not less than their father, and Śrī Kṛshṇa had great love for the sons of Jāmbavatī. By Rohiṇī, one of the sixteen thousand, he had Dīptimān and other sons. Pradyumna, by Rukmavatī, daughter of Rukmī, had Aniruddha, born in the city of Bhojakaṭa. Rukmiṇī’s long-eyed daughter Cārumatī married Bali, the son of Kṛtavarmā. The mothers of Śrī Kṛshṇa’s children numbered more than sixteen thousand, and their sons and grandsons were in crores. Śrī Kṛshṇa alone was the refuge of the Yādavas, and through him all their purposes were fulfilled.

The Purāṇa gives Śrī Kṛshṇa sixteen thousand one hundred (eight) wives, Rukmiṇī and the others the eight chief among them, and says that his saṅkalpa never fails: in each of them he begot ten sons. Among those sons, eighteen mahārathas of fearsome prowess won wide kīrti: Pradyumna, Aniruddha (a grandson), Dīptimān, Bhānu, Sāmba, Madhu, Bṛhadbhānu, Citrabhānu, Vṛka, Aruṇa, Pushkara, Vedabāhu, Śrutadeva, Sunandana, Citrabāhu, Virūpa, Kavi and Nyagrodha. Of them Pradyumna, Rukmiṇī’s eldest, resembled his father.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapters 61, 90

The line of Vajra

Pradyumna married the daughter of Rukmī, and their son Aniruddha had the strength of ten thousand elephants. Aniruddha married the daughter of Rukmī’s son, Rocanā, and their son was Vajra. When the Yadu vaṃśa was destroyed on account of the musala, Vajra alone remained. From Vajra the line runs: Vajra → Pratibāhu → Subāhu → Śāntasena → Śatasena.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapters 61, 90

The greatness of the Yadu vaṃśa

In this vaṃśa none was born poor, without many children, short-lived, of little prowess, or without devotion to brāhmaṇas. To count those of the Yadu vaṃśa who did world-famous deeds is not possible even in some thousands of years. The ācāryas who taught the boys of the Yadu vaṃśa are heard to number three crore eighty-eight lakh, and in the kingdom of Ugrasena there were 1 00 00 00 00 00 000 (ten lakh crore) people.

The fearsome rākshasas who died in the Devāsura war were born as men and oppressed the people in their pride. To punish them Śrī Hari commanded the devatās, and they were born in the Yadu vaṃśa; their clans, such as the Vṛshṇi and the Andhaka, numbered one hundred and one. For the Yādavas, Śrī Kṛshṇa, who removes pāpas, was their master and their ideal; all followed his command and flourished, and with minds fixed on him they forgot even their own bodies while lying down, sitting, walking, speaking, playing, bathing and eating. The Yādava heroes are his servants, his arms, with which he drove out adharma.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 90

The Yādavas in Mathurā and Dvārakā

Long ago Śūrasena Mahārāja, lord of the Yādavas, ruled from Mathurā both the Mathurā-maṇḍala and the Śūrasena-maṇḍala, and from his time Mathurā was the capital of all the Yādava kings; Śrī Hari has his eternal presence there. Before the avatāra, Brahmā told the devas to be born with their aṃśas among the Yadu-vaṃśīyas. When Devaka gave his daughter Devakī to Vasudeva, he gave as wedding gifts 400 elephants with golden garlands, 15,000 horses, 1,800 chariots and 200 adorned maidservants. Ugrasena was lord of the Yādava, Bhoja and Andhaka lines, but his son Kaṃsa was born a blight on the Bhoja line. Knowing his former birth, Kaṃsa made enmity with the Yādavas and, with Jarāsandha of Magadha as his support and with Pralamba, Baka, Cāṇūra, Tṛṇāvarta, Agha, Mushṭika, Arishṭa, Dvivida, Pūtanā, Keśī and Dhenuka as his companions, set about destroying them. The oppressed Yādavas fled to Kuru, Pañcāla, Kekaya, Śālva, Vidarbha, Nishadha, Videha and Kosala, while some kinsmen followed Kaṃsa and served him. The devas told Devakī that her son would surely protect the Yādavas.

After Kaṃsa was slain, Śrī Kṛshṇa brought back all the clans who had fled in the four directions, the Yadu, Vṛshṇi, Andhaka, Madhu, Dāśārha, Kukura, Sātvata and others, grown thin from living in foreign lands. He honoured them, satisfied them with wealth and settled each in his own house, and protected by the arms of Śrī Kṛshṇa and Balarāma they lived happily.

Jarāsandha attacked the Yādavas seventeen times, each time with the same number of akshauhiṇīs; through the tejas of Śrī Kṛshṇa they destroyed his army each time and let him go. When Kālayavana besieged Mathurā with three crores of mlecchas, Śrī Kṛshṇa had a fort twelve yojanas in extent built in the middle of the sea, a city of every wonder, filled with people of the four varṇas and shining with the houses of the Yādava chiefs, and by the power of Yogamāyā he carried all the people there. In Dvārakā the Yādavas of the Madhu, Bhoja, Daśārha, Arha, Kukura, Andhaka and Vṛshṇi lines, equal in strength to Śrī Kṛshṇa, guarded the city, and protected by his arms they moved in bliss like the pārshadas of Śrī Mahāvishṇu.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapters 11, 14; Skandha 10, Chapters 1–2, 45, 50

The end of the Yadu vaṃśa

When Śrī Kṛshṇa, with Balarāma and the other Yādavas, had destroyed the rākshasas and, through the war of the Kauravas and Pāṇḍavas and through the Yādavas, the kings who burdened the earth, he reflected: “In the eyes of the world the burden of the earth is removed, but in my view it is not, for the Yādava vaṃśa, which enemies cannot even look at, still remains. It has risen in vīrya and śaurya and is unrestrained, and because I am its refuge no defeat can come to it from others. As fire born inside a clump of bamboo burns the clump to ash, I will cause a quarrel to arise within it.” His saṅkalpa always comes true, and he withdrew his own vaṃśa with the śāpa of the maharshis as the pretext. Parīkshit asked how a śāpa could fall on the Yādavas, who were devoted to brāhmaṇas, generous, fixed on Śrī Kṛshṇa alone and served their elders, and Śuka told him.

Viśvāmitra, Asita, Kaṇva, Durvāsa, Bhṛgu, Aṅgiras, Kaśyapa, Vāmadeva, Atri, Vasishṭha, Nārada, Gautama and other maharshis had gone to Piṇḍāraka-kshetra. Young men of the Yādavas, who did not know humility, dressed Sāmba, son of Jāmbavatī, as a woman with child and asked the maharshis in mockery whether she would bear a son. The maharshis grew angry and said: “She will give birth to a musala that will bring your whole vaṃśa to its end.” Within the false belly the young men found an iron musala, and they brought it to King Ugrasena in the sabhā. Ugrasena had it ground to powder and cast into the ocean with the small piece of iron that remained. A fish swallowed the piece, which came to a hunter who fixed it on the tip of his arrow; the powder washed onto the shore and grew into clumps of thorny tuṅga grass. Śrī Kṛshṇa, who is Kāla, had the power to prevent the śāpa, but he approved it. Uddhava tells Vidura that the maharshis pronounced the śāpa because they knew Śrī Kṛshṇa’s wish.

When Brahmā, with Śiva and the devatās, came to Dvārakā, praised him and asked him to enter Vaikuṇṭha, saying that a hundred and twenty-five years had passed since he descended in the Yadu line, Śrī Kṛshṇa answered: “These Yādavas, whose pride has grown through strength, valour and wealth, are ready to destroy the world. As the shore holds back the ocean, I have held them back. If I go without withdrawing them, they will overstep every bound. Now, through the śāpa of the maharshis, the destruction of the Yādava clan has begun.” Great ill omens arose in the sky, the mid-region and the earth, and Śrī Kṛshṇa told the Yādavas in the Sudharmā sabhā to send the women, children and old people to Śaṅkhoddhāra and to go themselves to Prabhāsa, where the Sarasvatī flows west, to bathe, fast, worship the devatās and give to brāhmaṇas cows, land, gold, cloth, elephants, horses, chariots and houses. The elders said “So be it”, crossed the sea on boats and went on chariots to Prabhāsa.

There the Yādavas did the pūjā, the dāna and every other good act with bhakti beyond measure, for Śrī Kṛshṇa alone was their deva; they bathed, offered tarpaṇa to the devas, pitṛs and ṛshis, gave well-marked cows to the brāhmaṇas with the thought of offering all to Īśvara, and ate with the brāhmaṇas’ leave. Then, their discernment destroyed by prārabdha, they drank a sweet, strongly intoxicating liquor. Bewildered by Śrī Kṛshṇa’s māyā and very proud, they fell into a great quarrel on the shore and fought with bows, swords, spears, maces, slings and lances, like forest elephants with their tusks. Pradyumna fought Sāmba, Akrūra fought Bhoja, Aniruddha fought Sātyaki, Subhadra fought Saṅgrāmajit, Gada, Śrī Kṛshṇa’s brother, fought Gada his son, and Sumitra fought Suratha; Niśaṭha, Ulmuka, Sahasrajit, Śatajit, Bhānu and others also fought one another. The Purāṇa names the lines in a śloka:

दाशार्हवृष्ण्यंधकभोजसात्वता मध्वर्बुदा माथुरशूर सेनाः ।
विसर्जनाः कुकुराः कुंतयश्च मिथस्तत स्तेऽथ विसृज्य सौहृदम् ॥

dāśārhavṛshṇyaṃdhakabhojasātvatā madhvarbudā māthuraśūra senāḥ |
visarjanāḥ kukurāḥ kuṃtayaśca mithastata ste’tha visṛjya sauhṛdam ||

Then those of the Dāśārha, Vṛshṇi, Andhaka, Bhoja, Sātvata, Madhu, Visarjana, Kukura and Kunti lines, and the people of Arbuda, Mathurā and Śūrasena, gave up their friendship and fought one another.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 30

Fathers and sons, brothers, grandfathers and grandsons, uncles and nephews, friends and well-wishers fought; kinsmen killed kinsmen. When their arrows were spent and their bows broken, they seized the thorny tuṅga grass, which in their fists became clubs equal to the vajra. When Śrī Kṛshṇa sought to stop them they struck him too, and they took even Balarāma for an enemy. Then Śrī Kṛshṇa himself took up the grass as a club and moved through the battle. As fire born of bamboo rubbing on bamboo burns the forest, the anger of the Yādavas, seized by the brāhmaṇas’ śāpa and bewildered by his māyā, destroyed the vaṃśa, and when all nine of its lines had perished, Śrī Kṛshṇa saw that the last of the earth’s burden was removed. Balarāma, on the shore of the ocean, merged his mind in the Paramātmā and gave up his human form, and Śrī Kṛshṇa went to his own dhāma.

Dāruka brought the news to Dvārakā. Devakī, Rohiṇī and Vasudeva, not finding Balarāma and Śrī Kṛshṇa, gave up their prāṇas; the wives of Balarāma, of Vasudeva and of Pradyumna and the other sons entered the fire with their husbands’ bodies, and Rukmiṇī, Satyabhāmā and Śrī Kṛshṇa’s other wives entered the fire meditating on him alone. Arjuna had the pitṛ-karma performed for the slain kinsmen. The sea submerged Dvārakā in a moment, all but Śrī Kṛshṇa’s own residence, where Śrī Hari is ever present; remembering it removes all that is inauspicious. Arjuna took the women, children and old people who remained to Indraprastha and there had Vajra, son of Aniruddha, crowned. Hearing from Arjuna of the slaying of the Yādavas, the Pāṇḍavas crowned Parīkshit and went to the Himālaya.

Arjuna himself had told Yudhishṭhira: “Because of a brāhmaṇa’s śāpa they all lost their discernment, drank liquor up to the throat, and, like strangers who did not know one another, struck one another with their fists and died. Only four or five remained. As among water creatures the big eat the small and also one another, so Śrī Kṛshṇa made the mighty Yādavas destroy others, and one another, and so lightened the burden of the earth.” Hearing of the destruction of the Yadu line, Yudhishṭhira resolved to go to svarga, and Kuntī merged her mind in Śrī Kṛshṇa by single-pointed bhakti. Of all the atirathas and mahārathas of the Vṛshṇis and Bhojas, Uddhava, foremost of the Yādavas, alone remained, for Śrī Kṛshṇa had sent him to Badarī.

The phalaśruti: whoever sings with śraddhā this avatāra of Śrī Hari and his līlās is freed from all pāpas.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapter 15; Skandha 3, Chapters 3–4; Skandha 11, Chapters 1, 6, 30–31

Per Agni Purāṇa

Agni Deva tells the Yadu vaṃśa in the 275th chapter, after the Sūrya and Soma vaṃśas. Devayānī bore Yayāti the sons Yadu and Turvasu, and of Yayāti’s sons Yadu and Pūru became the ones who carried the Soma vaṃśa forward. In the line of Yadu the Yādavas were born, and Vāsudeva is the highest of them.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 12, 274–275

The sons of Yadu and the Haihaya line

Yadu had five sons: Nīlāñjika, Raghu, Kroshṭu, Śatajit and Sahasrajit. Sahasrajit was the eldest. To Śatajit three sons were born: Haihaya, Reṇuhaya and Haya.

The Haihaya line runs, each the son of the one before: Haihaya → Dharmanetra → Saṃsāta → Mahishmān → Bhadrasena → Durgama → Kanaka. To Kanaka four sons were born: Kṛtavīrya, Kṛtāgni, Karavīra and Kṛtaujas.

Kṛtavīrya’s son was Arjuna. Dattātreya, pleased by his tapas, gave him as varas sovereignty over the earth surrounded by the seven dvīpas, a thousand arms and invincibility in battle, and told him: “Whenever you do adharma, Śrī Mahāvishṇu will slay you.” Arjuna performed ten thousand yajñas. Merely by remembering him, no one in his kingdom suffered loss of wealth. In yajña, dāna, tapas, valour and knowledge of the śāstras, none equals Arjuna, son of Kṛtavīrya.

Five hundred sons were born to him. Five of them were the chief: Śūrasena, Śūra, Dhṛshṭokta, Kṛshṇa and Jayadhvaja. Jayadhvaja became king of Avantī deśa, and his son was Tālajaṅgha. Tālajaṅgha had many sons, famous under the same name, the Tālajaṅghas. Among the Haihaya kshatriyas there were five kulas: Bhoja, Avantī, Vītihotra, Svayaṃjāta and Śauṇḍikeya. To Vītihotra was born Ananta, and to Ananta, Durjaya.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 275

The line of Kroshṭu

“Now I shall tell of the line of Kroshṭu,” says Agni Deva, “in which Śrī Mahāvishṇu himself was born.” The line runs: Kroshṭu → Vṛjinīvān → Svāhā → Rushadgu → Citraratha → Śaśabindu. Śaśabindu was a cakravartī, always devoted to the bhajana of Bhagavān Vishṇu. Ten thousand sons were born to him, all very wealthy and radiant, and the eldest was Pṛthuśravas.

From Pṛthuśravas the line runs: Suyajña → Uśana → Titikshu → Marutta → Rukmakavaca, lord of the Kambalabarhis. Rukmakavaca had fifty sons, beginning with Rukmeshu, Pṛthurukmaka, Rāvi, Jyāmagha and Pāpaghna. Of these, Jyāmagha was given over to women, and in Śaibyā a son, Vidarbha, was born to him.

To Vidarbha were born Kauśika, Lomapāda and Kratha; Lomapāda was the eldest. Lomapāda’s son was Kṛti. Kauśika’s son was Cidi, and those of his line are famous as the Caidyas. To Pṛthu, son of Vidarbha, was born Kunti, and from Kunti the line runs: Dhṛshṭaka → Dhṛti → Vidūratha, who was also called Śūra.

From Daśārha the line runs on: Vyoma → Jīmūta → Vikala → Bhīmaratha → Navaratha → Dṛḍharatha → Śakunti → Karambha → Devarāta → Devanetra → Madhu → Dravarasa → Puruhūta → Jantu → Sātvata.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 275

Sātvata and his four lines

Sātvata was the king of the best qualities in the Yadu vaṃśa. Four sons were born to him: Bhajamāna, Vṛshṇi, Andhaka and Devāvṛdha, and the lines of all four are famous. To Bhajamāna were born Bāhya, Vṛshṇi, Kṛmi and Nimi.

To Devāvṛdha was born Babhru. Of them this śloka is told: “As we hear of their virtues from afar, so we see them from near. Babhru is the best among men; Devāvṛdha is equal to the devas.” To Babhru were born four sons, devotees of Vāsudeva: Kukura, Bhajamāna, Śini and Kambalabarhisha.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 275

Kukura’s line: Āhuka, Devaka and Ugrasena

From Kukura the line runs: Dhṛshṇu → Dhṛti → Kapotaroma → Tittiri → Nara → Ānakadundubhi → Punarvasu → Āhuka, called the son of Āhukī. Āhuka’s sons were Devaka and Ugrasena.

To Devaka four sons were born: Devavān, Upadeva, Sahadeva and Devarakshita. They had seven sisters, whom Vasudeva married: Devakī, Śrutadevī, Mitradevī, Yaśodharā, Śrīdevī, Satyadevī and Surāpī.

To Ugrasena eight sons were born: Kaṃsa, Nyagrodha, Sunāma, Kaṅka, Śaṅku, Sutanu, Rāshṭrapāla, Yuddhamushṭi and Sumushṭika. Kaṃsa was the eldest.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 275

Bhajamāna’s line and Kṛmi’s line

To Bhajamāna was born Vidūratha, an excellent rathī (chariot warrior). To Vidūratha were born Rājādhideva and Śūra. To Rājādhideva two sons were born, Śoṇāśva and Śvetavāhana, and to Śoṇāśva five sons, beginning with Śami and Śatrujit.

From Kṛmi the line runs: Pratikshatra → Bhoja → Hṛdika. Of Hṛdika’s ten sons the chief were Kṛtavarmā, Śatadhanvā, Devārha and Bhīshaṇa. From Devārha came Kambalabarhi, and from him Samaujas; to Samaujas were born Sudaṃshṭra, Suvāsa and Dhṛshṭa.

Dhṛshṭa had two wives, Gāndhārī and Mādrī. In Gāndhārī, Sumitra was born; in Mādrī, Yudhājit. To Dhṛshṭa were also born Anamitra and Śini. To Śini was born Devamīḍhusha. To Anamitra was born Nimna, and to Nimna, Prasena and Satrājit.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 275

The Syamantaka maṇi

Prasena wore the Syamantaka maṇi, which his brother Satrājit had received from Sūrya, and went hunting. A lion killed him 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 killed Satrājit; Śrī Kṛshṇa killed Śatadhanvā, took back the jewel and gained great fame. In the presence of Balarāma and the other Yādavas he gave the maṇi to Akrūra, and so the false charge laid on Śrī Kṛshṇa was removed.

The phalaśruti: whoever reads this account attains svarga.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 275

Satrājit, Sātyaki and Akrūra

To Satrājit were born a son, Bhaṅgakāra, and Satyabhāmā, the wife of Śrī Kṛshṇa. From Anamitra a line runs: Śini → Satyaka → Sātyaki, who had the other name Yuyudhāna → Dhuni → Yugandhara. To Yudhājit was born Svāhya, and to Svāhya, Ṛshabha and Kshetaka. To Ṛshabha was born Śvaphalka; to Śvaphalka, Akrūra; and to Akrūra, Sudhanvaka.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 275

Śūra’s line: Vasudeva, Pṛthā, Balarāma and Śrī Kṛshṇa

To Śūra were born sons beginning with Vasudeva, and a daughter, Pṛthā. Pṛthā, who had the other name Kuntī, was the wife of King Pāṇḍu. To her were born Yudhishṭhira from the aṃśa of Yama, Bhīmasena from the aṃśa of Vāyu and Arjuna from the aṃśa of Indra; to Mādrī were born Nakula and Sahadeva.

To Vasudeva in Rohiṇī three sons were born: Balarāma, Sāraṇa and Durgama. In Devakī were born Susheṇa, Kīrtimān, Bhadrasena, Jārukhya, Vishṇudāsa and Bhadradeha, and Kaṃsa killed these six infants. After them Balarāma and Śrī Kṛshṇa appeared, and last was born Subhadrā, of auspicious speech. To Śrī Kṛshṇa were born sons beginning with Cārudeshṇa and Sāmba; Sāmba and the others were sons of Jāmbavatī.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 275

The avatāra of Śrī Kṛshṇa and his family

Kaśyapa Maharshi descended as Vasudeva, and Aditi, best among women, as Devakī, and to them Śrī Kṛshṇa descended as son: to protect dharma, to bring adharma to an end, to protect the devas and to crush the daityas. Sixty lakh dānavas had been born as men and were harming the people; to destroy them Śrī Kṛshṇa descended, and for those who guard the bounds of karma.

Rukmiṇī, Satyabhāmā and Satyā, daughter of Nagnajit, were his dear wives, and Satyabhāmā was his ārādhya-devī. Gāndhārī, Lakshmaṇā, Mitravindā, Kālindī, Jāmbavatī, Suśīlā, Mādrī, Kausalyā, Vijayā, Jayā and others, sixteen thousand women, were his wives. In Rukmiṇī were born Pradyumna and others, and in Jāmbavatī, Sāmba and others. In all Śrī Kṛshṇa had one crore and eighty thousand sons. To Pradyumna, in the princess of Vidarbha, was born Aniruddha, who loved battle, and to Aniruddha were born Vajra and others.

All the Yādavas were of great strength, three crores in number, and all of them were protected by Śrī Kṛshṇa.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 276

Dvārakā and the end of the Yādavas

When Jarāsandha besieged Mathurā, Rāma and Kṛshṇa left it and came to Gomanta; they defeated Jarāsandha in battle, and Śrī Kṛshṇa built the city of Dvārakā and lived there with the Yādavas. When King Raivata came back from the world of Brahmā, where many yugas had passed in one muhūrta, he found that in place of Kuśasthalī the beautiful city of Dvāravatī had been built, with many gates, full of Yādavas, guarded by the Bhojas, Vṛshṇis and Andhakas with Vāsudeva as their leader.

At the end, Śrī Mahāvishṇu, having removed the burden of the earth, made the Yādava clan, which had itself become a burden on the earth, perish by the musala (the iron pestle), under the pretext of a brāhmaṇa’s śāpa. Śrī Kṛshṇa consecrated Vajra as king and gave up his body at Prabhāsa-kshetra, and the ocean submerged Dvārakā. Arjuna performed the preta-saṃskāras (rites for the departed) and other rites for the Yādavas, with gifts of water and wealth. Learning from Arjuna that the musala had been born and all the Yādavas had perished, Yudhishṭhira consecrated Parīkshit in the kingdom and went with his brothers to svarga.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 12, 14–15, 273

Sources

• Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapters 68–71
• Vāyu Purāṇa, Uttarārdha, Chapter 3
• Vāyu Purāṇa, Uttarārdha, Chapter 4
• Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 12, 14–15, 273–276
• Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapters 10–11, 14–15; Skandha 2, Chapter 4; Skandha 3, Chapters 2–4; Skandha 4, Chapter 1; Skandha 5, Chapters 6, 18; Skandha 7, Chapter 1; Skandha 9, Chapters 18–19, 23–24; Skandha 10, Chapters 1–2, 45, 50, 61, 90; Skandha 11, Chapters 1, 6, 30–31