Jarāsandha’s Wars and Dvārakā

After Kaṃsa died, his father-in-law Jarāsandha, the strong king of Magadha, attacked Mathurā again and again to avenge his daughters’ widowhood. The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa tells of seventeen such invasions. Each time Kṛshṇa and Balarāma destroyed the army but spared Jarāsandha, because he served a purpose: he kept bringing wicked kings to their end and so lightened the burden of the earth. Then Kālayavana arrived with his own army. Kṛshṇa drew back and built the city of Dvārakā in the middle of the ocean. By the power of Yogamāyā he moved all the Yādavas there.

Jarāsandha’s reason

Kṛshṇa killed Kaṃsa in the wrestling arena of Mathurā. Kaṃsa’s two wives, Asti and Prāpti, were daughters of Jarāsandha, the king of Magadha. They fled in grief to their father’s house. Jarāsandha was heartbroken and furious. He set out on a great campaign to destroy the whole Yādava race. He gathered an army of twenty-three akshauhiṇīs (very large armies) and besieged Mathurā on every side, like a flood rising over its banks.

Kṛshṇa’s plan to spare Jarāsandha

Jarāsandha’s huge forces ringed Mathurā. Kṛshṇa thought about the purpose of his avatāra (descent): to lighten the burden of the earth by destroying the wicked forces gathered under asura kings. He reasoned that Jarāsandha himself should not be killed. Jarāsandha would gather armies of still more wicked kings from all over the earth, again and again, and each campaign would destroy them. If Jarāsandha were killed too soon, this means of clearing the earth would end.

Celestial weapons appeared of themselves from Vaikuṇṭha, along with two divine chariots. Kṛshṇa and Balarāma mounted them and rode out of Mathurā. Kṛshṇa blew the Pāñcajanya conch, and fear ran through the enemy ranks. The great army hid even their chariot banners. Kṛshṇa’s chariot had the banner of Garuḍa, and Balarāma’s had the banner of the palmyra tree. Kṛshṇa drew the Śārṅga bow and let loose a ceaseless stream of arrows. They cut down horses, elephants, chariots and foot soldiers, and the battle ran with blood. Balarāma broke up whole formations with his musala (club). When Jarāsandha himself was captured, Kṛshṇa stopped Balarāma from binding him and let him go on purpose.

Seventeen battles

In this way seventeen invasions of Mathurā by Jarāsandha were driven back. Each time the Yādavas destroyed the armies and spared the king. He went back to Magadha and raised another huge force. The kings who served under Jarāsandha died, wave after wave, and so the purpose of the avatāra was met.

Kālayavana arrives

Jarāsandha’s eighteenth invasion was about to come. Then Kālayavana, a mleccha king of unmatched human strength, arrived. Nārada had sent him to Mathurā. He came with three crore soldiers and besieged the city from outside. Kṛshṇa saw the danger. If Jarāsandha and Kālayavana attacked together, the Yādavas would be destroyed from two sides at once.

The building of Dvārakā

To protect the Yādavas, Kṛshṇa decided to build a fortified island city in the ocean, where no enemy could enter. He ordered a city of twelve yojanas to be built in the middle of the sea. Viśvakarmā built it. Its streets, crossroads and lanes were laid out exactly by the rules of vāstuśāstra (the science of building). The bastions and gateways were made of crystal, with golden spires reaching to the sky. Its gardens held divine trees: Haricandana, Mandāra, Pārijāta and other celestial plants. The mansions had shops of silver and brass, decorated with golden kalaśas (pots), and floors set with great emeralds.

When Dvārakā was finished:

• Indra gave the Pārijāta tree and the Sudharmā assembly hall. Mortals who sit in that hall are freed from old age and other human troubles.
• Varuṇa sent white horses, each with one black ear, swift as the wind.
• Kubera sent his eight nidhis (treasures).
• Each lokapāla (guardian of a direction) offered the powers and gifts that Bhagavān Vishṇu had first given him when he gave him his office in the cosmos. These were now returned to their source.

Kṛshṇa then moved the whole population of Mathurā to Dvārakā by the power of Yogamāyā. He left Balarāma as the guardian of Mathurā. He himself walked out through the city gate, wearing only a garland of lotus flowers and carrying no weapons, towards Kālayavana.

The Vishṇu Purāṇa account

The Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa tells of the wars of Jarāsandha in the Pañcamāṃsa, Chapter 22.

The divine weapons come from Vaikuṇṭha. At the time of Jarāsandha’s first great attack, divine weapons came down of themselves from Vaikuṇṭha. They were the Śārṅga bow, Kṛshṇa’s great divine bow, with its arrows and other divine arms. Balarāma’s hala (plough) and musala (club) also came to him in the same way.

The campaigns. The Bhāgavata records seventeen invasions. In the Vishṇu Purāṇa, Kālayavana’s arrival comes at the time of what would have been another attack by Jarāsandha. The pressure from both sides is why Dvārakā had to be built.

Dvārakā in the sea. The Vishṇu Purāṇa gives the place of Dvārakā as twelve yojanas out from the shore of the ocean. It was built within the sea itself, so no army that marches on land could reach it. The Bhāgavata describes the city as built by Viśvakarmā with extraordinary skill.

Sources

• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 50
• Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Pañcamāṃsa, Chapter 22