Syamantaka Maṇi (Bhāgavata Purāṇa)

The Syamantaka jewel is a shining maṇi (gem) that Bhagavān Sūrya gave to his devotee Sātrajit. It gives eight bhāras of gold every day, and it keeps away all misfortune from the place where it is worshipped. The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa tells in the Tenth Skanda how Sātrajit’s brother Prasena was killed in the forest, and how a false charge was then spread that Bhagavān Kṛshṇa had killed him for the jewel. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa went to find the jewel, fought Jāmbavān in a cave for twenty-eight days, and received both the jewel and Jāmbavān’s daughter Jāmbavātī. Later Śatadhanvā killed Sātrajit for the jewel. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa killed Śatadhanvā but could not find it. The jewel had been left with Akrūra, who brought it out when Bhagavān Kṛshṇa gently asked him.

Sūrya’s gift to Sātrajit

Sātrajit was a great devotee of Sūrya, and Sūrya was very pleased with his devotion. He gave him the Syamantaka jewel. Sātrajit wore it on his neck and walked into Dvārakā. His brightness was so strong that people could not look straight at him. They thought Sūrya himself was coming. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa was playing dice when they ran to tell him. He smiled and said: “That is not Sūrya. It is Sātrajit, shining with the jewel.”

Sātrajit set up the Syamantaka in a shrine in his house and worshipped it there. It gave eight bhāras of gold every day. Wherever it was kept and honoured, there was no drought, no plague, no trouble from the planets, no snakes, no mental illness, no sickness, no inauspiciousness and no thieves.

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa once asked Sātrajit to give the jewel to Ugrasena, the king of the Yādavas, for the good of all. Sātrajit was bound by greed and refused.

Prasena’s death and the false charge

Sātrajit’s brother Prasena put on the jewel and rode into the forest to hunt. A lion killed Prasena and his horse and took the jewel. Jāmbavān was a great bear-like being and a devotee of Bhagavān Rāma. He saw the lion carrying the blazing jewel. He killed the lion, took the jewel into his cave in the mountain, and gave it to his young son to play with.

Prasena did not come back. Sātrajit grieved. Without any proof he spread a charge that Bhagavān Kṛshṇa had killed his brother to take the jewel. The slander went all through Dvārakā. When Bhagavān Kṛshṇa heard it, he decided to clear his name. He went into the forest with some of the citizens. They found Prasena’s body and the remains of his horse. Then they found the lion, killed by Jāmbavān.

They followed the trail to the cave, which was completely dark and frightening. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa left the citizens outside and went in alone.

Inside he saw Jāmbavān’s son playing with the jewel. When he came near to take it, the nurse screamed. Jāmbavān came in, roaring with rage.

The twenty-eight day fight with Jāmbavān

Jāmbavān did not know that this was Bhagavān Kṛshṇa. He took Bhagavān Kṛshṇa for an ordinary man and attacked him with all his strength. They began with weapons, then fought with stones and trees, and at last with bare fists. For twenty-eight days and nights they fought without rest, and their blows sounded like thunder. At last, pounded again and again by Bhagavān Kṛshṇa’s fists, Jāmbavān’s limbs went numb, his strength began to fail, and his body ran with sweat. In wonder he understood who this must be.

Jāmbavān spoke, knowing him: “You are the prāṇa (life breath) in all creatures, the strength of their senses, mind and bodies. You are Vishṇu, Pūrṇa Brahma. The sea gave way before your angry look, when the crocodiles trembled. The bridge across the sea still tells of your glory. You destroyed Laṅkā. By your arrows the rākshasas fell. You are the Ātmā of all beings.”

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa answered gently, touching Jāmbavān’s body with his soothing hand: “I came only for the jewel, to remove the false charge against me.”

Jāmbavān was full of devotion. With great joy he offered the jewel and also his daughter Jāmbavātī.

Kṛshṇa’s return and the clearing of his name

The citizens waited twelve days. Then they went back to Dvārakā without Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, mourning him as lost. Devakī, Rukmiṇī, Vasudeva, Balarāma and their friends grieved deeply. The people of Dvārakā prayed to Durgā that Bhagavān Kṛshṇa might return.

Then Bhagavān Kṛshṇa appeared, as if come back from death, wearing the jewel and with Jāmbavātī. There was great joy. He called Sātrajit before the assembly, told how the jewel had been found, and gave it back to him. Sātrajit went away in deep shame and sorrow, wondering how to make amends.

He decided to offer Bhagavān Kṛshṇa his daughter Satyabhāmā together with the jewel. He did so. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa accepted Satyabhāmā but would not keep the jewel. He said: “Let it stay with you, who are Sūrya’s devotee. But its fruit, the gold, should come to us.”

Śatadhanvā kills Sātrajit

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa went away to Kurukshetra, after hearing the false report that the Pāṇḍavas had died in the fire of the lac house, to share the grief of the family. While he was away, Akrūra and Kṛtavarmā made a plan with Śatadhanvā, who had long wanted both the jewel and Satyabhāmā. They told him that Sātrajit had broken his promise to give Satyabhāmā to one of them, and so deserved to die. Śatadhanvā was a wicked man full of pāpa (sin). He killed Sātrajit as he slept, took the Syamantaka and fled. Satyabhāmā found her father murdered. In her grief she travelled to Hāstinapura to tell Bhagavān Kṛshṇa.

Śatadhanvā is killed

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa and Balarāma came back to Dvārakā and went after Śatadhanvā. His horse fell from tiredness at Mithilā, and Śatadhanvā ran on foot. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa ran him down and cut off his head with the cakra. He searched Śatadhanvā’s clothes and found no jewel. He went back and told Balarāma: “He hid it with someone before he fled.”

Balarāma thought that the jewel was with Akrūra. He stayed on in Mithilā, where he had old reasons to visit King Janaka. During this stay Duryodhana learned gadā-yuddha (fighting with the mace) from Balarāma.

Akrūra shows the jewel

Akrūra and Kṛtavarmā had run away from Dvārakā in fear when they heard of Śatadhanvā’s death. After that, the city suffered one misfortune after another: troubles of the body and mind (ādhyātmika), troubles from other beings (ādhibhautika), and troubles from the devas and nature (ādhidaivika). Some people blamed Akrūra’s absence. They said that wherever Akrūra lived, with the sacred power of his father Śvaphalka, rain fell and troubles went away.

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa knew that the real cause was the missing jewel. He called Akrūra, spoke to him with kind words and a smile, and honoured him. Then he said calmly: “We know that Śatadhanvā left the Syamantaka with you. Balarāma is not fully sure of my innocence, and this too must be settled. Please show it to the family.”

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, who knows all, had seen through Akrūra. Akrūra took the great jewel out from behind his garment. It shone like the sun. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa showed it to all the family so that the matter would be settled for good. Then he gave it back to Akrūra and said that there was no better keeper for it.

Sources

• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Tenth Skanda, Chapter 56
• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Tenth Skanda, Chapter 57