Śrīdāma Śāpa

This episode is told by Nārāyaṇa Muni in the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 3. It joins three events in Goloka. The first is the birth of the seven oceans from the sons of Virajā. The second is the quarrel in which Śrīdāma, Kṛshṇa’s devoted gopa, spoke up for Kṛshṇa against Rādhā’s anger. Rādhā gave him a śāpa (a curse) to be born as an asura, and he gave Rādhā a śāpa to be born on earth and parted from Kṛshṇa. The third is Kṛshṇa’s answer, which shows that both śāpas lead to his own avatāra (descent). Rādhā will be born as Vṛshabhānu’s daughter and Kṛshṇa as Devakī’s son.

The seven oceans and the sons of Virajā

Rādhā had come to Virajā’s pavilion, and Virajā, in fear, gave up her body and became the river that surrounds Goloka. Kṛshṇa sat weeping on the bank of that river and called her back. By his blessing Virajā was restored to her divine form, with the eight great siddhis, and she came back to his side as radiant as Rādhā herself. They kept their loving company, and over one hundred divine years Virajā bore Kṛshṇa seven beautiful sons.

One day Virajā and Kṛshṇa were together in a quiet grove of the eternal Bṛndāvana. Her youngest son came to her in tears, because his elder brothers had bullied him. Moved by the child’s trouble, Kṛshṇa gently left and went back to Rādhā’s house. Virajā was left alone. She took her youngest son in her lap and comforted him, and then she looked up and found that Kṛshṇa was gone. Sudden grief and frustration filled her. She turned her sorrow into a śāpa on the very child whose coming had taken her beloved away. She said that her youngest son would become the Lavaṇa Samudra, the salt ocean, whose water no living being could ever drink. The other six sons had been troubling their little brother. She said they would take the forms of the other six oceans and live apart in the seven great dvīpas (continents) of the earth.

  1. Lavaṇa Samudra, the salt ocean
  2. Ikshu Samudra, the ocean of sugarcane juice
  3. Surā Samudra, the ocean of wine
  4. Sarpis Samudra, the ocean of ghee
  5. Dadhi Samudra, the ocean of curds
  6. Kshīra Samudra, the ocean of milk
  7. Jala Samudra, the ocean of fresh water

Each son was twice as wide as the one before, spreading across the seven continents of Bhūmaṇḍala. These seven oceans became the borders between the seven great islands, and from their depths they feed the earth’s crops. The sons had received their mother’s śāpa. They bowed before her, sad at being parted from one another, and went down to their earthly forms.

Virajā was overcome by the loss of her husband’s presence and of her sons, and she fell into a faint. Kṛshṇa came back and found her in that state. He embraced her tenderly and comforted her. He gave her a vara (a boon) that she would always be able to see her sons. He also promised to visit her home often. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 3)

Rādhā’s anger and Śrīdāma’s words

Rādhā’s attendants saw Kṛshṇa once more at Virajā’s home and told Rādhā. She fell into a rage and lay on the floor, refusing to rise. Hundreds of gopikās served her with cāmaras, flowers, scented water, ornaments, sweet food, music and dance. All this service could not calm her.

Kṛshṇa came to her door with Śrīdāma, the gopa who served Kṛshṇa with unshaken loyalty. Rādhā’s attendants blocked the way in. From inside, Rādhā spoke to Kṛshṇa with sharp sarcasm and anger. “O Kṛshṇa, go to those who are dearer to you than I am. What use do you have for me? Your beloved Virajā became a river out of fear of me. Even so, go to her. Build your home on her bank. A river and her husband stream, what a union that would be to celebrate!” Then she spoke the harshest words. “You are always attached to human affairs and human women. So let a human birth come to you! Leave this Goloka and go to Bhāratavarsha!”

Śrīdāma stood at Kṛshṇa’s side and could not bear to hear his master spoken to like this. His eyes turned red with anger. He answered Rādhā plainly. He reminded her of these things.

  • Kṛshṇa is the master of Brahmā, Ādiśesha, Śiva and all the devas.
  • Mahālakshmī at Vaikuṇṭha always wipes Kṛshṇa’s lotus feet with her hair.
  • Sarasvatī sings his praises without rest.
  • Even the four-faced Brahmā bows before him.
  • Śiva, with his five faces, sings his glory with tears of devotion.
  • The Vedas can describe only one sixteenth of his greatness.
  • With one movement of his brow, Kṛshṇa could make millions more consorts equal to Rādhā.

“O Rādhā,” Śrīdāma said, “you have this glory only because of your devotion to his feet. Do not forget this.” (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 3)

The two śāpas

Śrīdāma’s words stung Rādhā. She came out of her inner room with her hair loose and her lips trembling, and she turned on Śrīdāma in fury.

“O wretch! O fool! O slave of a man of pleasure! Do you think you know Kṛshṇa’s nature? Kṛshṇa is your master, not mine. You praise your father and abuse your mother! You abuse me as asuras abuse the devas! Therefore you shall become an asura! Leave Goloka and take birth as an asura!”

Śrīdāma shook with anger and grief at being cursed in this way, and he gave Rādhā a śāpa in return.

“You have the passions of an ordinary mortal woman, so you too shall be born as a mortal woman on earth! You shall live in Bṛndāvana, and ignorant people will call you the wife of a vaiśya named Rāpāṇa. The great yogī Śrī Hari will be born in Gokula because of your own śāpa. You will gain him there and wander with him in Bṛndāvana. After one hundred years of parting from Śrī Hari, you will be joined with him again and then return to Goloka.”

Having spoken, Śrīdāma bowed to Rādhā and went to Kṛshṇa in deep distress. He wept as he told him all that had happened. Kṛshṇa heard him and said: “Go to Bhūloka. You will be an unstoppable king of the rākshasas, unconquered in all three worlds. After fifty yugas, by the power of Śaṅkara’s spear, you will give up this body and return to my presence.” Śrīdāma asked in anguish: “O Prabhu Kṛshṇa, never take away my bhakti to you!” Kṛshṇa blessed him. Śrīdāma left in tears. He was born as Śaṅkhachūḍa, the great asura who later became the husband of Tulasī. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 3)

Kṛshṇa’s plan and Rādhā’s birth on earth

After Śrīdāma left, Rādhā came to Kṛshṇa and told him everything that had happened. Weeping, she explained the two śāpas: her own on Kṛshṇa, that he take a human birth, and Śrīdāma’s on her. Kṛshṇa is an ocean of compassion. He comforted his beloved and told her the divine plan. “In the Varāha-kalpa I shall come down to Bhūloka. You too are meant for a human birth. In Gokula you will be born as the daughter of Vṛshabhānu. I shall come as the son of Devakī, and we shall be joined in the Bṛndāvana of earth as we are in the eternal Bṛndāvana of Goloka.”

So Rādhā’s śāpa on Kṛshṇa, that he be born as a human, led to the Kṛshṇa avatāra. Nārāyaṇa Muni reveals all of it as the unfolding of the divine will that would bring Kṛshṇa himself into the world of mortals. This includes the love quarrel in Goloka, the śāpas of Rādhā and Śrīdāma, the sorrow of Virajā’s change, and the birth of the seven oceans from Virajā’s sons.

In the fullness of time:

  • Rādhā was born in Gokula as the daughter of Vṛshabhānu.
  • Kṛshṇa was born in Mathurā as the eighth son of Devakī and Vasudeva.
  • Śrīdāma, as Śaṅkhachūḍa, was killed at the hands of Śiva and returned to Kṛshṇa’s presence in Goloka.

(Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 3)

Sources

  • Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 3