Kṛshṇa and Balarāma on Gomanta Parvata

After Kṛshṇa decides to draw Jarāsaṃdha away from Mathurā, he and Balarāma travel south. They meet Paraśurāma on the bank of the Veṇā river. Paraśurāma tells them where to go, and they climb Mount Gomanta. There Jarāsaṃdha surrounds the mountain and sets it on fire. Kṛshṇa puts out the fire, the two brothers come down, and their divine weapons appear to them in the battle.

Paraśurāma at the Veṇā river

Kṛshṇa decided to pull Jarāsaṃdha away from Mathurā by drawing back. Kṛshṇa and Balarāma set out south, towards the Dakshiṇāpatha. They passed through many kingdoms and enjoyed the sights. They came to the Sahya mountain country and reached the banks of the Veṇā river.

There, in the shade of a great banyan tree with hanging roots, they found a ṛshi seated in tapas (austerity). He carried an axe on his shoulder and wore matted hair and bark clothes. He blazed like the sun. He performed homa (offering in the fire) three times a day and stood wet from his three baths. This was Paraśurāma, the son of Reṇukā, who wiped out the kshatriya race. (Hari Vamśa Purāṇa, Vishṇu Parva, Chapter 40)

Kṛshṇa and Balarāma bowed at his feet. Kṛshṇa spoke to him, knowing his deeds well. He said how Paraśurāma had pushed back the ocean with a single arrow to make the city of Śūrpāraka, and had made the land of the western coast. He said that Paraśurāma had kept his vow against Kārtavīryārjuna and had bathed the earth in the blood of kshatriyas.

Kṛshṇa then named himself as Vasudeva’s son of the Yadu line. He told what had happened to them: they were raised in a village of cowherds, Kaṃsa was killed, and Ugrasena was set back on the throne. Jarāsaṃdha attacked again and again, and Mathurā could no longer be held. Kṛshṇa asked Paraśurāma for his advice. (Hari Vamśa Purāṇa, Vishṇu Parva, Chapter 40)

Paraśurāma’s advice

Paraśurāma said that he had already come from the ocean to this spot, because he knew of the war with Jarāsaṃdha and wished to meet Kṛshṇa. He spoke to Kṛshṇa knowing who he truly is: “You are the protector of the world, imperishable, Īśvara, the perfectly full form of Brahman. Yet now you have taken the form of a child. Nothing in the three worlds is unknown to you.”

Then he gave clear directions. They should cross the Veṇā river and go to Yajñaparvata, a peak of the Sahya range. Next they should go to the beautiful Kroñcapura, where a Yādava kinsman named Mahākapi was living in a forest retreat. Last they should reach Gomanta Parvata. On that mountain Kṛshṇa and Balarāma could rest, and from there they could face Jarāsaṃdha with the advantage.

He warned them about danger at Karavīra. Śṛgāla, a descendant of the Yādavas, ruled there. He was angry and dangerous, and he even hated his own sons. Paraśurāma said that at Gomanta, Jarāsaṃdha would be weakened in battle, and that divine weapons would come to them there of their own accord. He blessed them and had them drink the milk of a homadhenu (a cow of the fire ritual). Then he left for Śūrpāraka. (Hari Vamśa Purāṇa, Vishṇu Parva, Chapters 40 and 41)

The climb up Gomanta

Kṛshṇa and Balarāma followed Paraśurāma’s route and climbed Gomanta Parvata. The mountain was rich with creepers and groves, and divine beings lived on it. They made their home on its northern peak. (Hari Vamśa Purāṇa, Vishṇu Parva, Chapter 41)

Balarāma and the kādamba wine

On the mountain peak, covered with flowering kādamba trees, Balarāma sat alone in the shade. A sweet wind carried the smell of wine to him. He followed the smell and found that rainwater collected in the hollow of a kādamba tree had turned into wine. He drank this natural kādamba wine again and again until he was drunk. From this comes the name kādamba for the wine: it came from the hollow of a kādamba tree. (Hari Vamśa Purāṇa, Vishṇu Parva, Chapter 42)

Balarāma’s three divine consorts

Three divine women then came to attend on Balarāma.

Madirā (Wine in person) came first. She carried a lotus and spoke to Balarāma: “Subdue the asuras quickly. I am your beloved consort. I was Varuṇa’s daughter, and he sent me to look for you. When you lived in Pātāla in the form of Ananta, I was parted from you. I have been searching among flowers and garlands, and I hid in this kādamba tree to wait for you. I will never leave you.”
Kānti (Radiance) came next. Her clothes were slipping a little and her eyes trembled with delight. She praised Balarāma as greater than the moon, with a thousand heads. She said her love was as strong as wine itself.
Lakshmī was as pure as the garland on Balarāma’s chest and held a lotus. She said: “Rāma, beloved of women! You are adorned with wine. Be with me as the moon is with the night.”

Madirā, Kānti and Śrī (Lakshmī) thus attended Saṃkarshaṇa on the mountain peak. (Hari Vamśa Purāṇa, Vishṇu Parva, Chapter 42)

Garuḍa brings Vishṇu’s crown

At the same time Garuḍa came to the mountain. He carried the crown of Bhagavān Vishṇu, which the asura Bali had once taken from him. Garuḍa laid it before Kṛshṇa, and Kṛshṇa put it on. (Hari Vamśa Purāṇa, Vishṇu Parva, Chapter 42)

Jarāsaṃdha’s siege and the burning mountain

Word of where Kṛshṇa and Balarāma were reached Jarāsaṃdha. He surrounded the whole mountain with his great army. He could not drive them out by fighting alone, so he ordered fires to be lit on every side. The mountain became a blaze, and the flames closed in from all directions. (Hari Vamśa Purāṇa, Vishṇu Parva, Chapter 43)

The Gaṅgā, called Bhāgavatī, flows from Kṛshṇa’s lotus feet. He put out the fires that threatened the mountain by letting water flow from his feet. The mountain cooled, and the danger was over. (Hari Vamśa Purāṇa, Vishṇu Parva, Chapter 43)

The leap from Gomanta

Kṛshṇa and Balarāma did not stay trapped on the mountain. They leapt from the top to the plain below, a leap that no ordinary being could survive. At once they went into battle with Jarāsaṃdha’s forces on the ground. (Hari Vamśa Purāṇa, Vishṇu Parva, Chapter 43)

The divine weapons appear

Kṛshṇa and Balarāma came down ready to fight, without horses or chariots. The divine weapons that had come to them at Mathurā in the Kaṃsa Vadha now appeared again of their own accord. They came down from the sky before the assembled kings.

Saṃvartaka, the divine nāgali (plough), for Balarāma
Senanda, the divine musala (pestle), for Balarāma’s second hand
Sudarśana Cakra, for Kṛshṇa
Śārṅga, the celestial bow, for Kṛshṇa
Kaumodakī gadā, for Kṛshṇa’s other hand

The weapons came down blazing, in the shape of serpents and hung with divine garlands, as if hungry to eat the flesh of enemies. Balarāma took the nāgali and the musala. Kṛshṇa took the cakra, the bow and the gadā. (Hari Vamśa Purāṇa, Vishṇu Parva, Chapter 44)

The battle at Gomanta

With these divine weapons, Kṛshṇa and Balarāma, on foot and without chariots, broke Jarāsaṃdha’s whole army. Balarāma moved over the battlefield like Yama. He dragged chariots with his nāgali and threw elephants. When Balarāma’s gadā struck, it fell like a thunderbolt.

Jarāsaṃdha and Balarāma then met face to face in a mighty gadā-yuddha (fight with maces). Their clash shook the earth and echoed in all ten directions. Then an ākāśavāṇī (a voice from the sky) said: “Balarāma, this man is not meant to die at your hands.” Hearing this, Balarāma drew back, and the rest of the army scattered. Balarāma killed Darada, one of the generals, with the musala. Jarāsaṃdha withdrew once more. (Hari Vamśa Purāṇa, Vishṇu Parva, Chapter 44)

Damaghosha comes as a friend

After the battle, Damaghosha, the king of Cedi and father of Śiśupāla, came with his Kārūsha and Cedi forces and presented himself to Kṛshṇa. He spoke of himself as Kṛshṇa’s uncle through marriage, since his wife Śubhā, also called Suprabhā, was Vasudeva’s sister. He told Kṛshṇa that he had advised Jarāsaṃdha to give up this war, but Jarāsaṃdha had refused his advice. So Damaghosha had withdrawn his support from Jarāsaṃdha and now offered Kṛshṇa his friendship and service.

Kṛshṇa welcomed him warmly and invited him to watch the battles to come. He gave two fine chariots to Kṛshṇa and Balarāma for the rest of their journey. (Hari Vamśa Purāṇa, Vishṇu Parva, Chapter 44)

Sources

Hari Vamśa Purāṇa, Vishṇu Parva, Chapters 40 to 44