Arjuna at Dvārakā

The Vṛshṇis have killed one another at Prabhāsa with the mushala (the iron club). Dāruka brings the news to the Pāṇḍavas. Arjuna, dear friend of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, hurries to Dvārakā. He finds the city like a woman whose husband has died. He consoles Kṛshṇa’s wives, and then he meets Kṛshṇa’s father Vasudeva, who is wasted with grief. Vasudeva tells him how the ruin began, how great Kṛshṇa is, and what Kṛshṇa asked Arjuna to do.

Dāruka’s news and Arjuna’s journey

Dāruka came to the Kuru lands and met the Pāṇḍavas. He told them that the Vṛshṇis had killed one another with the mushala at Prabhāsa. The Pāṇḍavas heard that the Vṛshṇi line, with the Bhojas, Andhakas and Kukuras, had been destroyed. Grief seized them and their hearts trembled.

Arjuna was dear friend of Keśava. He took leave of his kinsmen, said that this ought not to be, and set out to see his maternal uncle. He travelled with Dāruka to the home of the Vṛshṇis. There he saw Dvārakā like a woman whose husband has died. This is from Chapter 5 of the Mausala Parva.

Dvārakā like a widowed city

The women of Dvārakā had once had Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, protector of the worlds, as their protector. Now they had no protector. They looked to Pārtha alone as their refuge, and they cried out in anguish. The sixteen thousand wives of Vāsudeva Kṛshṇa wept aloud when they saw Arjuna arrive, and the sound of their weeping rose up mightily. His eyes filled with tears. He could not lift his gaze to look at them, since they were now without Kṛshṇa and without their sons.

To Arjuna, Dvārakā looked like a great river. The Vṛshṇis and Andhakas were its waters, the horses were its fish, and the chariots were its rafts. The dreadful din of instruments and chariots was its current, the mansions were its landing-steps, the jewels were its water-weeds, and the diamond ramparts were its garlands. The roads seemed its whirlpools, the crossroads its still pools, and Balarāma and Kṛshṇa its great crocodiles. Such was Dvārakā now, like the river Vaitaraṇī caught in the noose of Kāla.

Arjuna steadied his heart. He saw the city abandoned by the Vṛshṇi heroes, its wealth gone, faded like a lotus-creeper withered by frost, and empty of all joy. He raised his voice and wept, and he fell to the ground with tears streaming.

Satyabhāmā, the daughter of Satrājit, and Rukmiṇī clung to Dhanañjaya. They rolled on the ground and wept bitterly. After a time he raised them up and seated them on a golden seat. He spoke of the great-souled one and told of the virtues of Govinda, and so he comforted the women. Then he set out to see his maternal uncle. This is from Chapter 5.

The grief of Vasudeva

The Kuru hero saw Vasudeva, the Ānakadundubhi, lying prostrate and wasted with grief for his sons. Pārtha’s eyes filled with tears, and he clasped the feet of sorrowing Vasudeva. Vasudeva, mighty-armed, tried to draw his nephew’s head to him in love but could not. He embraced Arjuna with his arms. He remembered all his sons and wept and cried aloud. He named his brothers, his sons, his grandsons, his daughters’ sons and his companions.

Vasudeva said: “Arjuna, I have seen my people who conquered hundreds of kings and rākshasas. Now I see them here no more, yet death does not come, and I live on. Pradyumna and Sātyaki are dear to you, and they are your honoured disciples. They are the two great chariot-warriors of the Vṛshṇis whom you would praise, ever most beloved of Kṛshṇa. These two, tiger of the Kurus, were the very cause that opened this whole ruin of the Vṛshṇis. Yet I lay no blame on Sātyaki, Kṛtavarma, Akrūra or Pradyumna. Here the brāhmaṇa śāpa (curse) is the cause.”

This is from Chapter 6 of the Mausala Parva.

The greatness of Kṛshṇa and his silence

Vasudeva told of the greatness of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, who nonetheless let his own clan perish. This was the same Madhusūdana who by his valour had struck down Keśin and Kaṃsa. He had checked the Nishāda king Ekalavya, the proud Śiśupāla, the Kāliṅgas, Māgadhas and Gāndhāras, Pauṇḍraka the king of Kāśī, the kings of the desert lands, the kings of the east, the rulers of the south, and many kings of the hills. Yet this great one looked on at the ruin of his own line, which sprang from a childish prank, and would not step in.

Vasudeva said: “You and Nārada and the great munis know this Kṛshṇa as Govinda, as the one free of pāpa, as the eternal Acyuta. That very Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, my own dear son, Adhokshaja, knew all, and of his own will held back. He did not wish, scorcher of foes, to make otherwise the śāpa spoken by Gāndhārī or the wrathful word of the ṛshis. This is the truth. Before your very eyes your grandson, who was slain by Aśvatthāmā, was brought back to life by his power. Yet your friend would not agree to save his own kinsmen.”

This is from Chapter 6.

Kṛshṇa’s last charge

Vasudeva told Arjuna what Kṛshṇa had said to him while his sons and brothers lay slain:

“Great one, from this day the death of this clan is sealed. The terrible Arjuna will come to this city of Dvārakā. You must tell him of this dreadful slaughter of the Vṛshṇis. When he hears of the grievous death of the Yadus, the great-splendoured one will come at once. Of this I have no doubt. I am Arjuna and Arjuna is I. Know this. Whatever he says must be done. When the women and children have met their fate, he will do what must be done, and he will perform the funeral rites for you as well. As soon as Dhanañjaya leaves, the sea will swallow this city of ramparts and towers. I myself will fix my mind in some holy place, and with the wise Balarāma I will bring about my own death. This is the truth.”

Vasudeva went on: “Having said this, Hṛshīkeśa of measureless valour left me and the children and went I know not where. I am wasted with grief. I remember those two great-souled ones, your brothers, and that dreadful slaughter of kinsmen. I take no food, and I neither die nor live. By the will of destiny you have come. Do all that Kṛshṇa has said, and leave nothing undone. Here is your kingdom, the women, the jewels. And I shall cast off the life that is dear to me.”

This is from Chapter 6.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Mausala Parva, Chapter 5 (Dāruka’s news, Arjuna’s journey, Dvārakā like a widowed city, the consoling of Satyabhāmā and Rukmiṇī)
• Mahābhārata, Mausala Parva, Chapter 6 (Vasudeva’s grief, the greatness of Kṛshṇa, Kṛshṇa’s last charge)