Pradyumna
Pradyumna was the eldest son of Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Rukmiṇī. He was the avatāra of Manmatha (Kāmadeva, the deva of love), reborn in the Yadu line. Śambara, an asura, stole him in his first week. Māyāvatī raised him in disguise. He learned the māyā-vidyās (arts of illusion), slew Śambara and came back to Dvārakā as a famed hero. He later became the father of Aniruddha. He fought as a great warrior at his father’s side in the battle of Śoṇitapura.
The Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, the Brahma Vaivarta Mahā Purāṇa and the Mahābhārata each tell part of his life. Each account is given below under its own text.
Birth and identity
Pradyumna was born to Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa and his foremost wife Rukmiṇī. The Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa calls Rukmiṇī the very form (svarūpa) of Mahālakṣmī. Pradyumna was the avatāra of Manmatha, the deva of kāma (desire). In a former age Bhagavān Śiva’s third eye had reduced Manmatha to an anaṅga (a being without a body). In this birth he regained the fullness of his divine nature through the line of Kṛṣṇa.
Pradyumna was the first-born of Rukmiṇī. Her other sons were Cārudeṣṇa, Cārubhadra, Cāruvarman, Sudeṣṇa, Druma, Suṣeṇa, Cārugupta, Cārubāhu and Cāruvindu. She also had a daughter, Cārumatī. (Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Viṣṇu Parva, Chapter 105)
The Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa says that Manmatha shot his arrow at Bhagavān Śiva while Bhagavān Śiva was in meditation. Bhagavān Śiva’s fury burned him to ashes. He was later restored through the tapas (austerity) of Pārvatī, and he was born again as Pradyumna, the first son of Kṛṣṇa and Rukmiṇī.
The four forms (Caturvyūha)
In the Caturvyūha, the fourfold form of Parabrahman, the four are:
- Kṛṣṇa: Parabrahman himself, in the Gopāla form
- Balarāma: the Śeṣa-aṃśa, strength and support of the cosmos
- Pradyumna: the Kāma-aṃśa, the power of divine love
- Aniruddha: the Brahmā-aṃśa, the power of creation
As the Kāma-aṃśa, Pradyumna stands for the pull in the cosmos that draws all beings towards their source.
Taken by Śambara: the Hari Vaṃśa account
On the seventh night after his birth, the great asura Śambara knew by his own inner sight that this child would one day destroy him. He stole the baby from the birth-chamber and took him to his own city. Rukmiṇī was filled with grief at the loss of her newborn. Śrī Kṛṣṇa knows all, yet he let this happen, because the ordained time had not yet come. (Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Viṣṇu Parva, Chapter 106)
Life in Śambara’s house
Śambara gave the baby to his wife Māyāvatī. She was very beautiful and had no children. When she looked at the child, her jāti-smṛti (memory of former births) woke. She knew that this was Manmatha, her own husband of the past birth, now born as Kṛṣṇa’s son. She was torn between the part of a mother and the part of a wife. She chose to raise him and teach him.
By rasāyana (a rejuvenating art) she made the child grow fast. She taught him all the māyā-vidyās, the arts of illusion and of fighting by supernatural means. He became the best warrior of his time. He was skilled in all the astras (divine weapons), deeply learned in the śāstras and of conquering beauty. When he came to full manhood, Māyāvatī could no longer keep up the pretence of being his mother. The pull of their bond from the past life was too strong. Pradyumna asked her why she behaved so oddly towards him, and she told him the whole truth. (Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Viṣṇu Parva, Chapter 106)
Slaying of Śambara
After he learned the truth, Pradyumna met Śambara in open battle. He first killed all of Śambara’s sons, one hundred in number, with his arrows. Then Śambara himself came onto the field with a great army. The battle was long and fierce.
Śambara used all his māyā, but it failed against Pradyumna. He hurled his strong mudgara (mace) at Pradyumna’s chest. Pradyumna had prayed to the presiding deva and had won a vara (a boon) that the mudgara would turn into a garland of lotuses when it touched him. So it did. The lotus garland hung on his neck as an ornament while the battle went on.
Pradyumna then called up the Vaiṣṇavāstra and spoke these words of truth about his birth: if he was truly the son of Rukmiṇī and Keśava, let this astra slay Śambara. The arrow pierced Śambara’s heart, and the great asura fell dead. The devas rejoiced, flowers rained from the sky, and the gandharvas and siddhas celebrated. (Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Viṣṇu Parva, Chapters 107–109)
Taken by Śambara: the Brahma Vaivarta account
The Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa says that soon after Pradyumna’s birth, the asura Śambara stole the baby and threw him into the ocean. Śambara had received a prophecy that this child would cause his death. A great fish swallowed the baby.
Māyāvatī was Rati, the wife of Manmatha. She lived unknown in Śambara’s kitchen. The fish was caught and brought to the palace kitchen, and she received it. When she cut it open, she found the baby Pradyumna inside, alive and shining. Sarasvatī appeared before Māyāvatī and told her the truth. She said that this was Manmatha reborn, Māyāvatī’s own husband in a new form, born as the son of Kṛṣṇa.
Māyāvatī raised Pradyumna with love and kept his identity hidden. When Pradyumna grew into a young man of unmatched beauty and power, she told him everything. Pradyumna then killed Śambara, and so the prophecy came true. He went back to Dvārakā with Māyāvatī, that is Rati, who became his wife. Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Rukmiṇī received them with joy. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 112)
Return to Dvārakā
Pradyumna left through the sky with Māyāvatī and reached the antaḥpura (women’s quarters) of Śrī Kṛṣṇa in Dvārakā. The women of the palace saw a young man with Kṛṣṇa’s exact look, the same face, the same walk and the same limbs. They felt fear, wonder and joy all at once.
Rukmiṇī knew her son through a dream-vision and a mother’s sense. Śrī Kṛṣṇa came and heard the whole account from Nārada. He named Pradyumna to Rukmiṇī and presented Māyāvatī as his daughter-in-law. Rukmiṇī embraced her son and Māyāvatī with great joy. Pradyumna bowed down before his father, his mother and Balarāma, and Kṛṣṇa raised him up with deep love. (Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Viṣṇu Parva, Chapter 110)
The Āhnika Stotra
During the celebration after Pradyumna’s return, he went to Balarāma and asked for a protective hymn so that he would be without fear at all times. Balarāma recited the Āhnika Stotra. It is a full kavaca (protective prayer) that calls on the protection of all the devas, ṛṣis, rivers, tīrthas (holy places), mountains, nāgas and devīs. Kṛṣṇa and the munis who had gathered joined in the recital. (Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Viṣṇu Parva, Chapter 111)
His son Aniruddha
Pradyumna was the father of the great hero Aniruddha, who was born to him through Rukmavatī, the daughter of Rukmī (Rukmiṇī’s brother). Aniruddha had great valour and was second to none in the three worlds. At Śoṇitapura he was married to Uṣā, the daughter of Bāṇāsura. (Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Viṣṇu Parva, Chapter 105)
The war with Bāṇāsura: the Hari Vaṃśa account
Śrī Kṛṣṇa marched on Śoṇitapura to free Aniruddha from the prison of Bāṇāsura. Pradyumna rode Garuḍa as one of the three great warriors. Kṛṣṇa was in the centre, Balarāma on one flank, and Pradyumna on the left flank. In the battle Pradyumna overcame all of Bhagavān Śiva’s pramathagaṇas (attendants) by the strength of his weapons.
Kārttikeya sent out the astra called Brahmaśiras. Pradyumna and his companions made it harmless with counter-astras. Kārttikeya then used the golden śakti weapon, and Pradyumna’s side made that harmless too. Indra and the devas praised them for it. Later, at the wedding of Aniruddha and Uṣā at Śoṇitapura, Pradyumna formally received his son’s bow of respect, and then he rejoiced at the victorious return to Dvārakā. (Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Viṣṇu Parva, Chapters 123–134)
The war with Bāṇāsura: the Brahma Vaivarta account
In the great war against Bāṇāsura, fought to free his son Aniruddha, Pradyumna had a decisive part. He fought Skanda (Kārtikeya), the commander of Bhagavān Śiva’s forces and the greatest warrior of the devas. The two were equal in strength and skill.
Pradyumna used the Nidrāstra, the Sleep Weapon. Skanda fell into deep sleep on the battlefield. Bhadrakālī then lifted Skanda’s chariot and carried the sleeping Skanda to safety at Pārvatī’s home. When Skanda woke, Pradyumna was ready to fight again, but Gaṇeśa stepped between them so that the fight would grow no further. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapters 119–120)
His epithets
Pradyumna is called Makara-ketana (Manmatha reborn) and Sanatkumāra-tulyaśobha (equal in beauty to Sanatkumāra). He wore wonderful weapons (vicintra-āyudha) and wonderful ornaments (vicintra-ābharaṇa). His face and form could not be told apart from Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s own. This is the clearest sign of his divine descent.
The campaign against Vajranābha and marriage to Prabhāvatī
One of Pradyumna’s best-known deeds is the defeat of the asura Vajranābha and the winning of Prabhāvatī. Vajranābha had built the jewel-city Vajrapura near Meru, by Brahmā’s vara. It was strong against attack, and no deva could enter it by force. Indra could not act, so he asked Kṛṣṇa for help.
Kṛṣṇa’s plan used subtlety and māyā. Pradyumna, Sāmba and Gada would go disguised as a troupe of nāṭaka performers (dramatists). Prabhāvatī, Vajranābha’s daughter, had been told by her friend Śucīmukhī of Pradyumna’s divine beauty and valour. Vasudeva held his Aśvamedha as the pretext. The Yādava troupe was invited to Vajrapura as entertainers. They performed the Rāmāyaṇa before the whole court. Pradyumna played the hero. By his divine yoga he took the form of a bhramara (bee) and went into the women’s rooms through a flower garland. There he met Prabhāvatī. With her willing consent the two were united in gāndharva vivāha (marriage by mutual choice, without family ceremony). Sāmba in the same way married Guṇavatī, and Gada married Candravatī.
Vajranābha found out the truth and made a huge attack. The disguised heroes fought back. Then Kṛṣṇa came in his māyā-ratha (chariot of illusion) with Ādiśeṣa as his charioteer. The Sudarśana Cakra was sent out and slew Vajranābha. Gada slew Sunābha, Vajranābha’s lieutenant. Vajrapura was then divided. Three parts went to the Yādavas and one to Indra. Pradyumna, Sāmba and Gada stayed in their parts of Vajrapura for six months with their new wives, and then went back to Dvārakā. (Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Viṣṇu Parva, Chapters 93–99)
Pradyumna questions the worship of brāhmaṇas
In the Anuśāsana Parva of the Mahābhārata, Kṛṣṇa tells Yudhiṣṭhira about a time when Pradyumna became angry with brāhmaṇas. Pradyumna asked his father directly what fruit the worship of brāhmaṇas really bears. He also asked where their evident lordship over this world and the next comes from.
Kṛṣṇa’s whole answer is the long account of Durvāsa’s stay at Dvārakā and the test with pāyasam (sweet milk-rice) that Durvāsa put Kṛṣṇa and Rukmiṇī through. Pradyumna’s doubt thus opens one of the Anuśāsana Parva’s accounts of the greatness of brāhmaṇas. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 159)
The Mausala Parva: the quarrel and death at Prabhāsa
The Yādavas held a drinking festival at Prabhāsa in the thirty-sixth year of Yudhiṣṭhira’s reign. Pradyumna took part in the quarrel that set off the destruction of the Yādavas. The drunken Sātyaki rebuked Kṛtavarman for his share in the night killing of sleeping warriors. Pradyumna, the foremost among chariot-warriors, agreed with Sātyaki’s blame and stood by him.
Sātyaki cut off Kṛtavarman’s head. Then the Bhojas and Andhakas fell on Sātyaki with the eraka muṣala (iron pestle), which carried the śāpa (curse). Pradyumna, the son of Rukmiṇī, was full of wrath and rushed to save him. They were far outnumbered. Both Pradyumna and Sātyaki were slain before Kṛṣṇa’s eyes.
Kṛṣṇa saw his own son fall, together with the deaths of Sāmba, Cārudeṣṇa and Aniruddha. He then took up his wrath and finished the ruin of the line that Kāla (time) and the brāhmaṇa’s śāpa had ordained. (Mahābhārata, Mausala Parva, Chapter 3)
The return of his teja
The Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa says that at the time of Kṛṣṇa’s Goloka-ārohaṇa, when the avatāra had finished its earthly purpose, Pradyumna’s divine teja (radiance, essence) merged back into Kāma (Manmatha), from whom it had come. The essence of Manmatha had come down as Pradyumna to serve in Kṛṣṇa’s earthly līlā (divine play). Now it went back to its source. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 129)
Merging into Sanatkumāra
The Mahābhārata, in telling the final destination (gati) of the great ones, says that Pradyumna merged back into Sanatkumāra when his earthly deeds were used up. Sanatkumāra is the eternal, ever-young, mind-born son of Brahmā. Pradyumna was a part (aṃśa) of him. The Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa speaks of his return to Manmatha, the essence of divine love from which he had come down. The Mahābhārata names his source as Sanatkumāra. (Mahābhārata, Svargārohaṇa Parva, Chapter 5)
Sources
- Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Viṣṇu Parva, Chapters 93–99, 105–112 and 123–134
- Brahma Vaivarta Mahā Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapters 112, 119–120 and 129
- Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 15
- Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 159
- Mahābhārata, Mausala Parva, Chapter 3
- Mahābhārata, Svargārohaṇa Parva, Chapter 5