Satyabhāmā

Satyabhāmā is one of the aṣṭa-mahiṣīs, the eight chief queens of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa in Dvārakā. Her father is Satrājit, the owner of the Syamantaka jewel. The Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa says she is an avatāra of Bhūmidevī, the earth, who is also called Vasundharā. She is known for her spirit and her plain speech, and for the Pārijāta tree that was brought from svarga (heaven) to her garden.

Who she is

The Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa says Satyabhāmā is Bhūmidevī herself. Bhūmidevī had come before Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa to complain of the burden of unrighteous kings. She then took birth as Satyabhāmā to be beside him throughout his time on earth, his līlā (divine play). So Vasundharā, or Bhūmidevī, both urged the coming of Kṛṣṇa’s avatāra and took part in it as his queen.

At the assembly at Siddhāśrama

The Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa describes an assembly at Siddhāśrama. There Brahmā, Śiva and Ananta praised Rādhā, and her supreme glory was shown. Satyabhāmā was one of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa’s queens who were overwhelmed. She was well known for her spirited nature and for her pride as Kṛṣṇa’s beloved. The sight of Rādhā’s radiance, and the weight of what she heard, shook her so much that she had to hold a pillar to stay upright.

Return to her source

The Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa says that when Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa returned to Goloka (Goloka-ārohaṇa), Satyabhāmā merged her divine teja (radiance) back into the earth. She had been Bhūmidevī’s own form. The earth had come to be beside Kṛṣṇa, and now it went back to carry all beings.

Her former birth as Guṇavatī

Three texts tell of Satyabhāmā’s past life as Guṇavatī.

The Padma Purāṇa

In the Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Satyabhāmā asked Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa for the puṇya (merit) behind her high place as his most loved queen. Kṛṣṇa told her she had been Guṇavatī. She was the daughter of the brāhmaṇa Devaśarman of Māyāpurī, at the end of the Kṛta age. Her father, and her husband Candraśarman, who was her father’s disciple, were both killed in the Himālaya forest by a rākṣasa. Guṇavatī was left alone. She performed their funeral rites and spent the rest of her life in calm devotion to Bhagavān Viṣṇu. From birth to death she kept the Ekādaśī and Kārtika vows. At the end of her life Viṣṇu’s own attendants came in a divine flying vehicle and took her to Vaikuṇṭha.

Through this stored puṇya she was born again as Satyabhāmā. Candraśarman was born as Akrūra. Her father Devaśarman was born as Satrājit, her father in this birth. The Pārijāta tree in her courtyard grew from the Tulasī grove she had made at Kṛṣṇa’s door in that earlier life. Lakṣmī stayed firm in her house because she had made illumination in the month of Kārtika. The Padma account is told at the meeting of the rivers Kṛṣṇā and Veṇī.

The Skanda Purāṇa

In the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, the account is told by Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa himself to Satyabhāmā in Dvārakā. She asked: “In my previous birth, what had been my conduct? Who was I? Whose daughter? How did I become your wife?” Kṛṣṇa answered.

Guṇavatī was born to a brāhmaṇa named Devaśarman of the Ātreya gotra, in Māyāpurī, which is near present-day Haridvāra. This was towards the end of the Kṛta Yuga. Her father was a master of the Vedas and Vedāṅgas. He had no son, so he gave Guṇavatī in marriage to his disciple Candra, whom he treated as a son. Once Devaśarman and Candra went into the forest to gather kuśa grass, twigs for the yajña fire, and fuel. A Rākṣasa killed them both.

Guṇavatī was shattered when she heard of their deaths. She sold all her household goods and performed their last rites in the proper way. After that she lived in the same city “like a dead person”. All through her life she kept two vratas (vows) without fail, the Ekādaśī vrata and the Kārtika vrata. Once, ill with fever, she went with great difficulty to the Gaṅgā for her Kārtika bath. She shivered with cold as she entered the water. At that moment a flying chariot came down from the sky. She entered it and rose to Vaikuṇṭha. Kṛṣṇa says that she came into his presence through the puṇya of the Kārtika vrata.

Kṛṣṇa then says who the others are now: “Your father Devaśarman is now Satrajit. He who was called Candra is now Akrūra. And you are that Guṇavatī.” He adds that she gave him great delight through the Kārtika vrata. She once made a grove of Tulasī plants at his doorway, and so the Kalpa tree (Pārijāta) has come to her courtyard. Because she kept the Kārtika vrata until death, she will never be parted from him.

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa

The Vilāsa Kāṇḍa of the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa tells how Guṇavatī came to Rāma-tīrtha at Ayodhyā for the Caitra bath and met Bhagavān Rāma and Sītā. Rāma was seated on a jewelled couch playing dice with Sītā. His brothers and their wives were with him. Guṇavatī entered with respect, carrying a pūjā-pātra (vessel of offerings), and bowed. Rāma asked what she wished. She answered very simply: “Rāma, you have thousands of dāsīs here. I ask only to be counted as one of them. Accept me as your servant.”

Rāma smiled gently and said: “O woman of pure vows, you are a brāhmaṇī. Why would you serve me in this way? Listen to what I tell you. In the Dvāpara Yuga, in Dvārakā, I will be born again as Kṛṣṇa. Your father Devāśarmā will be born then as Satrājit. Candru, your husband, will be born as Akrūra, one of my dearest friends. And you will be born as Satyabhāmā, my beloved wife. You will serve me then in all the ways you wish. You will receive everything you are asking for.”

The Vilāsa Kāṇḍa also says that Devāśarmā’s devotion to Sūrya was the root of Satrājit’s close bond with Bhagavān Sūrya in the Dvāpara Yuga. The tapas that Devāśarmā had stored as a devotee of Sūrya ripened into the gift of the Syamantaka jewel from Sūrya to Satrājit. In this account the vara (boon) is given as Rāma’s own promise, spoken face to face. The three are named as Guṇavatī, Devāśarmā and Candru, who become Satyabhāmā, Satrājit and Akrūra.

With Kṛṣṇa in the campaign against Narakāsura

The Harivaṃśa tells that Devendra Indra came to Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa in Dvārakā to ask for help against Narakāsura. Satyabhāmā went with Kṛṣṇa on the whole campaign. She sat beside him on the great eagle Garuḍa as they flew to Prāgjyotiṣapura. She was there through all the fighting: the killing of Mura, Niśunda and Hayagrīva, and the final killing of Narakāsura with the Sudarśana Cakra. She was not a silent watcher. She was Kṛṣṇa’s companion in the fight.

After Narakāsura fell, Bhūdevī came before Kṛṣṇa with the stolen kuṇḍalas (earrings) of Aditi. She said: “O Govinda! Through you alone this son was born; you alone have taken him.” The Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa names Bhūmidevī as the source of Satyabhāmā.

The Pārijāta tree

The Harivaṃśa tells of the Pārijāta tree. The ṛṣi Nārada gave a Pārijāta flower to Rukmiṇī, Kṛṣṇa’s first queen, and not to Satyabhāmā. The Pārijāta is the flower that never fades, from the divine tree of svarga, born at the churning of the ocean. When Satyabhāmā heard of it, she felt prāṇasakopa, the wounded jealousy of love. She went to Kṛṣṇa and told him her wish. She did not want one flower. She wanted the whole Pārijāta tree planted in her garden.

Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, moved by her love, gave his word. On his way back from the campaign against Narakāsura he uprooted the Pārijāta from Nandanavana, though Indra protested. He fought and beat the deva forces who tried to stop him, and brought the tree to Dvārakā. Nārada performed a dāna ceremony, and the tree was set in Satyabhāmā’s garden. Its divine scent and its undying flowers became the finest ornament of her home. Kṛṣṇa’s promise to her was kept in full.

The talk with Draupadī

The Vana Parva of the Mahābhārata tells that Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa visited the Pāṇḍavas at Dvaitavana, the forest where they lived in exile, and Satyabhāmā went with him. While the men met, she sought out Draupadī for a private talk. She asked Draupadī directly: “How do you keep all five of your husbands so constantly devoted to you? Is it through mantra, oṣadhi (herbs), tantra, or some special vow?”

Draupadī answered firmly. She had never used any vaśīkaraṇa (practice to captivate or control another). She said such means do harm. They violate the mind of the husband. They can lead to disease and to the loss of true love, and they corrupt the one who uses them. Her husbands stayed devoted for a very different reason. She served them without ego, by her own free choice and with strict discipline. She never ate before her husbands and never slept before them. She kept their confidences. She ran the very large household herself, with 88,000 brāhmaṇas fed each day, and she watched over it with her own attention. She stayed loyal to them fully, in mind and in act. This was her tapas, done in the gṛhastha-āśrama (householder’s life).

Draupadī also gave Satyabhāmā plain advice on how to behave as Kṛṣṇa’s queen. Serve without calculating. Keep his confidences. Stay away from bad company. Give personal attention to the household. Never treat servants badly. She was honest about the limits of this teaching. It keeps a dharmic marriage steady and protects the inner purity of the one who follows it, but it cannot change a husband who is truly adharmic.

Satyabhāmā took in the teaching. Before Kṛṣṇa left, she comforted Draupadī, saying that the Pāṇḍavas would win and their kingdom would be given back. She also brought news that the five upa-Pāṇḍavas, Prativindhya, Sutasoma, Śrutakarma, Śatānīka and Śrutasena, were safe and well in Dvārakā under Kṛṣṇa’s care.

The fall of the Yādavas

The Mausala Parva of the Mahābhārata tells of the quarrel that began the mutual killing of the Vṛṣṇis at Prabhāsa. It touched Satyabhāmā closely. Sātyaki was heated with wine and driven by Kāla (Time). He blamed Kṛtavarmā for his part in the night killing of the sleeping warriors at Kurukṣetra. In doing so he spoke aloud the old grievance about the Syamantaka jewel, which had belonged to Satrājit, Satyabhāmā’s father. When Satyabhāmā heard it, she was full of grief and anger. She wept bitterly and sank into Kṛṣṇa’s lap, stirring his sorrow. Swords were drawn and the deadly fight followed at once.

After the destruction, Arjuna came to Dvārakā, now left without its men. Satyabhāmā, daughter of Satrājit, and Rukmiṇī clung to him weeping on the ground. The women of Kṛṣṇa’s house had no protector and looked to the Pāṇḍava alone.

Arjuna led the survivors out of the sinking city. Rukmiṇī and some other queens then entered the fire. Satyabhāmā chose a different path. With the other beloved queens of Kṛṣṇa she turned her mind to tapas and went into the forest to spend her remaining days in austerity.

Sources

• Brahma Vaivarta Mahā Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapters 112, 124, 129
• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapters 88–89
• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaiṣṇava Khaṇḍa, Kārtika Māsa Māhātmya, Chapter 13
• Harivaṃśa Purāṇa, Viṣṇu Parva, Chapters 65–69, 75–78
• Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Vilāsa Kāṇḍa, Chapter 7
• Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 233–235
• Mahābhārata, Mausala Parva, Chapters 3, 5, 7