Vajranābha

Vajranābha was the great-grandson of Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa. He was the son of Aniruddha and the grandson of Pradyumna. Yudhiṣṭhira crowned him king of Mathurā when Yudhiṣṭhira left on his mahāprasthāna (great departure). Vajranābha found the land of Vraja around him empty. With the guidance of Śāṇḍilya, priest of Nanda’s family, and the help of Emperor Parīkṣit, he settled and made holy the whole of Vraja. Later he heard the Bhāgavata kathā (spoken teaching) from Uddhava at Vṛndāvana, and attained mokṣa (liberation).

Lineage

Vajranābha belongs to the closest Yādava line:

  • Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa
  • Pradyumna, son of Kṛṣṇa and Rukmiṇī
  • Aniruddha, son of Pradyumna
  • Vajranābha, son of Aniruddha

Through Subhadrā, Kṛṣṇa’s sister, Parīkṣit was Kṛṣṇa’s grandnephew. When Parīkṣit visited Vajranābha, Vajranābha received him as his “uncle.” Arjuna himself had taught Vajranābha the science of archery, and Vajranābha remembers this with gratitude. (Bhāgavata Purāṇa Māhātmya, chapter 1)

Coronation and the empty land of Vraja

Yudhiṣṭhira made sure the kingdom was stable. Then he set out on his mahāprasthāna along the great northern path. Before leaving he made two coronations. He crowned Parīkṣit at Hastināpura as the Kuru emperor. He crowned Vajranābha at Mathurā as king of the Vṛṣṇi country. Mathurā was the region Kṛṣṇa had made the centre of his earthly kingdom.

Vajranābha found that he ruled a land with no people. Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa had withdrawn from sight. All the people of Vraja who had taken part in his divine sports, called the Nityas, the Tallipsus and the Devādyas, who had taken birth for the sake of the līlā (divine play), had become invisible or had merged back into Kṛṣṇa. Ordinary people came to Vraja expecting to find the divine community. They found an empty forest and left. The villages were empty and the groves were silent.

Vajranābha’s mind was devoted only to Kṛṣṇa, and he felt this emptiness deeply. When Parīkṣit came to visit, Vajranābha told him: “I have been crowned in Mathurā, yet I am staying in a desolate forest. Where have the subjects gone? I like a kingdom inhabited by subjects.” (Bhāgavata Purāṇa Māhātmya, chapter 1)

Śāṇḍilya’s teaching

Parīkṣit saw how deeply Vajranābha was troubled. He called Śāṇḍilya, the elder priest of Nanda’s household, who knew the hidden secrets of Vrajabhūmi. Śāṇḍilya came from his āśrama (hermitage). Vajranābha honoured him, and Śāṇḍilya gave his teaching in the presence of both kings.

Śāṇḍilya explained that the emptiness was not a lasting loss. It came because Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa had withdrawn from ordinary sight. Vraja was not only a region of the earth. It was Parabrahman itself, the unchanging, eternal home where the divine līlā goes on unseen. The ordinary people who had left could not see the unseen divine community, so they had gone. But the secret of Vraja was whole. Only those who were not worthy could not see it.

His advice to Vajranābha was to settle the Vraja countryside and name villages after Kṛṣṇa’s sports. By serving this holy land in this way, he would win the grace of Uddhava, Kṛṣṇa’s devotee. Through Uddhava, the secret teaching of Vraja would be shown. Śāṇḍilya named six main regions to be settled:

  • Govardhana
  • Dīrghapura
  • Mathurā
  • Mahāvana
  • Nandigrāma
  • Bṛhatsānu

Wherever there were rivers, mountains, water-troughs, sacred pits and groves, the subjects would flourish and the king would be glad. (Bhāgavata Purāṇa Māhātmya, chapter 1)

The settling of Vraja

Following Śāṇḍilya’s advice, Vajranābha and Parīkṣit set about settling Vraja again, step by step.

  • Parīkṣit brought thousands of śreṇi-mukhyas (leaders of guilds of traders and artisans) from Indraprastha. They gave the practical support for settling the land.
  • Parīkṣit knew from the scriptures that the brāhmaṇas of Mathurā had once been the monkeys of Rāma. He gave them special honour and dignity.
  • Vajranābha knew where Govinda’s sports, and the activities of the gopīs and gopas, had taken place. He found each holy spot and named it accordingly.
  • Many villages and settlements were founded across Vraja.
  • Ponds, wells, lakes and other public works were built.
  • Mūrtis (sacred images) of Govinda, Hari and other devas were set up in their places.
  • Mūrtis of Śiva and other devas were also set up.
  • Exclusive devotion to Kṛṣṇa was spread through the kingdom.

Vajranābha’s subjects became joyful and eagerly took part in singing Kṛṣṇa’s glory, filled with the greatest bliss. They praised his kingdom as a land where Kṛṣṇa’s glory was part of daily life. (Bhāgavata Purāṇa Māhātmya, chapters 1 and 2)

Meeting Uddhava

The meeting with Uddhava came through Kālindī’s words to Kṛṣṇa’s queens. Kālindī told them that Uddhava was present but unseen in the creepers near Govardhana at Sakhīsthala. He had taken the form of sprouts and grass because he wanted the dust of the gopīs’ feet. She advised a festival of glorification at Kusumasaras (the Flower Lake) near Govardhana in Vṛndāvana. Parīkṣit and Vajranābha helped to arrange the festival.

The festival was filled with recitation, sweet songs, lutes, flutes and mṛdaṅga drums. When it was at its height, Uddhava came out of the cluster of grasses and creepers. He was dark in colour and wore yellow robes and garlands of guñjā berries. He sang Kṛṣṇa’s glories again and again. He bore Kṛṣṇa’s own form. When all those present saw him, they gained perfect knowledge at once. They worshipped him with deep joy. (Bhāgavata Purāṇa Māhātmya, chapter 2)

Pratibāhu and the Bhāgavata kathā

Uddhava proposed to hold a month-long Bhāgavata kathā at Vṛndāvana near Govardhana. Parīkṣit was to go and conquer the quarters and hold back Kali. Vajranābha gave his kingdom into the care of his minister Pratibāhu. He stayed in Vraja with Kṛṣṇa’s queens and other devotees to receive the teaching.

Uddhava began the joyful exposition of the Śrīmad Bhāgavata, which lasted a month, at Vṛndāvana near Govardhana. During the kathā, Kṛṣṇa’s līlā, in the form of existence, knowledge and bliss, appeared everywhere. Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa himself was seen by all. All the devotees who had gathered saw themselves standing within him. (Bhāgavata Purāṇa Māhātmya, chapter 3)

Liberation

At the end of the Bhāgavata kathā, Vajranābha saw himself standing at Kṛṣṇa’s right lotus foot. This is the place of the vajra mark on the sole of Kṛṣṇa’s foot, which matches Vajranābha’s own name. Uddhava had told him earlier: “Vajra is the dispeller of fear for those who resort to him. His place is at the right foot of Śrī Kṛṣṇa.” Now what Uddhava had said became his own experience.

He was free from the pain of separation from Kṛṣṇa. The text says he “shone on that ground.” He entered the eternal līlā. He remains forever in the bowers of Govardhana, among the cows, in Vṛndāvana. The ordinary world cannot see him, but those who love and are devoted to Kṛṣṇa can. (Bhāgavata Purāṇa Māhātmya, chapter 3)

Sources

  • Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaiṣṇava Khaṇḍa, Bhāgavata Purāṇa Māhātmya, Chapters 1–3