Asti (Wife of Kaṃsa)

Asti

Asti was a daughter of Jarāsandha, lord of Magadha, and a wife of Kaṃsa. Kaṃsa married her together with her sister Prāpti. When Śrī Kṛshṇa slew Kaṃsa at Mathurā, Kaṃsa’s wives mourned him, and it was for the death of his daughters’ husband that Jarāsandha came against Mathurā with a great army.

At Kaṃsa’s death

Vyāsa tells the munis that when Kaṃsa lay dead on the ground, his wives and his mothers gathered round him. Sunk in duḥkha (hardship) and śoka (the pain of mind at the death of kin), troubled in many ways and full of remorse, they wept. Hari himself, with tears in his eyes, consoled them. Then he freed Ugrasena from his bonds and consecrated him in the kingdom, and Ugrasena performed the rites for the departed for his son and for the others who had died.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 194

Jarāsandha’s march on Mathurā

Kaṃsa had married Asti and Prāpti, the daughters of Jarāsandha. Angry because Hari, the Yādava, had killed their husband, Jarāsandha came to kill him and besieged Mathurā with an army of twenty-three akshauhiṇīs. Balarāma and Śrī Kṛshṇa, with a small following, fought his forces.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 195

Sources

• Brahma Purāṇa, Chapters 194–195