103 - Building of Dvaraka by Krishna 

Narayana said- Krishna together with Balarama returned to Mathura and offered his salutation to his father and seated under the banyan tree he summoned gracefully, Garuda, ocean of milk and Visvakarma. Thereafter discarding the costumes of cowherds, he clads himself in the royal garments. In the meantime, the Sudarshana-chakra also arrived before the lord having the lustre of the crores of suns, it was illustrious like Hari himself, destroyer of the enemies, infallible and was the best of all the weapons. Mounting on the gem-studded chariot the lord, Visvakarma, together with his pupils and the ocean feeling panicky, bowed before the lord in reverence. Thereafter the all-pervading lord spoke to them.

Sri Krishna said- О virtuous ocean, you give me a hundred yojanas of land for dwelling, which could be returned to you.

O architect you build such a type of city here which should be become beyond comparison in the three worlds. It should be charming for all beautiful for all the ladies, desireable by the devotees, the best like Vaikuntha and beyond even the heavens.

O virtuous lord of the birds, till such time Visvakarma builds up the new city, you accompany him troghout the day and night.

O best of Chakra, “You remain with me through out the day night.” O sage thus speaking to every one and receiving his approval all others left the place accept the chakra.

O virtuous one, thereafter lord Krishna enthroned the father of Kamsa known as Ugrasena as the king beside several other Kshatriyas. He defeated Jarasandha skilfully and also killed Kalyavana. Thereafter the process of building the city was started.

Sri Krishna said- O Visvakarma you build a charming city spread over and area of a hundred yojanas, having the puppets made of rubies, emeralds, the best of sapphire, charming Paribhadra, Palanka, celebrated jewels, sulphur, galima, moon stone, sun-stone and crystal. They should have the shades like yellow, dark, white, blue like the seeds of pomegranate, yellow gorocana, like the seed as lotus flower, like blue lotuses, the collyrium, white champaka flower, shinng like molten gold, hundred times more valuable than the gold, slightly red, most beautiful, heavy, the best of all and city should be built with the best of gems according to the signs of architecture, more or less, according to various desighs. Till such time you build the city the Yakshas will bring the gems from Himalaya thoughout the day and night. The seven lakhs of Yakshas will be deputed by Kubera, by shiva, Danavas by Parvati the daughter of Himalaya beside the Brahmarakshasas would assist you in the construction work.

You build beautiful houses for sixteen thousand and eight hundred of, my spouses which should be surrounded by the moats and high boundary walls, each one of these houses should have twelve rooms with the main entrance.

They should have the artificial doors, beautifully painted, the should be deprived of the evil trees and should have enough of the popular types of trees, in the court-yard should have auspicious symbols and Chandra-vedha. Similarly other houses should be built for the people of Yadu’s race and the divine ashramas for their attendants.

The palace of king Ugrasena should be the best and the ashrama of Vasudeva should be Sarvatobhadra (open from all four sides). VisVakarma said- O lord of the universe, you tell me which one of the tree is praise-worthy and which one is a prohibited one. Which one of them produces good or bad results? You kindly tell me all.

O lord with the fall of whose bone the place become auspicious with the fall whose bone it becomes inauspicious. Towards which side of the camp the water is auspicious and on which side it becomes inauspicious? O lord of the gods the boundary wall, moats, the gates, the houses and their enclosure walls should be of which sizes? O lord, the wood of which tree should be used in the building of a camp and the wood of which trees as inauspicious. You kindly tell me.

 Sri Krishna said- In case the coconut tree is planted in the ashrama, the householder achieves riches, these trees when planted towards the east or north-east bestows son to the householder.

The tree bestows welfare all round. In case a mango tree is planted to the east of the house, the householder achieves enough of riches and it bestows welfare everywhere. O divine architect, the trees of wood-apple, jack-fruit, the lemon and jujubi, if planted on the eastern side, they bestow sons to the householder and in case they are planted on the southern side, the householder gets the riches all the times, The prosperity of householder increases with them.

The trees of sdla fruit, banana, myrobalan, when planted in the southern side they increase the friends. They are auspicious for all sides, the betel nut tree when planted on the southern side provides the householder with riches, sons and fortunes, in case they are planted in the west, they bestow pleasure and in case they are planted in the north-east, they bestow, welfare all round, the champa tree is auspicious wherever it is planted.

The white gourd, pumpkin, Ayambu, Palasa, date palm and cucumber are always auspicious in the royal camp. The purple goose foot, wood apple and bringle plants are quite auspicious. The creepers with fruits are always auspicious for all places.

O architect, thus I have spoken to you about the auspicious trees now you listen to the inauspicious trees. The wild tree should neither be planted in a city nor in an ashrama. The banyan tree should not be planted in a camp where the danger of thieves always remains. But in the big cities, the banyan tree is quite popular. The very sight of this tree showers merit on the people.

In the ashrama cities and the villages, the plant of the cotton tree is totally prohibited. It causes misfortune to the king.

O architect, the planting of tamarind tree should be planted in the villages but should never be planted in the camps. It destroys learnings and intelligence and creates pain, with the planting of this tree, the people have to loose the riches. Therefore, one should carefully escape from the same.

The planting of the tamarind in an ashrama is strictly prohibited and its plantation is restricted. In the towns and villages its plantation is not prohibited but it is quite popular.

The planting of palm tree and the tree with thorns are strictly prohibited in the camp because they destroy the learning and the intelligence, therefore they should be kept as a distance.

In the cities as well as the villages the planting of cereals like grams is not prohibited but it is quite popular, the paddy is considered to be quite auspicious there.

In the villages as well as in the cities, beside, ashramas, the planting of sugar-cane is considered to be quite auspicious together with ashoka tree, sirisa and kadamba tree. The planting of turmeric, ginger, black myrobalan, as well as green myrobalan are quite auspicious and bestow welfare in the land of construction, the bone of an elephant is considered to be quite auspicious together with the bone of the horse belonging to the breed of Ucchaihsrava.  

The bones of others bring total destruction. The bones of monkeys, human beings, the donkeys, the crows, the gods, the jackal and the cats are considered to be quite inauspicious, the bones of the seep and the pigs are considered to quite auspicious.

 It is quite beneficial, in case the water is available towards the north-east, west and the north of the camp.

O architect the intellectual should keep the length and breadth of the house as equal. By constructing the house in a quadrangle, the house owner meets with his end.

The length and breadth of the house after dividing it by two if is nothing is left; it is considered to be quite auspicious for the people.

 Two hands ahead of the width of the houses and three hands ahead and three hands beyond the length on the south, the door of the house as well as of the boundary walls is always considered to be auspicious.

A door should not be provided in the middle of the house. It is always auspicious to be kept a little this way that way. The square house is considered to be auspicious when provided with a Chandra-vedha. But the auspicious house also becomes inauspicious when it has the Suryavedha. Similarly, the Suryavedha courtyard is also inauspicious.

 The Tulasi plant which is planted by the householder is always considered to be auspicious which bestows riches and

The one who sights the Tulasi plant in the morning, he earns the merit of giving away gold in charity. Towards the east and the south of the house, the plants of jasmine, madhavi, ketaki, nages'vara, wood apple, thornapple, maulasiri and aparajita are always considered to be auspicious. The garden of these plants is always considered to be auspicious. There is no doubt about it. A house-holder should not build a house having a height of more than sixteen hands and the boundary walls should not be more than twenty hands in height. An intelligent person should not make the carpenter and oilmen and the goldsmith to live in the centre of the city but the Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, Sudras, the astrologer, the bards, the physicians and the gardener should always the made to live close to, one's house. The camp should be surrounded by a moat having a length of hundred hands and ten hands in depth. This type of moat has been praised by all. The entrance gate of the moat should be indicative which should be comfortable for the movement of the people but should be inaccessible for the enemies. Except the wood of cotton tree, tamarind wild-palm, neem, sindhuvara, the wild fig tree, wood-apple, banyan, castor oil tree, the wood of all other trees could be used for the construction purpose. The king should not touch the wood vajra-hasta, otherwise one faces the destruction of the son, the wife and the riches. This has been ordained by Brahma, O son I have spoken all this for the information of the people, now you go with pleasure and construct the city without wood. This is the most auspicious time to start the construction work. Vishvakarma them bowed in reverence to the lord and left the place with Garuda.

They reached the pleasant banyan tree standing on the shore of the ocean and spent the night there.

In the dream Garuda witnesses the charming city of Dvaraka. O sage, he witnesses all the symptoms which lord Krishna had spoken to Vishvakarma in the city. In the dream also all the artisans were laughing at Vishvakarma and other were laughing at Garuda. After waking up, both Garuda and Vishvakarma felt ashamed.

The city of Dvaraka was quite beautiful and was spread over an area of hundred yojanas, it was established by conquering the cities of Brahma and others, there was enough of inlay work. The lustre issued from the gems studded in the houses covered the son.