105 - Arrangement for the Marriage of Rukmini

Narayana said- The king Bhismaka was possessing immense prowess and was quite noble and truthful king of Vidarbha country. He was born of the amsha of Vishnu and was the bestower of all riches, quite religious, the best and was quite adorable.

He had a daughter named Rukmini who had the form of Mahalakshmi. She was the best of the damsels, extremely beautiful, charming, quite passionate, adored by the damsels, quite youthful, adorned with all the gem-studded ornaments, having the complexion of molten gold, illumining, chaste, the form of auspicious tattva truthful, pious, peaceful, well disciplined and possessed all the qualities.

The goddesses like Indrani, Varunani, the spouse of moon Rohini, the spouse of Kubera, Svaha the spouse of Surya, Shanta, Kalavati and all other beautiful woman did not compare to even one-sixteenth part of Rukmini the daughter of Bhismaka.

The king Bhismaka witnessed his daughter engaged in sport like the ray of the moon with the other girls, she possessed the lustre of the full moon of the winter season, her eyes were like the lotus flower of the winter season. She became youthful and fit for marriage. She was filled with shyness, humility and was quite chaste. Having a look at her the religious king who performed all the best of the vratas felt worried. He then consulted his daughter, the sons and the family priest.

Bhismaka said- I would like to have a suitable groom for my daughter. Whom should I select, whether he should be a prince or the son of great king?

My growing daughter has achieved the age of puberty, therefore a groom for her should be searched immediately. Such a groom should be quite young, the religious minded, truthful, devoted to Vishnu, well-versed in the Vedas and post-Vedic literature, an, intelligent one, beautiful, pious, peaceful, large hearted should believe in forgiveness, all virtuous, having long life and the one having been born in the high race and well-known everywhere.

In case a prince is selected then he should be well-versed in the treatises on welfare, a great charioteer, glorious and the one who should be able to face the war courageously.

In case the son of the god is selected then he should be all virtuous. In case the son of an ascetic is selected then he should be well-versed in all the four Vedas, the best orator, a deep thinker and should be the one following all the principles. On listening to the words of the king, Shatananda, the son of Gautama who was well- versed in the Vedas and never spoke anything otherwise, the best of orators, well-read, quite a religious one, the family priest and the one who know all the tattvas on earth and was quite efficient in performing all the deeds, spoke to the king.

 Shatananda said - O king, you are well-versed in all the religious practices and the religious scriptures, I am going to narrate to you and old story of the Vedas which you kindly listen.

Narayana himself has incarnated on earth in order to relieve her of the burden. O lord, the son of Vasudeva complete in all respect, is the creator of Brahma, adored by Shiva, Ananta and others, the form of eternal flame, the best of all, the one who takes to human form for the sake of his devotees, the soul of all the creatures, beyond Prakruti, unattached, uninvolved and the witness of all the deeds.

O best of the kings, by offering your daughter to him you would go to Goloka together with hundreds of your ancestors. By giving away the daughter to him, you would achieve moksha after death, enjoying all the pleasures on earth.

You give away Rukmini, the form of Mahalakshmi to him with the best of offering. O virtuous one, by doing so you will never have to be reborn on earth.

O king, this relationship has already been ordained by Brahma, therefore, you send a Brahmana to Dvaraka to meet Krishna in this connection quite expeditiously. After consulting all, settling, about the auspicious time, you call for Krishna the supreme soul, who has taken to human form in order to grace his devotees. O king, at the mere sight of Krishna, the deeds of the human being performed during the past birth get destroyed.

The supreme soul who is adored by all the Vedas, the sages, the gods, the siddhas, the mendicant and Brahma do not know him truly, the one who is adored by the great yogis with deep meditation but are unable to achieve him. By reciting whose glory even Sarasvati becomes dumb. Even the Vedas, scriptures, Sesa with hundred hoods, Shiva with five faces, Brahma with four faces, Karttikeya with six faces, the sages, devotees and the Vaishnavas are unable to recite his glory and are unable to achieve him. He is beyond the yogis and the siddhas, O king, what can I speak about his qualities, being merely a boy? On hearing the words of Shatananda, the face of the king became delightful, he stood up with force and embraced the Brahmana. The king then with the delightful mind presented him with elephants, horses, the best of chariot studded with gems, the charming lion throne, enough of riches and the land which produced several types of cereals remained wet with the rainwater and producer enough of cereals when ploughed. He therefore gave away in charities several villages with cultivative lands. In the meantime, Rukmi the son of the king felt enraged since he was quite irreligious, he started trembling, his face and eyes became red. Becoming unstable, he stood before all the members present there and spoke to his father as well as the Brahmana.

Rukmi said- O great king, you listen to my beneficial, truthful and praise-worthy words, you should not care for the words of the beggar, the greedy and the people filled with anger.

 Because the words of the dancers, the Vaishyas, bards, the beggars, kayasthas and the beggars are always full of falsehood. The words of messengers, a actor, lustful, passionate, pauper and the foolish are always filled with sycophancy.

 O valorous one, the terrified Krishna deceitfully took away the riches of Kalayavana and than killed him.

 Krishna is known as the wealthy person in Dvaraka. He has built his house in the seabed, getting terrified from Jarasandha.

I am myself competent enough to kill hundreds of Jarasandhas playfully in a moment, what to speak of others kings.

I am the pupil of Durvasa and am well-versed in the welfare. O Bhismaka, I am therefore quite competent enough to kill the entire universe in a movement.

Only Parasurama and my friend Sisupala could be equated with my prowess. Both of them are competent enough to conquer the heaven.

I am competent enough to over-power Indra in a movement with his entire army. O king, by conquering Jarasandha in the battle-fields Krishna has become arrogant and considers himself quite valorous by means of his own intelligence. In case he passes through my village for the purpose of marriage then I will surely dispatch him to the abode of Yama. You intend to give away Rukmini in marriage at the instance of the beggar Brahmana, to Krishna the son of Nanda the cowherd, who got his cows grazed by him, he is the one who is the lover of the cowherdesses and used to eat the left-over of the cowherds. O great king, you are devoid of wisdom because you want to act on the advice of a weal person. Krishna is neither a prince nor a valorous one or born in a spotless family. He is neither auspicious nor the giver of charity, nor a rich person or well disciplined.

 O king, you give your daughter to Sisupala who is born of good family who had satisfied Shiva with his prowess and is the son of great king.

 You immediately send imitation letters to all the kings in several countries besides the relatives and the sages.

You despatched the letters of invitation to Angadesa, Kalinga country, Magadha, Saurastra, Valkala, Ratadesha, the best of Vangadesha, Virat, Mudgala, Murangaka, Bhallaka, Gallaka, Kharvadesha and Durgadesha, by sending Brahmana there. You should arrange for a thousand canals of ghee, a thousand canals of honey, a thousand of curd and a thousand of milk besides five hundred canals of oil, two lake canals of GUI, five hundred heaps of sugar, two thousand heaps of sweet and hundred heaps of the wheat-flour, four lakes heaps of boiled paddy, the four lake heaps of cereals, a lake of rubies and an equal number of tortoise, ten lakes of he-goats and four times the number of sheep, the sacrifice should be offered to the village goddess with devotion, the cooked meat of the animal should be got ready. The vegetables should also be collected in large number.

After listening to the words of Rukmi, the king consulted in secrecy the family priest, he than sent a competent Brahmana to Dvaraka and keeping in view the auspicious time, the king arranged for the festivities, as desired by his son the king despatched invitation letters to several places. The Brahmana presented the welfare letter to the king who was seated in the assembly of the kings and gods, named Sudharma. Coming to know about the welfare letter, the face of the king was delighted. He delightfully gave away to the Brahmanas a thousand gold coins.

The big drums were beaten in the whole of Dvaraka, the gods, the sages, the kings, the relatives, the bards, the beggars were served with food with devotion. Sri Krishna was clad in the best of garments which were quite charming and incomparable in the three worlds. Thereafter the marriage procession was taken but to be the best is the three worlds. During the marriage procession the hymns from the Vedas were recited, starting in the Mahendra-yoga. Brahma together with Savitri were mounted on a chariots and moved ahead of all. The delightful Shiva with Parvati also moved on the chariot, followed by Ananta, Sesa, Surya, Ganesha, Karttikeya, Indra, the Moon, Varuna, Vayu, Kubera, Yama, Agni and Isana.

The three crores of gods, six crores of the sages, six lakhs of king and three lakhs of white chatras were carried in the procession.

 In the meantime, the king appeared glorious like the moon among the constellations. The valorous king delightfully moved towards Kundinapura.

The valorous Baladeva was mounted on a gem-studded vehicle. Then Vasudeva, Uddhava, Nanda, Akrura, Satyaki, the cowherds, the king Yadavas, the king of the lunar race, Duryodhana and others besides Dhrutarashtra also moved on. Then Yudhisthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva moved on delightfully in a vehicle.

Bhisma, Drona, Karna, valorous Ashvatthama, Krupacharya, Shakuni and Shalya moved on delightfully, three crores of warriors, hundreds of crores of Brahmanas, a thousand ascetics, yogis and Brahmacharis also moved on with the procession.

Two thousand sages who had controlled their anger, the Avadhutas also moved on together with a thousand carriers of the lotus flowers and a thousand carriers of the other flowers also moved on. Many of the artisans who could create beautiful paintings also moved on. The processions had a lakh of musical instruments as lakh of Gandharva and the singers. O Narada, during that of the time you were born as Gandharva named Upabarhana moving with fifty damsels. The procession also included a lakh of Vidyadharis, a lakh of apsaras, a lakh of Kinnaras and three lakhs of Gandharvas.