Draupadi Meets the Queens of Krishna

In the eighty third chapter Krsna is praised by his friends. On inquiry from Draupadi the queens of Krsna describe how he married them.

Just as Krsna satisfied the gopis, so (tatha) Krsna, he was merciful to the others . He inquired from Yudhisthira and all his other friends concerning their welfare or auspciousness. He is the goal of all devotees, but he is the greatest object of love for the gopis (guru gatih).

What can be inauspicious for those with material bodies who drink through their ears the nectar of your lotus feet, which flows from the minds of the great devotees (mahamanastah) out through their mouths, and destroyed that ignorance which produced our bodies?

Certainly ( hi) we have surrendered to you (tva ), who destroys the jivas’ three modes of nature composed of ignorance, by the manifestation of your spiritual form. How could there be anything inauspicious for us ? You cause our submersion in bliss. In other words, more than destroying ignorance, we are submerged in bliss just by seeing you. You have knowledge (bodham) completely unaffected by time or other elements. Thus you know the inclination of our hearts, our complete surrender to you. You have accepted (atta) pastimes (krti) of destroying the demons and protecting the devotees by yogamaya, for the purpose of maintaining (avana) the rules outlined in the Vedas (nigama) which are destroyed by time. In other words, you give happiness to everyone.

I now describe to you those topics which they discussed, which are sung throughout the three worlds.

Kausala here refers to Nagnajiti. O queens, please tell us in truth, how Krsna married you. Or how he married you without cheating. (seems anamaya is used instead of svamayaya in some texts.)

Though the kings such as Jarasandha were standing with bows ready to shoot, in order to offer me to Sisupala, Krsna, whose foot dust is held by heads of the invincible warriors, took me away, as a lion takes away his share from a herd of goats or sheep. May his feet which are the abode of Laksmi, be the goal of my worship.

In order to remove the ill fame, created by my father (tatena) who, aggrieved by the killing of his brother (sanabhi) prasena, accused Krsna of the deed, Krsna defeated Rksaraja and brought back the syamantaka jewel. Then he gave the jewel to my father. My father, fearing his offense, gave me, already promised to Akrura (dattam) to Krsna (prabhave).

Not knowing that Krsna was his own master and the supreme lord, my father (deha krt) fought with him for twenty seven days (tri navahani for tri nava ahani a is short to comply with the rules of meter). Then recognizing that he was the husband of Sita, he touched his feet, and offered me along with the jewel to Krsna. “O then now we remember that you were born during Rama’s appearance and promised to him, but the refused because he had taken a vow of only one wife. Now you have been accepted as wife by Krsna, who has many wives. Therefore you are the best.” Hearing this Jambavati became embarrassed and said, “I am only his servant.”

He approached me with Arjuna (sakhya).

As a lion takes his share from a pack of dogs, defeating the kings and my offensive brothers, Krsna, the abode of Laksmi (sriyaukah) took me to his city. May I take repeated births as a washer of his lotus feet.

Seven strong bulls were arranged by my father for testing the strength of king in order to give me to the strongest one. He bound up those bulls, which kill the pride of the strong, very easily (kridan), as children tie up baby goats.

Having paid the price with his courage, (viryam sulkam), he took me along my servants, and with a full contingent of armies (caturanganim) to his city.

O Draupadi (krsne), my father offered me to son of my maternal uncle, Krsna. (mitravinda was the daughter of Jayasena and Rajadhidevi, sister of Vasudeva).

“May I, rotating birth after birth due to karma, attain the touch of his lotus feet, by which I will attain the highest goal (sreyah).” This is an expression of humility, in playing the part of a human being, since she has no karma.

My heart was (asa) attached to Mukunda. He was chosen ( vrtah) by me, holding a lotus in my hand, after I had refused the protectors of the directions as my husband.

Just a fish was made with a desire to get Arjuna as your husband( or which was pierced by arjuna’ arrow, as (parthesv apakrta) in seen in some texts), in my case also a fish was made. But the could not Arjuna also pierce this fish? This fish, which was moving very quickly, could only be seen by looking at it as a reflection in a pot of water placed at the bottom of the pole. It could not be seen by looking up. Only by looking down could one aim upwards. It could thus not be pierced by anyone except Krsna. The fish made by your father, though covered, could be aimed at by looking upwards following the pole, and thus could be pierced by the expert marksman Arjuna.

They, with hopes of attaining me (mad dhiyah), took up the bow with the arrow in that assembly (parsadi).

Some were able to pull the string to the tip of the bow, but being unable to tie it, were hit by the bow and fell to the ground.

The king of Ambastha , Jarasandha and others had the power to string the bow, but could not detect the fish.

With great concentration Arjuna was able to detect the target in the reflection in the water (viskya), and carefully released his arrow. His arrow touched the fish but did not pierce it in the center. This was known because of the arrow mark on the side of the fish. Some say that he even though he was able to understand the location of the target, he cold not pierce it become he lacked the strength.

Krsna pierced the fish at noon (abhijite). In spite of the fact that the fish was difficult to detect because the sun was overhead, Krsna pierced it.

27.Remembering her joy on that occasion she describes her choosing Krsna at that time in two verses. She entered with feet adorned with anklets which jingled, wearing two pieces of silk cloth tied by a belt.

She describes how her beauty became incomparable at that time due to her extreme joy. Her cheeks were surrounded with large locks of hair and lit by her earrings.

O Draupadi (yajnaseni), the leaders among the kings were envious (spardhantah).

Assuming four hands, Krsna held me, very frightened, with two arms, and held his bow and arrows with the other.

He went like a lion, while the other animals looked on(misitam). Using the sixth case for misitam indicates disregard for the kings.

The kings followed behind to stop him, like dogs following a lion. Some lifted their bows (uddhrta isu asah), like dogs lifting up their tails (asa).

Some fell in the battlefield and others gave up the battlefield and fled.

Krsna entered Dvaraka which had flags on poles which covered the sun. and wonderful arches.

My father gave priceless weapons along with female servants to the Lord, who is perfect (purnasya), out of devotion (bhaktitah), because by devotion the Lord will accept even leaves or flowers.

39.Being absorbed, she described profusely about herself. Now, to satisfy all her elders such as Rukmini, she summarizes about all eight queens. “We eight queens cannot control him like other wives can control their husbands.” She says this out of great humility. In fact, they are expansions of the Lord in the form of hladini sakti, and actually control him with prema.

“We desire the foot dust of he who, though full in his desires, freed and accepted as his wives the daughters of kings, knowing that they had been imprisoned by Bhauma when he defeated the kings while he conquered the earth.” The verb kamayamahe is two verses later. “He married us because we were constantly remembering his lotus feet, which cause liberation from material life (samsrti vimoksam). For this reason he freed us from the prison.”

41-42.“If that is so, then Krsna will fulfill all your desires, as you have surrendered to his lotus feet.”

“We do not want lordship of the earth, of Indraloka (sva rajyam), nor the enjoyment of all material pleasures ( bhaujyam), nor the enjoyment of siddhis (virajyam vividha rajate) , nor the position of Brahman ( paramesthyam), nor liberation (anantyam), nor any of the other types of liberation such as living on the same planet as Hari (hari padam).”

“ Then what do you want?’

“We want the dust of Krsna’s (etasya) lotus feet, anointed with the fragrance of kumkuma from the breast of Sri (srimat padarajah).”

It is not appropriate to say that Sri means the wife of Narayan, Laksmi, in this context. The wives of Kaliya said about Laksmi, “The goddess of fortune performed austerities for centuries, giving up all other desires and taking austere vows to get your feet on her head.” sb 10.16.36

From this it is understood that she had a desire for Krsna. Uddhava has said, “The gopīs received benedictions from the Lord that neither Lakmidevi nor the most beautiful dancers in the heavenly planets could attain” SB10.47.60 From this we can understand that she never received that benediction.

Sri cannot refer to Rukmini either. This verse says that the women of Vraja desire this foot dust.

The gopis said, “But why should Krsna come here after winning a kingdom, killing His enemies and marrying the daughters of kings? He’s satisfied there, surrounded by all His friends and well-wishers.” Sb 10.47.45

The gopis said this with envy towards Rukmini and others as they are competitors for Krsna’s love. Thus , they could not have desire for anything related to her.

Devi krsna mayi prokta radhika paradevata sarva lakmimayi sarvakantih sammohini para. Radha is the same as Krsna, the superem diety, containing within her all Laksmis, all beauty and supreme attractiveness.

This verse from the Brhad Gautamiya Tantra shows that Sri can also refer to Radhika. “The women of Vraja, Radha’s friends and intimate companions, desire the lotus feet of Krsna anointed with that kumkuma from her breasts. And the Pulinda women, taking it from the grass and plants (trna virudhah) on which that kumkuma was smeared, desire it also. (sb 10.21.17) . The cowherd boys herding the cows, great souls, refers to the priya narma sakhas. Some of them such as Subala having thoughts of attaining sentiments like the gopis, also desire that foot dust. Not only do all of these inhabitants of Vraja desire such foot dust, but they also desire the touch of those same feet (padasparsam). We also aspire for the touch of such feet.”

Padasparsam can also be a modifier of the foot dust which touches his feet. Thus the meaning would be “The gopis desire the dust which touches his feet.”

From the day that Uddhava, talking about prema rasa, described the excellence of Sri Radha’s form, prema, good fortune, sweetness, and her ability to control Krsna to the assembly of women, outside of Krsna’s presence, such a desire also arouse in them.

The eight queens headed by Rukmini felt themselves satisfied with their own good fortune and excellence and therefore did not develop that desire. However that deisre did arise in the sixteen thousand queens who were of less good fortune than the eight queens. Thus some say that after Krsna disappeared, taking the form of sixteen thousand cowherd men, he took the sixteen thousand queens from Arjuna on the road, and brought them to Gokula.