60. The Genealogical Table of the Family of Krsna

6 / The Genealogical Table of the Family of Kåñëa
Kåñëa had 16,108 wives, and in each of them He begot ten sons, all of them equal to their father in the opulences of strength, beauty, wisdom, fame, wealth and renunciation. "Like father like son." All the 16,108 wives of Kåñëa were princesses, and when each saw that Kåñëa was always present in her respective palace and did not leave home, they considered Kåñëa to be a henpecked husband who was very much attached to them. Every one of them thought that Kåñëa was her very obedient husband, but actually Kåñëa had no attraction for any of them. Although each thought that she was the only wife of Kåñëa and was very, very dear to Him, Lord Kåñëa, since He is ätmäräma, self-sufficient, was neither dear nor inimical to any one of them; He was equal to all the wives and treated them as a perfect husband just to please them. For Him, there was no need for even a single wife. In fact, since they were women, the wives could not understand the exalted position of Kåñëa nor the truths about Him.
All the princesses who were wives of Kåñëa were exquisitely beautiful, and each one of them was attracted by Kåñëa's eyes, which were just like lotus petals, and by His beautiful face, long arms, broad ears, pleasing smile, humorous talk and sweet words. Influenced by these features of Kåñëa, they all used to dress themselves very attractively, desiring to attract Kåñëa by their feminine bodily appeal. They used to exhibit their feminine characteristics by smiling and moving their eyebrows, thus throwing sharpened arrows of conjugal love just to awaken Kåñëa's lusty desires for them. Still, they could not arouse the mind of Kåñëa or His sex appetite. This means that Kåñëa never had any sex relations with any of His many wives, save and except to beget children.
The queens of Dvärakä were so fortunate that they got Lord Çré Kåñëa as their husband and personal companion, although He is not approachable by exalted demigods like Brahmä. They remained together as husband and wife, and Kåñëa, as an ideal husband, treated them in such a way that at every moment there was an increase of transcendental bliss in their smiling exchanges, talking and mixing together. Each and every wife had hundreds and thousands of maidservants, yet when Kåñëa entered the palaces of His thousands of wives, each one of them used to receive Kåñëa personally by seating Him in a nice chair, worshiping Him with all requisite paraphernalia, personally washing His lotus feet, offering Him betel nuts, massaging His legs to relieve them from fatigue, fanning Him to make Him comfortable, offering all kinds of scented sandalwood pulp, oils and aromatics, putting flower garlands on His neck, dressing His hair, getting Him to lie down on the bed and assisting Him in taking His bath. Thus they served always in every respect, especially when Kåñëa was eating. They were always engaged in the service of the Lord.
Of the 16,108 queens of Kåñëa, each of whom had ten sons, there is the following list of the sons of the first eight queens. By Rukmiëé, Kåñëa had ten sons: Pradyumna, Cärudeñëa, Sudeñëa, Cärudeha, Sucäru, Cärugupta, Bhadracäru, Cäarucandra, Vicäru and Cäru. None of them were inferior in their qualities to their divine father, Lord Kåñëa. Similarly, Satyabhämä had ten sons, and their names are as follows: Bhänu, Subhänu, Svarbhänu, Prabhänu, Bhänumän, Candrabhänu, Båhadbhänu, Atibhänu, Çrébhänu and Pratibhänu. The next queen, Jämbavaté, had ten sons, headed by Sämba. Their names are as follows: Sämba, Sumitra, Purujit, Çatajit, Sahasrajit, Vijaya, Citraketu, Vasumän, Draviòa and Kratu. Lord Kåñëa was specifically very affectionate to the sons of Jämbavaté. By His wife Satyä, the daughter of King Nagnajit, Lord Kåñëa had ten sons. They are as follows: Véra, Candra, Açvasena, Citragu, Vegavän, Våña, Äma, Çaìku, Vasu and Kunti. Amongst all of them, Kunté was very powerful. Kåñëa had ten sons by Kälindé, and they are as follows: Çruta, Kavi, Våña, Véra, Subähu, Bhadra, Çänti, Darça, Pürëamäsa and the youngest, Somaka. For His next wife, Lakñmaëä, the daughter of the King of Madras Province, He begot ten sons, of the names: Praghoña, Gätravän, Siàha, Bala, Prabala, Ürdhvaga, Mahäçakti, Saha, Oja and Aparäjita. Similarly, His next wife, Mitravindä, had ten sons. They are as follows: Våka, Harña, Anila, Gådhra, Vardhana, Annäda, Mahäàsa, Pävana, Vahni and Kñudhi. His next wife, Bhadrä, had ten sons, of the names Saìgrämajit, Båhatsena, Çüra, Praharaëa, Arijit, Jaya, Subhadrä, Väma, Äyu and Satyaka. Besides these eight chief queens, Kåñëa had 16,100 other wives, and all of them had ten sons each.
The eldest son of Rukmiëé, Pradyumna, was married with Mäyävaté from his very birth, and afterwards he was again married with Rukmavaté, the daughter of his maternal uncle, Rukmé. From this Rukmavaté, Pradyumna had a son named Aniruddha. In this way, Kåñëa's family--Kåñëa and His wives, along with their sons and grandsons and even great-grandsons--all combined together to include very nearly one billion family members.
Rukmé, the elder brother of Kåñëa's first wife, Rukmiëé, was greatly harassed and insulted in his fight with Kåñëa, but on the request of Rukmiëé his life was saved. Since then Rukmé had held a great grudge against Kåñëa and was always inimical toward Him. Nevertheless, his daughter was married with Kåñëa' son, and his granddaughter was married with Kåñëa's grandson, Aniruddha. This fact appeared to be a little astonishing to Mahäräja Parékñit when he heard it from Çukadeva Gosvämé. "I am surprised that Rukmé and Kåñëa, who were so greatly inimical to one another, could again be united by marital relationships between their descendants." Parékñit Mahäräja was curious about the mystery of this incident, and therefore he inquired further from Çukadeva Gosvämé. Because Çukadeva Gosvämé was a practical yogi, nothing was hidden from his power of insight. A perfect yogi like Çukadeva Gosvämé can see past, present and future in all details. Therefore, from such yogés or mystics there can be nothing concealed. When Parékñit Mahäräja inquired from Çukadeva Gosvämé, Çukadeva Gosvämé answered as follows.
Pradyumna, the eldest son of Kåñëa, born of Rukmiëé, was Cupid himself. He was so beautiful and attractive that the daughter of Rukmé, namely Rukmavaté, could not select any husband other than Pradyumna during her svayaàvara. Therefore, in that selection meeting, she garlanded Pradyumna in the presence of all other princes. When there was a fight among the princes, Pradyumna came out victorious, and therefore Rukmé was obliged to offer his beautiful daughter to him. Although a far-off enmity was always blazing in the heart of Rukmé because of his being insulted by Kåñëa's kidnapping of his sister, Rukmiëé, when his daughter selected Pradyumna as her husband Rukmé could not resist consenting to the marriage ceremony just to please his sister, Rukmiëé. And so Pradyumna became the nephew of Rukmé. Besides the ten sons described above, Rukmiëé had one beautiful daughter with big eyes, and she was married to the son of Kåtavarmä, whose name was Balé.
Although Rukmé was a veritable enemy of Kåñëa, he had great affection for his sister, Rukmiëé, and he wanted to please her in all respects. On this account, when Rukmiëé's grandson Aniruddha was to be married, Rukmé offered his granddaughter Rocanä to Aniruddha. Such marriage between immediate cousins is not very much sanctioned by the Vedic culture, but in order to please Rukmiëé, Rukmé offered his daughter and granddaughter to the son and grandson of Kåñëa. In this way, when the negotiation of the marriage of Aniruddha with Rocanä was complete, a big marriage party accompanied Aniruddha and started from Dvärakä. They traveled until they reached Bhojakaöa, which Rukmé had colonized after his sister had been kidnapped by Kåñëa. This marriage party was led by the grandfather, namely Lord Kåñëa, accompanied by Lord Balaräma, as well as Kåñëa's first wife, Rukmiëé, His son Pradyumna, Jämbavaté's son Sämba and many other relatives and family members. They reached the town of Bhojakaöa, and the marriage ceremony was peacefully performed.
The King of Kaliìga was a friend of Rukmé's and he gave him the ill advice to play with Balaräma and thus defeat Him in a bet. Amongst the kñatriya kings, betting and gambling in chess was not uncommon. If someone challenged a friend to play on the chessboard, the friend could not deny the challenge. Çré Balarämajé was not a very expert chess player, and this was known to the King of Kaliìga. So Rukmé was advised to retaliate against the family members of Kåñëa by challenging Balaräma to play chess. Although not a very expert chess player, Çré Balarämajé was very enthusiastic in sporting activities. He accepted the challenge of Rukmé and sat down to play. Betting was with gold coins, and Balaräma first of all challenged with one hundred coins, then 1,000 coins, then 10,000 coins. Each time, Balaräma lost, and Rukmé became victorious.
Çré Balaräma's losing the game was an opportunity for the King of Kaliìga to criticize Kåñëa and Balaräma. Thus the King of Kaliìga was talking jokingly and purposefully showing his teeth to Balaräma. Because Balaräma was the loser in the game, He was a little intolerant of the sarcastic joking words. He became a little agitated, and when Rukmé again challenged Balaräma, he made a bet of 100,000 gold coins. Fortunately, this time Balaräma won. Although Balarämajé had won, Rukmé, out of his cunningness, began to claim that Balaräma was the loser and that he himself had won. Because of this lie, Balarämajé became most angry with Rukmé. His agitation was so sudden and great that it appeared like a tidal wave in the ocean on a full moon day. Balaräma's eyes are naturally reddish, and when He became agitated and angry His eyes became more reddish. This time He challenged and made a bet of a hundred million coins.
Again Balaräma was the winner according to the rules of chess, but Rukmé again cunningly began to claim that he had won. Rukmé appealed to the princes present, and he especially mentioned the name of the King of Kaliìga. At that time there was a voice from the air during the dispute, and it announced that for all honest purposes Balaräma, the actual winner of this game, was being abused and that the statement of Rukmé that he had won was absolutely false.
In spite of this divine voice, Rukmé insisted that Balaräma had lost, and by his persistence it appeared that he had death upon his head. Falsely puffed up by the ill advice of his friend, he did not give much importance to the oracle, and he began to criticize Balarämajé. He said, "My dear Balarämajé, You two brothers, cowherd boys only, may be very expert in tending cows, but how can You be expert in playing chess or shooting arrows on the battlefield? These arts are well-known only to the princely order." Hearing this kind of pinching talk by Rukmé and hearing the loud laughter of all the other princes present there, Lord Balaräma became as agitated as burning cinders. He immediately took a club in His hand and, without any further talk, struck Rukmé on the head. From that one blow, Rukmé fell down immediately and was dead and gone. Thus Rukmé was killed by Balaräma on that auspicious occasion of Aniruddha's marriage.
These things are not very uncommon in kñatriya society, and the King of Kaliìga, being afraid that he would be the next to be attacked, fled from the scene. Before he could escape even a few steps, however, Balarämajé immediately captured him and, because the King was always showing his teeth while criticizing Balaräma and Kåñëa, broke all his teeth with His club. The other princes who were supporting the King of Kaliìga and Rukmé were also captured, and Balaräma beat them with His club, breaking their legs and hands. They did not try to retaliate but thought it wise to run away from the bloody scene.
During this strife between Balaräma and Rukmé, Lord Kåñëa did not utter a word, for He knew that if He supported Balaräma, Rukmiëé would be unhappy, and if He said that the killing of Rukmé was unjust, then Balaräma would be unhappy. Therefore, Lord Kåñëa was silent on the death of His brother-in-law, Rukmé, on the occasion of His grandson's marriage. He did not disturb either His affectionate relationship with Balaräma or with Rukmiëé. After this, the bride and the bridegroom were ceremoniously seated on the chariot, and they started for Dvärakä, accompanied by the bridegroom's party. The bridegroom's party was always protected by Lord Kåñëa, the killer of the Madhu demon. Thus they left Rukmé's kingdom, Bhojakaöa, and happily started for Dvärakä.
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Second Volume, Sixth Chapter, of Kåñëa, "The Genealogical Table of the Family of Kåñëa."

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