Contents
The Lord Krishna was walking in a garden when he received a visit from the god Narada, who told him that his designated wife, an avatar of the goddess Śrī, was going to descend to earth in the land of Kundina. Krishna, as an avatar of the god Vishnu, must marry her. This avatar of the goddess Sri was called the goddess Rukminī, who would be the daughter of prabu Bhishmaka. However, the royal Jarasanda was about to marry her to the King of Cedi, who was called Lord Cedya.
Thus, Krishna wanted to elope with the goddess Rukminī. One evening before the celebrations for the wedding were held, Krishna went to Kundina and ran away with Rukmini. Guests from many countries had already arrived at the wedding. Lord Bhishmaka was extremely angry, and he immediately held discussions with the other visiting kings. They were scared to confront Krishna as he was known to have magical powers. Then Jarasanda developed a strategy to fight him, that is to enlist the assistance of Yudistira and the other Pandava.
A messenger was then sent to Lord Yudistira, who was quite confused. On the one hand, he had the obligation to a noble knight to protect the earth and fight evil. Krishna was a close friend of the Pandava, however his actions were wrong and had to be punished. Finally he agreed to help Jarasanda. Nevertheless, Bhima was furious and wished to kill murder Jarasanda's messenger, but was prevented by Arjuna. A short while later, they received a visit from an ambassador from Krishna asking their help. Because they had already promised their help to Jarasanda, Yudistira was forced to turn down the request while telling the ambassador that Krishna had no need to worry because of his divine powers.
The five Pandava then left for the land of Karawira, where Lord Jarasanda ruled, and then all the Kaurava invaded Dwarawati, Krishna's country.
Meanwhile, Krishna was preparing to face his enemies, helped by his older brother, Baladewa. The two of them defeated many enemies. Jarasanda, the Kaurava, Bima and Nakula and Sahadewa were all slain. Yudistira was rendered unconscious by Krishna and couldn't move. Then Krishna was challenged by Arjuna and nearly lost, and thus the god Vishnu descended from heaven. Krishna, as an avatar of Vishnu turned into Vishnu, while Arjuna, who was also an avatar of Vishna, also turned into Vishnu. Yudistira then became conscious again, and asked Vishnu to bring back to life all those who had been slain in the fighting. Vishnu agreed, and He rained down immortality and all those who had been slain came back to life, including Jarasanda. They all then joined the festivities for Krishna's wedding in Dwarawati.
Read more about this topic: Kakawin Hariwangsa
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