The Loves of Krishna in Indian Painting and Poetry by W. G. Archer

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This dismissal reveals how final is Krishna's severance from his former
life, yet provided the cowherds are not involved, he is quick to honour
earlier relationships. One day in Dwarka his mother, Devaki, tells him
that she has a private grief--grief at the loss of the six elder brothers
of Krishna slain by the tyrant Kansa. Krishna tells her not to mourn,
descends to the third of the three worlds, interviews its ruler, Raja
Bali, and effects the release of the six brothers. Returning with them, he
gives them to his mother and her joy is great.

On another occasion he is visited by Sudama, a Brahman who had lived with
him, when, after slaying the tyrant, he and Balarama had gone for
instruction to their spiritual preceptor. Since then Sudama has grown thin
and poor. The thatch on his hut has tumbled down. He has nothing to eat.
His wife is alarmed at their abject state and advises him to seek out
Krishna, his chief friend. 'If you go to him,' she says, 'our poverty will
end because it is he who grants wealth and virtue, fulfils desires and
bestows final happiness.' Sudama replies that even Krishna does not give
anyone anything without that person giving him something first. As he has
not given, how can he hope to receive? His wife then ties up a little rice
in an old white cloth and gives it to Sudama as a present to Krishna.
Sudama sets out. On reaching Dwarka, he is admitted to Krishna's presence,
is immediately recognized and is treated with the utmost kindness and
respect. Krishna himself washes his feet and reveres him as a Brahman.[40]
'Brother,' he says, 'from the time you quitted our preceptor's house, I
have heard nothing of you. Your coming has purified my house and made me
happy.' Krishna then notices the rice and laughingly asks Sudama what
present his wife has sent him and why it is hidden under his arm. Sudama
is greatly abashed but allows Krishna to take the bundle. On taking it,
Krishna eats the rice. He then conducts Sudama within, feasts him on
delicacies and puts him to bed. During the night he sends Visvakarma, the
divine architect, to Sudama's home, with instructions to turn it into a
palace. The next morning Sudama takes leave of Krishna, congratulating
himself on not having asked Krishna for anything. As he nears home, he is
dismayed to find no trace of his hut, but instead a golden palace. He
approaches the gate-keeper and is told it belongs to Sudama, the friend of
Krishna. His wife comes out and he finds her dressed in fine clothes and
jewels and attended by maid-servants. She takes him in and at first he is
abashed at so much wealth. Krishna, he reflects, can only have given it to
him because he doubted his affection. He did not ask Krishna for wealth
and cannot fathom why he has been given it. His wife assures him that
Krishna knows the thoughts of everyone. Sudama did not ask for wealth, but
she herself desired it and that is why Krishna has given it to them.
Sudama is convinced and says no more.

All these incidents provide a clue to Krishna's nature. They illustrate
his attitudes, confirm him in his role as protector and preserver and show
him in a new light--that of a guardian and upholder of morality. He is
still a fervent lover, but his love is sanctioned and formalized by legal
marriage. Moreover, a new respect characterizes his dealings with Brahmans
and his approach to festivals. Instead of the young revolutionary, we now
meet a sage conservative. These changes colour his final career.

As life at Dwarka runs its course, Krishna's activities centre more and
more on wars with demons and his relations with the Pandavas. Despite his
prowess and renown, demons trouble the Yadavas from time to time, but all
are killed either by Krishna wielding a magic quoit or by Balarama plying
his plough or pestle. On one occasion, a monkey demon runs amok, harassing
the people and ravaging the country. He surprises Balarama bathing in a
tank with his wives, despoils their clothes and defiles their pitchers. A
great combat then ensues, the monkey hurling trees and hills while
Balarama counters with his plough and pestle. But the outcome is hardly in
doubt and at last the monkey is killed.

On another occasion, Krishna is compelled to intervene in force. Following
his marriage with his first queen, Rukmini, a son, Pradyumna has been
born. He is no less a person than Kama, the god of love, whom Siva has
burnt for disturbing his meditations. When grown up, Pradyumna is married
to a cousin, the daughter of his uncle, Rukma. Rukma has never forgiven
Krishna for abducting and marrying his sister, Rukmini, and despite their
intimate alliance is sworn to kill him. His plot is discovered and in a
final contest, Balarama kills him. Meanwhile, Pradyumna has had a son,
Aniruddha, who grows up into a charming youth, while at the same time
Vanasura, a demon with a thousand arms, has a lovely daughter, Usa. When
Usa is twelve years old, she longs for a husband and in a dream sees and
embraces Aniruddha. She does not know who he is, but describes him to a
confidante. The latter draws pictures of all the leading royalty, and
among the Yadavas, Usa recognizes her love, Aniruddha. The confidante
agrees to bring him to her and going through the air to Dwarka, finds him
sleeping, dreaming of Usa. She transports him to Usa's palace and on
waking. Aniruddha finds himself alone with his love. Usa conceals him, but
the news reaches her father and he surrounds the palace with his demon
army. Aniruddha routs the army but is caught by Vanasura, who then
imprisons the two young lovers. News now reaches Krishna who rushes an
army to the scene. A battle ensues during which Vanasura loses all his
arms save four. He then worships Krishna, and Aniruddha and Usa are
married.

Meanwhile Krishna is carefully maintaining relations with the Pandavas. We
have seen how immediately after the slaying of the tyrant he sends an
envoy to inquire after his aunt Kunti, the sister of his father, and
mother of the five Pandavas. We have also noticed how during a visit to
the Pandava court, he has acquired a new queen, Kalindi. He now embarks on
several courses of action, each of which is designed to cement their
relations. During a visit to his court, Arjuna, the brother whose lucky
shot won Draupadi for the Pandavas, falls in love with Subhadra, Krishna's
sister. Krishna is delighted to have him as a brother-in-law and as
already narrated in the epic, he advises Arjuna to marry her by capture. A
little later Krishna learns that Yudhisthira will shortly proclaim himself
a 'ruler of the world' and decides to visit the Pandava court to assist at
the sacrifice. He takes a vast army with him and advances on the court
with massive splendour. As he arrives, he learns that Jarasandha whose
feud is unabated has now imprisoned twenty thousand rajas, all of whom cry
to be released. Krishna decides that Jarasandha's demon activities must be
ended once for all and taking two of the Pandavas with him, Bhima and
Arjuna, he sets out to destroy him. Jarasandha elects to engage Bhima in
single-handed combat and for twenty-seven days the fight proceeds, each
wielding a club and neither securing the advantage. Krishna now learns
that Jarasandha can only be killed if he is split in two. He directs
Bhima, therefore, to throw him down, place a foot on one of his thighs and
catching the other leg with his hand, tear him asunder. Bhima does so and
in this way Jarasandha is destroyed. The captive rajas are now released
and after returning home they foregather at the Pandavas' court to assist
at the sacrifice.

As arrangements proceed an incident occurs which illustrates yet again the
complex situation arising from Krishna's dual character. Krishna is God,
yet he is also man. Being a man, it is normally as a man that he is
regarded. Yet from time to time particular individuals sense his Godhead
and then he is no longer man but God himself. Even those, however, who
view him as God do so only for brief periods of time and hence the
situation is constantly arising in which Krishna is one moment honoured as
God and then a moment later is treated as a man. And it is this situation
which now recurs.

As we have already seen in the epic, part of the custom at imperial
sacrifices was to offer presents to distinguished guests, and according to
the epic the person chosen to receive the first present was Krishna
himself. The _Purana_ changes this by substituting gods for guests.
Yudhisthira is uncertain who should be worshipped first. 'Who is the great
lord of the gods,' he asks, 'to whom we should bow our heads?' To this a
Pandava gives a clear answer. Krishna, he says, is god of gods. 'No one
understands his nature. He is lord of Brahma, Siva and Indra. It is he who
creates, preserves and destroys. His work is endless. He is the unseen and
imperishable. He descends upon the earth continually for the sake of his
worshippers and assuming mortal form appears and acts like a mortal. He
sits in our houses and calls us 'brothers.' We are deluded by his power
and consider him a brother. Yet never have we seen one as great as him.'
He speaks in fact as one who, knowing Krishna, has seen, for the moment,
the god beyond the man. His vision is shared by the others present.
Krishna is therefore placed on a throne and before the vast concourse of
rajas, Yudhisthira worships him.

Among the guests, however, is one raja to whom the vision is denied. He is
Sisupala, Krishna's rival for the hand of Rukmini, and since Rukmini's
abduction, his deadly enemy. Krishna's elevation as a god is more than he
can stomach and he utters an angry protest. Krishna, he says, is not god
at all. He is a mere cowherd's son of low caste who has debased himself by
eating the leavings of the cowherds' children and has even been the lover
of the cowgirls. As a child he was an arrant pilferer, stealing milk and
butter from every house, while as a youth he has trifled with other men's
wives. He has also slighted Indra. Krishna quietly listens to this
outburst. Then, deeming Sisupala's enmity to have reached its furthest
limit, he allows his patience to be exhausted. He reaches for his quoit
and hurling it through the air, slays Sisupala on the spot. The ceremonies
are then completed and Krishna leaves for Dwarka. As he nears the city, he
discovers the Yadavas hard pressed by an army of demons. He and Balarama
intervene. The demons are either killed or put to flight and the Yadavas
are rescued. When a little later Sisupala's two brothers bring an army
against him, they too are vanquished.

Twelve years now intervene. Yudhisthira in the moment of triumph has
gambled away his kingdom. The Pandavas have once again been driven into
exile and the old feud has broken out afresh. As the exile ends, both
sides prepare for war and Krishna also leaves for the battle. Balarama is
loath to intervene so goes away on pilgrimage. After various adventures,
however, he also arrives on the scene. As he comes, a series of
single-handed combats is in progress with Krishna and other Rajas looking
on. Duryodhana, the son of blind Dhritarashtra, the king of the Kauravas
is fighting Bhima, the powerful Pandava and just as Balarama arrives he is
dealt a foul blow and wounded in the thigh. Balarama is shocked to see so
many uncles and cousins involved in strife and begs them to desist.
Duryodhana replies that it is Krishna who has willed the war and that they
are as puppets in his hands. It is Krishna who is actively aiding the
Pandavas and the war is only being carried on because of his advice. It is
Krishna also who has sponsored foul play. Balarama is pained at such
accusations and strongly criticizes Krishna. Krishna, however, is ready
with an answer. The Kauravas, he says, cheated the Pandavas of their
kingdom by the game of dice. Duryodhana had told Draupadi to sit on his
thigh and so he deserved to have it broken. So unjust and tyrannical are
the Kauravas that any methods used against them are fair. Balarama keeps
silent and a little later returns to Dwarka.

This incident concludes the _Purana's_ references to the war. Nothing is
said of Krishna's sermon--the _Bhagavad Gita_. No mention is made of
Krishna's role as charioteer to Arjuna. Nothing further is said of its
deadly outcome. Krishna's career as a warrior, in fact, is ended and with
this episode the _Purana_ enters its final phase.

As Krishna lives at Dwarka, surrounded by his wives and huge progeny, he
wearies of his earthly career. By now his mission has been accomplished.
Hordes of demons have been slain, cruel monarchs killed and much of
Earth's burden lifted. There is no longer any pressing need for him to
stay and he decides to quit his body and 're-enter with all his emanations
the sphere of Vishnu.' To do this, however, the whole of the Yadava race
must first be ended.[41] One, day some Yadava boys make fun of certain
Brahmans. They dress up one of their company as a pregnant girl, take him
to the Brahmans and innocently inquire what kind of child the woman will
bring forth. The Brahmans immediately penetrate the disguise and angered
at the youth's impertinence, they reply, 'A club that will crush the whole
Yadava race.' The boys run to King Ugrasena, relate what has happened and
are even more alarmed when an iron club is brought forth from the boy's
belly. Ugrasena has the club ground to dust and thrown into the sea, where
its particles become rushes. One part of the club, however, is like a
lance and does not break. When thrown into the sea, it is swallowed by a
fish. A hunter catches it and taking the iron spike from its stomach lays
it aside for future use. It is an arrow made from this particular spike
which a little later will bring about Krishna's death. Similarly it is the
iron rushes which will cause the death of the Yadavas. Already, therefore,
a chain of sinister happenings has been started and from now onwards the
action moves relentlessly to its grim and tragic close.

As the final scene unfolds, the gods, headed by Brahma and Siva, approach
Krishna begging him to return. Krishna tells them that everything is now
in train and within seven nights he will complete the destruction of the
Yadavas and return to his everlasting home.

Signs portending the destruction of Dwarka now appear. 'A dreadful figure,
death personified, haunts every house, coming and going no one knows how
and being invulnerable to weapons by which he is assailed. Strong
hurricanes blow; large rats multiply and infest the roads and houses and
attack persons in their sleep; starlings scream in their cages, storks
imitate the hooting of owls and goats the howling of jackals; cows bring
forth foals and camels mules; food in the moment of being eaten is filled
with worms; fire burns with discoloured flames and at sunset and sunrise
the air is traversed by headless and hideous spirits.'[42] Krishna draws
the Yadavas' attention to these omens and advises them to leave Dwarka and
move to Prabhasa, a site farther inland.

Udho, who earlier in the story has acted as Krishna's envoy to the
cowgirls quickly realizes that the end is near and approaches Krishna for
advice. 'Tell me, O Lord, what it is proper I should do. For it is clear
that shortly you will destroy the Yadavas.' Krishna then tells him to go
to a shrine high up in the mountains and by meditating on Krishna obtain
release. He adds minute instructions on the technique of penance and ends
with some definitions of the yoga of devotion. He concludes by telling
Udho that when all the Yadavas have perished, he himself will go to heaven
and Dwarka will be swallowed by the ocean. Udho bows low and leaves for
the mountains.

Krishna now assembles the leading Yadavas and leaving behind only the
elders, the women and children, escorts them to Prabhasa, a town inland,
assuring them that by proper worship they may yet avert their fate. At
Prabhasa the Yadavas bathe and purify themselves, anoint the gods' statues
and make offerings. They appease the Brahmans with costly gifts--'thereby
countering evil omens, gaining the road to happiness and ensuring rebirth
at a higher level.'

Their worship however, is of no avail for almost immediately they fall to
drinking. 'As they drank, the destructive flame of dissension was kindled
amongst them by mutual collision, and fed with the fuel of abuse.
Infuriated by the divine influence, they fell upon one another with
missile weapons and when these were expended, they had recourse to the
rushes growing high. The rushes in their hands became like thunderbolts
and they struck one another with them fatal blows. Krishna interposed to
prevent them but they thought that he was taking part with each severally,
and continued the conflict. Krishna then, enraged, took up a handful of
rushes to destroy them, and the rushes became a club of iron and with this
he slew many of the murderous Yadavas; whilst others, fighting fiercely,
put an end to one another. In a short time, there was not a single Yadava
left alive, except the mighty Krishna and Daruka, his charioteer.'[43]

With the slaughter thus completed, Krishna feels free to leave the earth.
Such Yadavas who have been left behind in Dwarka have been spared, but the
greater part of the race is dead. He therefore makes ready for his own
departure. Balarama, who has helped Krishna in the brawl, goes to the
sea-shore, performs yoga and, leaving his body, joins the Supreme Spirit.
Sesha, the white serpent of eternity, issues from his mouth and hymned by
snakes and other serpents proceeds to the ocean. 'Bringing an offering of
respect, Ocean came to meet him; and then the majestic being, adored by
attendant snakes entered into the waters of the deep.'[44]

Krishna then seats himself by a fig tree, lays his left leg across his
right thigh, turns the sole of his foot outwards and assumes one of the
postures in which abstraction is practised. As he meditates he appears
lovelier than ever. His eyes flash. The four arms of Vishnu spring from
his body. He wears his crown, his sacred thread and garland of flowers. As
he sits, glorious and beautiful, the same hunter, who earlier had salvaged
the iron spike from the fish, chances to pass by. His arrow is tipped with
a piece of the iron and mistaking Krishna's foot for part of a deer, he
shoots his arrow and hits it. Approaching the mark, he sees Krishna's four
arms and is horrified to discover whom he has wounded. As he begs
forgiveness, Krishna grants him liberation and dispatches him to heaven.

Daruka, Krishna's charioteer, now comes in search of his master. Finding
him wounded, he is overwhelmed with grief. Krishna tells him to go to
Dwarka and inform the surviving Yadavas what has happened. On receiving
the news they must leave Dwarka immediately, for the sea will shortly
engulf it. They must also place themselves under Arjuna's protection and
go to Indraprastha. 'Then the illustrious Krishna having united himself
with his own pure, spiritual, inexhaustible and universal spirit abandoned
his mortal body.'[45]

Daruka goes mournfully to Dwarka where he breaks the news. Vasudeva with
his two wives, Devaki and Rohini, die of grief. Arjuna recovers the bodies
of Krishna and Balarama and places them on a funeral pyre. Rukmini along
with Krishna's seven other queens throw themselves on the flames.
Balarama's wives, as well as King Ugrasena, also die. Arjuna then appoints
Krishna's great grandson, Parikshit, to rule over the survivors and, after
assembling the remaining women and children, removes them from Dwarka and
travels slowly away. As they leave, the ocean comes up, swallowing the
city and engulfing everything except the temple.

[Footnote 40: Plate 19.]

[Footnote 41: Note 13.]

[Footnote 42: Note 14.]

[Footnote 43: Note 7.]

[Footnote 44: Plate 1 and Note 7.]

[Footnote 45: Plate 2 and Note 7.]

(iv) The _Purana_ Re-considered

Such an account gives us what the _Mahabharata_ epic did not give--a
detailed description of Krishna's career. It confirms the epic's view of
Krishna as a hero and fills in many gaps concerning his life at Dwarka,
his relations with the Pandavas, his life as a feudal prince and finally,
his death. It makes clear that throughout the story Krishna is an
incarnation of Vishnu and that his main reason for being born is to aid
the good and kill demons. At the same time, it shows him in two important
new lights--firstly, as one whose youth was spent among cowherds, in
circumstances altogether different from those of a prince and secondly, as
a delightful lover of women, who explores to the full the joys of sexual
love. The second role characterizes him both as cowherd and prince but
with important differences of attitude and behaviour. As a prince, Krishna
is wedded first to Rukmini and then to seven other wives, observing on
each occasion the requisite formalities. Even the sixteen thousand one
hundred girls whom he rescues from imprisonment receive this formal
status. With all of them Krishna enjoys a variety of sexual pleasures and
their love is moral, respectable and approved. Krishna the prince, in
fact, is Krishna the husband. Krishna the cowherd, on the other hand, is
essentially a lover. The cowgirls whose impassioned love he inspires are
all married and in consorting with them he is breaking one of the most
solemn requirements of the moral code. The first relationship has the
secure basis of conjugal duty, the second the daring adventurousness of
romantic passion.

The same abrupt contrast appears between his character as a cowherd and
his character as a prince. As a youth he mixes freely with the cowherds,
behaving with an easy naturalness of manner and obtaining from them an
intense devotion. This devotion is excited by everything he does and
whether as a baby crying for the breast, a little boy pilfering butter or
a young man teasing the married girls, he exerts a magnetic charm. At no
time does he neglect his prime duty of killing demons but this is
subordinated to his innocent delight in living. He is shown as impatient
with old and stereotyped forms of worship, as scorning ordinary morality
and treating love as paramount. Although he acts continually with princely
dignity and is always aware of his true character as Vishnu, his impact on
others is based more on the understanding of their needs than on their
recognition of him as God. When, at times, Krishna the cowherd is adored
as God, he has already been loved as a boy and a young man. In the later
story, this early charm is missing. Krishna is frequently recognized to
be God and is continually revered and respected as a man. His conduct is
invariably resolute but there is a kind of statesmanlike formality about
his actions. He is respectful towards ritual, formal observances and
Brahmans while in comparison with his encounters with the cowgirls his
relations with women have an air of slightly stagnant luxury. His wives
and consorts lavish on him their devotion but the very fact that they are
married removes the romantic element from their relationship.

Such vital differences are only partially resolved in the _Bhagavata
Purana_. Representing as they do two different conceptions of Krishna's
character, it is inevitable that the resulting account should be slightly
biased in one direction or the other. The _Bhagavata Purana_ records both
phases in careful detail blending them into a single organic whole. But
there can be little doubt that its Brahman authors were in the main more
favourably inclined towards the hero prince than towards the cowherd
lover. There is a tendency for the older Krishna to disparage the younger.
Krishna the prince's subsequent meetings with the cowgirls are shown as
very different from his rapturous encounters with them in the forest and
the fact that his later career involves so sharp a separation from them
indicates that the whole episode was somewhat frowned upon. This is
especially evident from the manner in which Krishna addresses the cowgirls
when they meet him during the eclipse of the sun. By this time he has
become an ardent husband constantly satisfying his many wives. He is very
far from having abjured the delights of the flesh. Yet for all his former
loves who long for him so passionately he has only one message. They must
meditate upon him in their minds. No dismissal could be colder, no
treatment more calculatingly callous. And even the accounts of Krishna's
love-making reflects this bias. The physical charms of the cowgirls are
minimized and it is only the beauty of Rukmini which is stressed. It is
clear, in fact, that however much the one tradition involved a break with
morals, the second tradition shrank from countenancing adultery and it was
this latter tradition which commanded the authors' approval. Finally, on
one important issue, the _Purana_ as a whole is in no doubt. Krishna's
true consort is Rukmini. That Krishna's nature should be complemented by a
cowgirl is not so much as even considered. The cowgirls are shown as
risking all for Krishna, as loving him above all else but none is singled
out for mention and none emerges as a rival. In this long account of
Krishna's life what is overwhelmingly significant is that the name of his
supreme cowgirl love is altogether omitted.

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