upon the Yádavas, headed by Krishna, and was as often defeated and put to the rout, by them, with very inferior numbers. That the Yádavas were not overpowered by their foes was owing to the present might of the portion of the discus-armed Vishnu.* It was the pastime of the lord of the universe, in his capacity of man, to launch various weapons against his enemies: (for) what effort of power to annihilate his foes could be necessary to him whose fiat creates and destroys the world? But, as subjecting himself to human customs, he formed alliances with the brave, and engaged in hostilities with the base. § He had recourse to the four devices of policy,—or, negotiation, presents, sowing dissension, and chastisement,||—and, sometimes, even betook himself to flight. Thus, imitating the conduct of human beings, the lord of the world pursued, at will, his sports. T यद्वलं यादवानां तैरजितं यदनेकशः । ag dfafuntgroei fawtiye afhu: 11 † Lila. See Vol. IV., p. 325, note §. Aneka-rúpa. ६ तथापि यो मनुष्याणां धर्मस्तमनुवर्तते । Ratnagarbha reads the first verse as follows: तथा ये ये मनुष्याणां धर्मस्तदनुवर्तनम् । Other variants, of little importance, might be added from my MSS. unaccompanied by commentary. || Sáman, upapradána, bheda, and danda-páta. See, further, the Amara-kosa, II., VIII., I., 20. | मनुष्यदेहिनां चेष्टामित्येवमनुवर्ततः । लीला जगत्पतेस्तस्य च्छन्दतः संप्रवर्तते ॥ CHAPTER XXIII. Birth of Kalayavana: he advances against Mathurá. Krishna builds Dwaraká, and sends thither the Yádava tribe: he leads Kalayavana into the cave of Muchukunda: the latter awakes, consumes the Yavana king, and praises Krishna. PARÁSARA.-Śyála* having called Garga,† the Brahman, whilst at the cow-pens, impotent, in an assembly of the Yádavas, they all laughed; at which he was highly offended, and repaired to the shores § of the western sea, where he engaged in arduous penance, to obtain a son, who should be a terror to the tribe of Yadu. Propitiating Mahádeva, and living upon iron-sand** for twelve years, the deity†† (at last) was pleased with him, and gave him the (desired) boon. The king of the Yavanas, who was childless, ¶ * On the credit of both the commentators, we here have no proper name, but the word for brother-in-law, śyála. According to Ratnagarbha, Śiśirayana is thus alluded to, and proleptically; for Garga was still to marry his sister, Gauri. + Corrected from "Gárgya", with the suffrage of several MSS. Probably the Garga is meant who-as we read in the Bhagavata-puráňa, X., Prior Section, Chapter XLV.,- served as instructor to Krishna and Balaráma. See Vol. IV., p. 279. But Gárgya seems to be the reading of the Harvamisa, sl. 1957-1959. Two Gargas, then, are named in the present Chapter. See p. 58, infra. : यदूनां संनिधौ । § There is no word for this in the Sanskrit. || Instead of dakshińábdhi, the reading of Śridhara, most MSS. have dakshinápatha, 'the south', the lection preferred by Ratnagarbha. १ सुतमिच्छंस्तपस्तेपे यदुचक्रभयावहम् । Ayas-chúrna; 'iron-filings', more likely. Hara, in the original. became the friend of Garga;* and the latter begot a son, by his wife, who was as (black as) a bee, and was, thence, called Kálayavana.1 The Yavana king, having placed his son, whose breast was as hard as the point of the thunderbolt, upon the throne, retired to the woods. Inflated with conceit of his prowess, Kálayavana demanded of Nárada who were the most mighty heroes on earth. To which the sage answered "The Yádavas." Accordingly, Kálayavana assembled many myriads of Mlechchhas and barbarians, 2+ and, with a This legend of the origin of Kálayavana is given, also, by the Hari Vamsa.‡ The Bhagavata, like our text, comes, at once, to the siege of Mathurá by this chief; but the Hari Vamsa suspends the story, for more than thirty chapters, to narrate an origin of the Yádavas, and sundry adventures of Krishna and Ráma to the south-west. Most of these have no other authority, and are, no doubt, inventions of the Dakhni compiler; and the others are misplaced. So the Bhagavata describes him, § as leading a host of Mlechchhas (or barbarians) against Krishna; but, in the Mahábhárata,—Sabhá Parvan, Vol. I., p. 330,—where Krishna describes the power of Jarasandha, he admits that he and the Yádavas fled from Mathura to the west, through fear of that king; but no account is given of any siege of Mathurá by Kálayavana. The only indication of such a person is the mention, || that Bhagadatta, * स भाजयामास च तं यवनेशो ह्यनात्मजः । The original, it will be observed, does not here name Garga, which I have corrected from "Gárgya". † म्लेच्छकोटीसहस्राणां सहस्रैर्बहुभिर्वृतः । Chapter CXV. § It calls him Yavana the Asura. || Śl. 578, 579: मुरुं च नरकं चैव शास्ति यो यवनाधिपः । vast armament of elephants, cavalry, and foot, advanced, impatiently, against Mathurá and the Yádavas; the Yavana king, who rules over Muru* and Naraka, in the west and south, is one of his most attached feudatories. This king is, in various other places, called king of Prágjyotisha; as he is in a subsequent passage of the same book,-Sabhá Parvan, p. 374; † and this name is always applied to the the west of Assam. His subjects are, however, still Yavanas and Mlechchhas; and he presents horses, caps set with jewels, and swords with ivory hilts, -articles scarcely to be found in Assam, which cannot well be the seat of his sovereignty. It seems most likely, therefore, that the story may have originated in some knowledge of the power and position of the Greek-Bactrian princes, or their Scythian successors; although, in the latter compilations, it has been mixed up with allusions to the first Mohammedan aggressions. See Asiatic Researches, Vol. VI., p. 506, and Vol. XV., p. 100. भगदत्तो महाराज वृद्धस्तव पितुः सखा । स वाचा प्रणतस्तस्य कर्मणा च विशेषतः ॥ Here, Bhagadatta - with the epithet aparyanta-bala, 'of boundless might', is said to be paramount over Muru and Naraka, in like manner as Varuna rules the west. The direction of Bhagadatta's kingdom is not assigned. M. Fauche's translation of this passage, while correcting Professor Wilson's view of its meaning, as to some points, turns an epithet into a king, and gives him what belongs to Bhagadatta : "De lui relève encore le roi Aparyantabala, souverain des Yavanas, qui règne sur le Mourou et le Naraka, comme Varouna sur la plage occidentale; "Et Bhagadatta, le vieil ami de ton père, Bhagadatta, qui se courbe plus que toute autre, puissant roi, devant sa parole et son geste." For the position of Varuna's city, see Vol. II., p. 239. * It has more than once been conjectured that we should read Maru, in this place. But Muru and Naraka, I take it, are, here, not names of countries, as is generally supposed,-but two demons, so called, at last slain by Krishna. See Chapter XXIX. of this Book. † Śl. 1836. I. e., to the ancient Kámarúpa; for which see Vol. II., p. 132, and p. 133, note 1. wearying, every day, the animal that carried him, but insensible of fatigue, himself. When Krishna knew of his approach, he reflected, that, if the Yádavas encountered the Yavana, they would be so much weakened by the conflict, that they would then be overcome by the king of Magadha; * that their force was much reduced by the war with Magadha,† whilst that of Kálayavana was unbroken; and that the enemy might be, therefore, victorious. Thus, the Yádavas were exposed to a double danger. § He resolved, therefore, to construct a citadel, for the Yadu tribe, that should not be easily taken,-one that even women might defend, and in which, therefore, the heroes of the house of Vrishni || should be secure; one in which the male combatants of the Yadavas should dread no peril, though he, himself, should be drunk, or careless, asleep, or abroad. Thus reflecting, Krishna¶ solicited a space of twelve furlongs from the ocean; and there he built the city of Dwáraká,1 defended by high ramparts,** and beautified with gardens 1 According to the Mahábhárata, he only enlarged and fortified the ancient city of Kuśasthali, founded by Raivata. Sabhá Parvan. See, also, Vol. III., p. 253, of this work. * कृष्णोऽपि चिन्तयामास चयितं यादवं बलम् । † Literally, “by the king of the Magadhas,” I A free translation; and so is much of what follows. § There is no Sanskrit for this sentence. It is taken from the commentaries. || Vrishni-pungava. For Vŕishni, see Vol. IV., p. 58. The original has Govinda. ** Mahȧ-vapra. ++ Śl. 614. M. Fauche, in his translation, converts Raivata into a mountain. |