THE DESCENT OF VISHNŬ AS KRISHNA.
The Preserver appeared on earth in the form of Krishna, who is regarded as Vishnŭ himself, and distinct from the ten avatars. For the history of this god I refer you to [page 118], in which, under the title of Krishnŭ, or Kaniya, is given the history of his life, up to the time that he disappeared from amidst the gopīs, and left them mourning for his absence.
Here, it may be as well to remark, in consequence of an error in that part of my journal, that Dewarkī, the mother of Krishnŭ, was the daughter of the tyrant Kansa; and that Vasudeva, who carried him across the Jumna, was his father.
The death of Krishna, which happened some time afterwards, and his ascension to the heavens, is thus related:—“Balhadur met his fate on the banks of the Jumna, and when Krishna saw that his spirit had finally departed, he became exceedingly sorrowful. Near where he stood there was a jungle or brake, into which he entered; and leaning his head on his knees, sat absorbed in the deepest melancholy. He reflected within himself that all the effect of Kanharee’s curse had now fully taken place on the Yadavas, and he now called to remembrance these prophetic words, which Doorsava had once uttered to him:—‘O Krishna! take care of the sole of thy foot; for if any evil come upon thee, it will happen in that place.’ Krishna then said to himself, ‘Since all the Kooroos and the whole of the Yadavas are now dead and perished, it is time for me also to quit the world.’ Then, leaning on one side, and placing his feet over his thighs, he summoned up the whole force of his mental and corporeal powers, while his hovering spirit stood ready to depart. At that time, there came thither a hunter, with his bow and arrow in his hand; and seeing from a distance Krishna’s foot, which he had laid over his thigh, and which was partly obscured by the trees, he suspected it to be some animal sitting there: applying, therefore, to his bow and arrow, the point of the latter of which was formed from the very iron of that club which had issued from Sateebe’s body, he took aim, and struck Krishna in the sole of his foot. Then, thinking he had secured the animal, he ran up to seize it; when, to his astonishment, he beheld Krishna there, with four hands, and drest in yellow habiliments. When the hunter saw that the wounded object was Krishna, he advanced, and, falling at his feet, said, ‘Alas, O Krishna! I have, by the most fatal of mistakes, struck you with this arrow; seeing your foot at a distance, I did not properly discern my object, but thought it to be an animal; Oh, pardon my involuntary crime!’ Krishna comforted him to the utmost of his power, saying, ‘It was no fault of thine; depart, therefore, in peace.’ The hunter then humbly kissed his foot, and went sorrowing away. After the hunter was gone, so great a light proceeded from Krishna, that it enveloped the whole compass of the earth, and illuminated all the expanse of heaven. At that instant, an innumerable tribe of devatas, and other celestial beings, of all ranks and denominations, came to meet Krishna; and he, luminous as on that night when he was born in the house of Vasudeva, by that same light pursued his journey between heaven and earth, to the bright Vaikontha or Paradise, whence he had descended. All this assemblage of beings, who had come to meet Krishna, exerted the utmost of their power to laud and glorify him. Krishna soon arrived at the abode of Indra, who was overjoyed to behold him, accompanied him as far as Indra-Loke reached, and offered him all manner of ceremonious observances. When Krishna had passed the limits of Indra’s territory, Indra said to him, ‘I have no power to proceed any farther, nor is there any admission for me beyond this limit;’ so Krishna kindly dismissed him, and went forward alone.”
Arjoon, the friend of Krishna, went to Dwaraka, to see in what state Krishna himself might be; when he beheld the city in the state of a woman whose husband is recently dead; and finding neither Krishna nor Balhadur nor any other of his friends there, the whole place appeared in his eyes as if involved in a cloud of impenetrable darkness; nor could he refrain from bursting into tears. The sixteen thousand wives of Krishna, the moment they set their eyes on Arjoon, burst also into a flood of tears, and all at once began the most bitter lamentations; and, in truth, the whole city was so rent with uproar and distraction, that it surpasses description. A few days from this time, Vasudeva, the father of Krishna, died, while fourteen of his wives were standing around him, four of whom burnt themselves on his funeral pile. Arjoon made search also for the earthly portions of what once was Krishna and Balhadur: these also he solemnly committed to the flames. Five of Krishna’s wives burnt themselves; while Sete-Bame, with some others, investing themselves with the habits of Sanyassi’s, and, forsaking the world, retired into the deserts to pass their lives in solitude and prayer.
Of the eight wives of Krishna it is unnecessary to give a detailed account; the history of Radha has been mentioned before, but Rukmeni must not be forgotten, who, with several other of his wives, became satī, in the hope of an immediate reunion with her lord in the heaven of Vaikontha.