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.
KAMA-DEVA, THE GOD OF LOVE.
Rukmeni bore to Krishna a son, who was named Pradyamna, and was no other than Kama, the God of Love. He was stolen by Sambara, a Rājā, cast into the sea, and swallowed by a fish; which being caught and presented to the Rājā, was opened by his cook, Reti, who discovered and preserved the child. A talisman was given which rendered the infant invisible at pleasure. He was nurtured by Kam-dhenū, the holy cow, one of the fourteen gems of the ocean. The god of Love attained manhood, and delusion (maya) being removed, he was restored to his delighted mother, Rukmeni.
He is represented as a beautiful youth, sometimes conversing with his mother and consort in the midst of his gardens and temples; sometimes riding by moonlight on a parrot or lory, and attended by dancing girls or nymphs, the foremost of whom bears his banner, a fish on a red ground. His favourite place of resort was a tract of country around Agra, and the plains of Matra; where Krishna also, and the Gopia, usually spent the night singing and dancing. Pushpa-dhanva, the god with the flowery bow, is one of his many appellations. His bow is represented of flowers, or of sugar-cane, with a string formed of bees, and his five arrows, each pointed with an Indian blossom of love-inspiring quality.
“Hail, god of the flowery bow; hail, warrior, with a fish on thy banner; hail, powerful divinity, who causest the firmness of the sage to forsake him, and subduest the guardian deities of the eight regions!
“Glory be to Madana; to Kama; to him who is formed as the god of gods; to him by whom Brahma, Vishnŭ, Siva, Indra, are filled with emotions of rapture!”
JAGANA’TH, OR JAGANAT’HA.
On the festival of the Rat’ha-jattra, or the festival of the Chariot, the images of Krishna and Bala-Rāma are borne about in a car by day: on this occasion Krishna is worshipped as Jagana’th, or Lord of the Universe. At the temple of that name the concourse of people is very great: the rising of the moon is the sign of the commencement of the feast, which must end when it sets. A legend is given of Krishna having hid himself in the moon, in consequence of a false accusation of stealing a gem from Prasena, who had been killed by a lion. To see the moon on the fourth day after full, and the fourth day after new, of the month Bhadra, is hence deemed inauspicious; and is consequently avoided by pious Vaishnavus, or followers of Vishnŭ. Further particulars relative to this deity will be found in the chapter that records my visit to the far-famed temple of Jagana’th.