Having elsewhere descanted at length on the early history of the Yadus,[[9]] we may refer those who are likely to take an interest in this discussion to that paper, and proceed at once to glean what we can from the native annals before us, from the death of their leader, Hari-Krishna, to the dispersion of the Yadus from India. The bare fact of their migration altogether out of India proper proves that the original intercourse, which conducted Budha, the patriarch of the Yadu race, into India[[10]] (where he espoused Ila, a princess of the Surya race, and by whom his issue was multiplied), was not forgotten, though fifty generations had elapsed from the patriarchal Budha to Hari—to whom and the chronicle we return.
Early Legends.
The grand international conflicts amongst the “fifty-six Yadu tribes,” at Kurukshetra, and subsequently at Dwarka, are sufficiently known to the reader of Hindu history [220], and may be referred to elsewhere.[[13]] These events are computed to have happened about 1100 years before Christ. On the dispersion of these races many abandoned India, and amongst these, two of the many sons of Krishna. This deified leader of the Yadus had eight wives, and the offspring of the first and seventh, by a singular fate, now occupy what may be termed the outposts of Hinduism.[[14]]
Rukmini was the senior of these wives; and the eldest of her sons was Pradyumna, who was married to a princess of Vidarbha; she bore him two sons, Aniruddha and Vajranabha, and from the latter the Bhattis claim descent. Vajra had two sons, Sankhanabha and Khira.[[15]]
“When the Jadons were exterminated in the conflict at Dwarka, and Hari had gone to heaven, Vajra was on his way from Mathura to see his father, but had only marched twenty coss (forty miles), when he received intelligence of that event, which had swept away his kindred. He died upon the spot, when Nabha was elected king and returned to Mathura, but Khira pursued his journey to Dwarka.
“The thirty-six tribes of Rajputs hitherto oppressed by the Yadus, who had long held universal dominion, now determined to be revenged. Nabha was compelled to fly the holy city [Dwarka]; he became prince of Marusthali in the west.
“Thus far from the Bhagavat” (says the Bhatti chronicler), and I continue the history of the Bhattis, by the Brahman Sukhdharma of Mathura.
“Nabha had issue Prithibahu.
“Khira had two sons, Jareja and Judhbhan.[[16]]
“Judhbhan was on a pilgrimage; the goddess heard his vows; she awoke him from his sleep, and promised whatever he desired. ‘Give me land that I may inhabit,’ said the youth; ‘Rule in these hills,’ replied the goddess, and disappeared. When Judhbhan awoke, and was yet pondering on the vision of the night, a confused noise assailed him; and looking out, he discovered that the prince of the country had just died without issue, and they were disputing who should succeed him. The prime minister said, ‘he dreamed that a descendant of Krishna had arrived at Bahra,’[[17]] and proposed [221] to seek him out and invest him as their prince. All assented, and Judhbhan was elected king. He became a great prince, had a numerous progeny, and the place of their abode was henceforth styled Jadu-ka-dang, ‘the mountains of Jadu.’