Parāçara said:—Listen O Maitreya, to the exploits accomplished by Rāma who is the eternal, illimitable Sesha, the upholder of the earth. At the choice of a husband by the daughter of Duryodhana, the princess was taken away by the hero Sāmba, the son of Jāmbavati. Being pursued by Duryodhana, Karna, Bhishma, Drona and other illustrious chiefs who were enraged for his audacity, he was defeated and taken prisoner. When the Yādavas heard of this event they were greatly enraged with Duryodhana and his companions and addressed themselves to fight with them. But Baladeva, in accents suppressed by the effects of inebriety, forbade them and said, "I will go alone to the sons of Kuru and at my request they will let Sāmba free". Accordingly he went to Hastināpur and took his abode in a grove outside the town which he did not enter. When Duryodhana and others were informed of his arrival, they sent him a cow, a present of fruits and flowers and water. Bala received the offering in the customary form and said to the descendants of Kuru "Ugrasena commands you to liberate Sāmba". When Duryodhana, Karna, Bhishma, Drona and others heard this they were worked up with ire, and Bāhlika and other friends of the Kauravai who considered the Yadu race as having no claims to regal dignity said to the wielder of the club. "What is this, O Balarāma, that thou hast uttered? What Yadava shall command the chiefs of the Kurus? If Ugrasena thus commands the Kuravas, we will take away the white umbrella which he has usurped and which is only fit for the kings. You should go away therefore, Balarāma; you are entitled to our respect; but Sāmba has been guilty of an improper conduct and we shall not let him free either at Ugrasena's commands or yours. The Kukkura and Andhaka races might not pay the homage due to us, their superiors, but who ever heard of a servant commanding his master? You have been rendered arrogant by our treating you equally with seat and food; we have committed a great mistake in neglecting the policy, for our great friendship for you. The present that we sent you today was a sign of personal regard, but it was not fit for us to have offered nor for yours to have expected".
Having said this, the Kuru chiefs unanimously refused to liberate Hari's sons and came back to their city. Moving about with intoxication and anger caused by their insolent words, Bala struck the ground furiously with his heel so that it burst to pieces with a loud sound that reverberated through the regions of space. His eyes reddened with rage and his brow curved with frowns he exclaimed. "What pride is this in such vile and pithless creatures. The sovereignty of Kauravas as well as our own is the work of destiny whose decree it also is that they now disrespect or disobey the commands of Ugrasena. Indra may, as is his right, command the celestials and Ugrasena exercises equal authority with the lord of Sachi. Fie upon the pride that boasts a throne, the leavings of a hundred mortals. Is not he the sovereign of earth, the wives of whose servants adorn themselves with the blossoms of the Pārijāta tree? Ugrasena shall be the undisputed lord of kings; for I will not return to his capital until I have rid the world wholly of the sons of Kuru. I will destroy Karna, Duryodhana, Drona, Bhishma, Bāhlika, Dussāsana, Bhurisrava, Somadatta, Salya, Bhima, Arjuna, Yudhishthira, the twins, and all the other wretched sons of Kuru with their horses, elephants and chariots. I will liberate the hero Sāmba and carry him along with his wife to Dwārakā where I shall again behold Ugrasena and the rest of my kinsmen. Or commanded by the king of celestials, to remove the burden of the earth, I will take this capital of the Kauravas with all the sons of Kuru, and throw Hastināpur into the Bhāgirathi".
Saying this with his eyes reddened with ire, Baladeva, the wielder of the club, plunged the blade of his ploughshare downwards beneath the ramparts of the city, and drew them towards him. When the Kauravas beheld Hastināpur tottering, they were much afraid, and called loudly on Rāma, saying, "O Rāma! Rāma! hold, hold; supress your anger and have compassion upon us. Here is Sāmba and his wife also delivered up to you. Forgive the sins committed by us ignorant of your wondrous power". Accordingly the Kauravas hurried out of the city and delivered Sāmba and his wife to the mighty Balarāma, who, bowing to Bhishma, Drona and Kripa, who pacified him, said, "I am satisfied," and desisted. The city bears the mark of the shock even to the present day—such was the might of Rāma proving both his strength and power. The Kauravas then, offering homage to Sāmba and Bala, sent away the former with his wife and dowry.
SECTION XXXVI.
Parāçara said:—Listen, O Maitreya, to another achievement accomplished by the powerful Balarāma. The great Asura, Naraka, the enemy of the friends of the celestials, had a friend of exceeding might in a monkey named Dwivida, who was worked up with implacable hostility against the celestials, and vowed to revenge on all of them the destruction of Naraka by Krishna at the instigation of the king of the celestials, by preventing sacrifices and bringing about the total destruction of the world. Blinded by ignorance therefore, he interrupted all religious practices, put down all righteous observances, and brought about the death of living creatures; he set fire to forests, to villages and towns; sometimes he deluged cities and villages with a downpour of rocks or lifting up mountains in the waters he cast them into the ocean; then placing himself in the midst of the deep, he agitated the waves until the foaming sea rose above its confines and swept away the villages and cities situated upon its shores. Dwivida, who was capable of assuming shapes as he liked, enlarged his bulk to an immense proportion, and rolling and tumbling and trampling amidst the corn-fields, he crushed and spoiled the harvest. The whole world, disorganised by this vicious monkey, was deprived of sacred study and religious ceremonies, and was greatly afflicted.
Once on a time Halāyudha was drinking in the groves of Raivata along with the illustrious Revati and other beautiful females; and the celebrated Yadu whose glories were sung and who was pre-eminent amidst graceful and sportive women, resembled Kuvera, the god of riches, in his palace. In the meantime, the monkey Dwivida came there and stealing the ploughshare and the club of Balarāma, grinned at and mocked him, and laughed at the women and threw over and broke the cups filled with wine. Enraged at this, Balarāma threatened the monkey; but the latter disregarded his threats and chattering noise. Thereupon Balarāma started up and seized his club in anger, and the monkey laid hold of a large rock which he hurled at the hero. And casting his club at it as it approached him, Bala broke it into a thousand pieces, which together with the club, fell upon the ground. Beholding the club thus fallen, the monkey sprang over it and struck the Yādava violently on the breast with his paws. Bala returned it with a blow of his fist upon the fore-head of Dwivida which felled him, vomiting blood and lifeless to the earth. The crest of the mountain on which he fell was sundered into a hundred pieces by the weight of his body, as if the Thunderer had shivered it with his thunder-bolt. The celestials threw down a shower of flowers upon Rāma and approached him and praised him for the glorious feat he had performed.
"Well has the world been freed" said they "by thy prowess, O hero, of his vile ape, who was the enemy of the celestials". Then well pleased, they and their attendant spirits returned to heaven. Many such inimitable deeds were performed by the illustrious Baladeva, the impersonation of Sesha, the supporter of the earth.
SECTION XXXVII.
In this way, Krishna, aided by Baladeva, destroyed, for the behoof of the earth, demons and iniquitous kings, and along with Phalguna also did he relieve earth of her burden by the death of seven Akshauhini hosts. Having thus relieved the earth of her load and destroyed many impious kings, he exterminated, by the plea of an imprecation denounced by Brāhmanas, his own Yādava race. Thereupon quitting Dwārakā and renouncing his mortal frame, the self-born with all his emanations re-entered his own sphere of Vishnu.
Maitreya said:—Tell me how Janārddana brought about the extermination of his own family under the pretext of a Brāminical curse and in what manner did he renounce his human body.