O the oppressor of enemies (janamejaya)! After a long time, the great valiant rukmi arranged for the svayaMvara (selection of husband by the maiden) of his daughter.

As invited by rukmi, great valiant kings and sons of kings, having prosperity, arrived there, from many lands.

pradyumna went there surrounded by princes. The maiden desired him (pradymna). He desired her (the maiden) having auspicious eyes.

The maiden of vidarbhA, named shubhA~NgI, was having beauty and splendour. At that time, the daughter of rukmi had become famous on earth.

As the kings with great souls were seated together, the maiden of vidarbhA, chose pradyumna, the slayer of enemies, as her husband.

That youth having a powerful body like a lion was an expert in all sciences. The son of keshava (kR^iShNa) was unequal in beauty on earth.

The daughter of the king (rukmi) was having qualities suitable for her age and beauty. The princess (named as) nArAyaNI and chandrasenaA, desired the youth (pradyumna).

When the selection of husband by the maiden was completed, the kings returned to their own cities. pradyumna bought the maiden of vidarbhA to dvAraka.

The valiant (pradyumna) enjoyed with her as (king) nala enjoyed with damayantI. He produced a son, comparable to the son of gods, with her.

He was known as aniruddha. He was unequalled in actions on earth. He was an expert in the science of archery, veda and science of political ethics.

O king (janamejaya)! When aniruddha became a youth of suitable age, as his wife , he chose the grand daughter of rukmi named rukmavatI, having colour of gold and prosperity.

Considering that aniruddha was with good qualities , the king (rukmi) then, due to the liking of the son of rukmi's daughter and the relation to rukmiNI,

even though he had enmity with kR^iShNa, the king of great fame, abandoned his hatred, and O janamejaya (vaishampAyana said), said that he will give (his daughter to aniruddha).

keshava (kR^iShNa), along with rukmiNI and their children, sa~NkarShaNa (balarAma) and other vR^iShNi-s arrived at vidarbhA.

The kinsmen who were friends of rukmi and the kings also arrived there as invited by rukmi.

O great king (janamejaya)! (vaishampAyana said) aniruddha's marriage was conducted as a grand festival on an auspicious day on a revered star.

After aniruddha held the hand of the maiden of vidarbhA, the yAdava-s celebrated (the marriage) as a great festival at vidarbhA.

The vR^iShNi-s, honoured like the deva-s, enjoyed there.

Then king of ashmaka, veNudAri with a benevolent intellect,

akSha, shrutarva, chANUra, kratha, aMshumAn, jayatsena, the powerful king of kali~Nga,

king pANDya and the auspicious king of R^iShika - All these kings of the southern side having great intellect,

assembled and advised lord rukmi in private.

"You are an expert in the dice game. We also wish to play. The game of dice is dear to (bala)rAma as well even though he is not an expert in the dice game.

Keeping you (as leader) in front, we wish to challenge him." Hearing this, the great chariot fighter rukmi organized a dice game.

Happily, they entered the auspicious assembly, having golden pillars, decorated with flowers and sprinkled with sandal water.

Entering the assembly, all of them, wearing white garlands, with their bodies smeared with pastes, sat on the golden seats, eager for victory.

baladeva (balarAm) who was called by the deceitful kings who were experts in the dice game, also said happily: Let us play. Offer your stake.

The kings of the southern side, eager for victory by cheating, brought thousands of jewels, pearls and gold and others (as stake).

Then the dice game began, leading to destruction of their pleasure, the basis of terrible quarrel, leading to the decline of those with bad intellect.

In the game with rukmi, baladeva (rAma) offered ten thousand golden coins as his stake.

Then rukmi won against the highly powerful balarAma who was trying to win. Afterwards, rukmi again defeated baladeva for the same stake.

rukmi defeated the elder brother of keshava (kR^iShNa) several times and won ten million gold coins from the great soul as stake.

Then the deceitful rukmi said: I won. Then he congratulated himself (for winning) and ridiculed the one having plough as his weapon (balarAma).

(rukmi said) Today, in the dice game, I have defeated the undefeatable, auspicious baladeva (balarAma) who is a novice and weak and I have won unlimited gold.

Hearing this, the king of kali~Nga laughed happily showing his teeth. The one with plough as weapon (balarAma) became angry then.

Hearing the words of rukmi about the defeat, (balarama felt that) the son of king bhIShmaka, rukmi, has insuled him with severe words.

The one fixed in morals (balarAma) controlled his anger even though he had won. The highly powerful son of rohiNI, getting angry,

controlling his mind with courage, said the following words: My yet another stake is hundred thousand million (gold coins).

O king! Accepting this stake, play the dice game. Throw the dice with black and red hues in this sinful place (at this Time of wrath) (see nIlakanTha commentary).

Saying this, the son of rohiNI (balarAma) called rukmi. First without saying any words as reply, he said, "let it be so" again.

Then king rukmi threw the dice happily. In the game of dice with four marks, the king was defeated by

baladeva (balarAma) in the right moral way. But the king (rukmi) did not agree. Fixing his mind with courage he (balarAma) did not say anything then.

Then rukmi told baladeva (balarAma), smiling: I have won. O king (janamejaya)! (vaishampAyana said) Hearing these deceitful words,

(balarAma) became very angry. But he (balarAma) did not say anything in reply. Then a great loud voice was heard without any body,

by way of increasing the anger of the great soul, baladeva (balarAma): Auspicious bala(rAma) has spoken the truth. He (rukmi) is defeated in the right way.

Without saying any words, if an action is done, it should be considered as acceptable to the conscience.

Hearing this moral spoken in the sky, sa~NkarShaNa (balarAma) then got up. The powerful (balarAma), with the golden heavy (board of dice)

beat rukmiNI's elder brother (rukmi) and felled him on the earth. During the argument, angry bala(rAma), the son of yadu, got up and beat rukmi, who was laughing at him, with the dice board having eight parts.

Then, being angry, balarAma also felled the teeth of the king of kali~Nga. With anger, balarAma roared aloud like a lion.

Brandishing his sword, balarAma terrified all the kings. The best among the powerful, (balarAma) pulled out all the pillars of the assembly.

Then sa~NkarShaNa (balarAma), dragging the pillar, like an elephant, went out of the assembly door, terrifying the kaishika-s.

killing rukmi who desired to cheat, the best of yAdava-s terrified the enemies, like a lion terrifying mean animals.

Surrounded by people, (bala)rAma went to his camp and informed kR^iShNa about all incidents which took place.

kR^iShNa with great splendour did not say anything to (bala)rAma. Controlling his mind with difficulty, he cried with his eyes full of tears.

vAsudeva (kR^iShNa) did not kill rukmi, the elder brother of rukmiNI, the killer of enemies, before, due to his love for rukmiNI.

The powerful king (rukmi), comparable to the holder of vajra (indra), was killed by the dice board having eight parts, released from the hand of (bala)rAma, during the dice game.

As the great valiant king, the son of bhIShmaka, equal to druma and bhArgava(rAma) and trained by druma and bhArgava(rAma), was killed,

kR^itau cha yuddhakushale nityayAjini pAtite |
vR^iShNayashchAndhakAshchaiva sarve vimanaso.abhavan ||2-61-56

the one who is accomplished, one who is expert in battle, one who performs sacrifices daily was killed, all vR^iShNi-s and andhaka-s, lost their mind (became sad).

vaishampAyana uvAcha

rukmiNI cha mahAbhAgA vilapantyArtayA girA |
vilapantIM tathA dR^iShTvA sAntvayAmAsa keshavaH ||2-61-57

vaishampAyana said:

(O janamejaya!) The illustrious rukmiNI cried saying sad words. Seeing rukmiNI crying, keshava (kR^iShNa) consoled her.

etatte sarvamAkhyAtaM rukmiNo nidhanaM yathA |
vairasya cha samutthAnaM vR^iShNibhirbharatarShabha ||2-61-58

O the best among bharata (janamejaya)! (vaishampAyana continued) I have told you all about the killing of rukmi and how his enmity to vR^iShNi-s occurred.

vRiShNayo.api mahArAja dhanAnyAdAya sarvashaH |
rAmakR^iShnau samAshritya yayurdvAravatIM prati ||2-61-59

O king! vR^iShNi-s, depending on (bala)rAma and kR^iShNa, with all the wealth gained proceeded to the city of dvAravatI.

iti shrImahAbhArate khileShu harivaMshe viShNuparvaNi rukmivadho nAmaikaShaShTitamo.adhyAyaH

Thus this is the sixty-first chapter of viShNuparva, harivaMsha, Khila of shrImahAbhArata, pradyumna's marriage and rukmi's demise.

(Note 1) The assembly, the place for dice game (now regarded as a ritual !) is sanctified by sprinkling sandal water. The assembly becomes auspicious.
(Note 2) The kings wore garlands and smeared their bodies with pastes, preparing themselves for the ritual of dice game.
(Note 3) Study the adjectives used for describing the dice game. (Note 4) A detailed comparison of the description of the dice game and killing of rukmi in harivamsha, viShNupurANa and bhagavata is given in the article Killing of Rukmi

nIlakaNTha commentary

ekaShaShTitame.adhyAye pradyumnattattanUjayoH |
vivAhaH kathyate tatra rukmiNashcha tathA vadhaH ||

2-61-1 tata iti | kAle mahati ||
2-61-3 sA kanyA chakame kAmitavatI ||
2-61-6 siMhasaMhananaH siMhavadatidR^iDhA~NgaH |
varA~NgarUpopeto yaH siMhasaMhanano hi saH
ityuktAM vA ||
2-61-25 kitaverdyUtavedibhiH ||
2-61-26 nikR^ityA kapaTena ||
2-61-31 AhvR^itiH atyantakuTilaH | hvR^i kauTilye ityasya rUpaM | chikShepa nininda
2-61-37 adhipAMsule adhikarajaske krodhakAle dyUtadeshe chetyarthaH
2-61-39 chAturakShe chatura~NkA~Nkite.akShe nirvR^itte nipatite sati ubhayordhane pratyekaM dashadhAkR^ite yadi vAdo ekA~NkaM pAdayettadA ekamaMshaM dhanAddharet vya~NkapAte pUrveNa saha trInaMshAn vya~NkapAte pUrvaistribhiH saha ShaDaMshAn chatura~NkapAte pUrvaiH ShaDbhiH saha dashApyaMshAn harediti dyUtavidAM maryAdayA sarvaM dhanaM jitamityarthaH |
2-61-44 anuktvA.api jayaM prApto bhavati rAma ityadyAhR^itya yojyaM manasA prativAdinAmiti sheShaH | manasA.anuj~nAtamiti vAchA nAbhyanuj~nAyata iti daurAtmyaM teShAmiti bhAvaH |
2-61-45 uruNA mahatA aShTApadeneti vakShyamANatvAt ||
2-61-47 kali~Ngadhipatirjayatsenasya ||
2-61-57 kR^itau satkriyAyAM kushale ityekadeshena sambandhaH | nityayAjinI nityakarmapare ||

iti shrImahAbhArate khileShu harivaMshe viShNuparvaNi TIkAyAmekaShaShTitamo.adhyAyaH ||

## Itranslated by K S Ramachandran, October 1, 2008
Note: (1) Sloka 18,line 2: mistake corrected - adhipo
(2) sloka 39, line 2: is there a spelling mistake here - nirjitaH sa ? Please check.
Further proof-read by Gilles Schaufelberger, schaufel @ wanadoo.fr
If you find any errors compared to Chitrashala Press edition, send corrections to A. Harindranath harindranath_a @ yahoo.com
Translated to English by A. Purushothaman [purushothaman_avaroth @ yahoo.com] and A. Harindranath
April 9, 2010 ##