9. After twelve years, his complexion became black because he of the Garga clan was filled with anger being falsely maligned. He then had sexual intercourse with a dairy-maid (cow-girl).
10. That was an apsarA named GopAlI disguised as a dairy-maid. She bore the infallible and powerful semen of GArgya (i.e. of Garga's clan) in her womb.
11. The woman, wife of GArgya, delivered a powerful king named KAlayavana at the behest of ShUlapAni, trident-wielder. Horses with bull-like forequarters bore him in battle.
12. In a son-lessYavana king's inner apartments this boy grew up. He became KAlayavana, king of the Yavanas.
13. That king, inspired by the desire for war, began making enquiries from the best Brahmins. Lord Narada told him about the VrishnI and Andhaka clans.
14. So he invaded MathurA with one akshauhinI of soldiers and sent a messenger to the place of the VrishnIs and Andhakas.
15. Afraid of KAlayavana, the VrishnIs and the Andhakas held a meeting under the leadership of the extremely intelligent, mahAmati, Krishna.
16. Afraid of JarAsandha, they chose to flee from beautiful MathurA, accepting it as the desire of PinAki, wielder of the bow PinAka, intending to establish DvArAvatI in KushasthalI.
VISHNUPARVA (57)
VAISHAMPAYANA SAID:
7. The great ascetic GArgya was the guru of the Andhakas and VrishnIs.
Having been a celibate earlier, he did not consort with women.
8. O king! While he remained with his semen drawn upwards, GArgya was maligned, abshishasta by his brother-in-law, SyAla, in the royal court, rAjani, of being impotent.
9. O king! He, after being accused, yet did not desire a woman (to prove his potency) but he who had conquered the Ajita- unconquerable, went to do penance.
10. So, for twelve years, he ate only iron dust and worshipped the unthinkable great god, trident-wielder ShUlapAni.
11. Rudra then gave him a boon of an all powerful son who would be able to defeat the Andhakas -Vrishnis in battle.[1]
12. Then, a Yavana king heard about this son-giving boon given by the god. He, sonless, craved a son.
13. That king consoled that best among Brahmins and brought him. The Yavana king kept him in the Ghosha, (a settlement where Gopas or cowherds live) among dairymaids.
14. GopAlI, an apsarA, disguised as a dairymaid there, bore GArgya's infallible and extremely potent seed in her womb.
15. The woman, wife of Gargya, at the behest of ShUlapAni, gave birth to a powerful warrior named KAlayavana. The child grew in the inner apartments of that sonless king.[2]
16. O king! After his death, that KAlayavana became the king. The King, desiring war, asked the best of Brahmins. So, NArada informed him about the Andhakas-VrishnIs.
17. MadhusUdana heard about the boon from Narada but ignored the growing might of KAlayavana.
18. When that powerful king of Yavanas grew (powerful), other Mleccha kings took shelter with him and started following him.
19. The Shaka, TushAra, Darada, PArada, Tangala, Khasa, Pahlava and hundreds of other Haimavat (dwelling in snow-capped regions) mlechchas joined him.
20. King KAlayavana, surrounded by those Dasyus, swarming like locusts, looking fearsome in various kinds of Ayudha, weapons, attacked MathurA.[3]
21. He had lakhs and crores of elephants, horses, donkeys and camels. The earth shook under that great army.
22. O Lord of the earth! The path of the sun was covered with the dust raised by the army and a new river was created with the excreta and the urine of his soldiers.
23. O Lord of the people! As the river appeared because of the great flow of a huge quantity of excreta of the horses and camels, the river was named, Ashvashakrit.
24. Hearing of the arrival of the great army, Vasudeva (which seems to be right, see verse 29 below), the leader of the Andhakas and Vrishnis, summoned all his clansmen and said,
25. A great catastrophe has now befallen the Andhakas and VrishnIs. This enemy cannot be killed (by us) because of the boon of PinAki.
26. We have used all the prescribed methods like SAma, etc., on him, but he, drunk with power and arrogance, desires only war. NArada had stated that we are destined to stay here only till now.
27. King JarAsandha cannot tolerate us, as always. Some other kings who have been troubled by the Vrishni troops/confederacy and some kings who are vexed with us for the slaying of Kamsa, wish to harass us, taking shelter with JarAsandha.
29. Many of the relatives of the Yadu clan have been killed by these kings. Seeing that we can never grow further in this city, Keshava decided to move out of here and sent a messenger to him.
30. Krishna threw a great venomous snake, black as freshly hewn coal, into a pot.
31. Sealing its mouth, he sent the pot to him through the messenger. Govinda sent it as an example to scare the king. The messenger showed the pot to KAlayavana.
32. O bull of the Bharatas! He said that Krishna was like this deadly snake. KAlayavana understood that the YAdava had tried to scare him. So, he filled the pot with lots of ferocious ants.
33. The multitude of sharply biting ants began biting and eating the snake’s body from all sides and thus it was annihilated.
34. Then, re-sealing the pot as before, the Yavana king, thus describing his superiority in numbers, sent the pot back to Krishna.
35. Seeing the fate of his project, VAsudeva decided to leave MathurA quickly and set out for DvArakA.
36. O king! The celebrated VAsudeva, with the purpose of ending the enmity, settled the VrishnIs comfortably at DvArakA.
37. The great warrior, MahAvIra, MadhusUdana, a tiger among men, came to MathurA on foot, with only his arms as his weapons.[4]
38. Seeing him, KAlyavana came out filled with happiness. Seeing Krishna before him, the strong one followed him.
39. The lord of the Yavanas followed Govinda with the desire of capturing him, but he could not seize that great yoga-adept.
40. The celebrated and powerful king, Muchukunda, son of MAndhAtA, achieved great success in the battle between Devas and Asuras in the ancient times.
41. When the gods requested him to ask for a boon, he accepted sleep. He was extremely tired, and so the following words emerged from his mouth.
42. O gods! I will burn the person who wakes me up, with my eyes blazing with anger,” and he kept saying it again and again.
43. So, Shakra and the other gods said, So be it. Then he took permission of the gods and came to the king of the mountains.
44. The very tired king entered one of the caves and kept sleeping till the time he saw Krishna.
45. O king! NArada had told VAsudeva all about the boon he had received from the gods and his power.
46. Krishna, followed by that mleccha enemy, entered Muchukunda's cave like a very humble person.
47. The intelligent Keshava stood near the head of the royal sage, Muchukunda, carefully avoiding the path of his vision.
48. The Yavana entered and saw the lord of the earth, sleeping and radiant like KritAnta (death). Then that most wicked one went towards him.
49. He, assuming the king to be VAsudeva, spurned him with his feet, just as the insect jumps into fire, bringing his own destruction.
50. The royal sage, Muchukunda, woke up on being kicked. He was very angry for being woken up and also for being touched by the feet.
51. Then, remembering the boon given by Shakra, he looked at him standing before him. As soon as he looked at him angrily, he burnt up entirely.
52. The fire erupting from the eyes of Muchukunda burned KAlayavana in a moment, just as lightning burns down a dry tree.
[1] Vishnu Purana has a slightly different story to tell which is more
precise and places the facts in the proper perspective.
SyAla called the Brahmin GArgya, impotent, in the Goshtha, a camp of
cowherds, in an assembly of YAdavas, who laughed. He was offended
at that and repaired to the shores of the western sea and engaged in
arduous penance to obtain a son who would be a terror to the YAdavas.
For twelve years he lived on iron sand and worshipped MahAdeva who was
pleased and gave him the desired boon.
[2] The Vishnu Purana says that the childless king of the Yavanas
befriended him. He begot a son by the king's wife.
The boy was black as bee. Hence his name was KAlayavana. The king
placed him, whose chest was as hard as thunderbolt, on the throne and
went to the forest.
[3] Vishnu Purana: Advanced impatiently against MathurA and the YAdavas,
tiring out daily the animals that carried him but insensible of fatigue
himself.
[4] In Vishnu Purana however, Krishna or Vasudeva do not call a meeting.
Here only Krishna thinks. 1. YAdavas will become weak if they confront
KAlayavana. 2. They are already weak from JarAsandha's attacks whereas
KAlyavana's troops are fresh. 3. JarAsandha can then easily overcome the
YAdavas after Kalyavana's war. So, he decided to build a fort for
the security of the YAdavas which could be defended even by women. So he
obtained a piece of land twelve furlongs from the sea and built the
fortified city of DvArakA. Thither JanArdana conducted the inhabitants
of MathurA and he himself went back to MathurA to await the arrival of the
approaching KAlayavana.