SB 1.10.29 (1964)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT No. 29
- Ya virya sulkena hritah swayambare
- Pramathya chaida pramukhan hi susminah.
- Pradyumna sambu amba sutadaya apara
- Yas cha ahrita bhoumabadhe sahasrasah.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS
Ya—the lady, Virya—prowess, Sulkena—by payment of price, Hritah—taken away by force, Swaymbare—in the open selection of bridegroom, Pramathya—harassing-Chaidya-King Sisupala, Pramukhan—headed by, Hi—positively, Susminah—all very powerful, Pradyumna—of the name Krishna's son, Sambu—of the name, Amba—of the name, Sutadaya—children, Apara—other ladies, Yas—those, Cha—also, Ahrita—similarly brought, Bhoumabadhe—after killing kings, Sahasrasah—by thousands
TRANSLATION
Whose children are Pradyumna, Sambu, Amba etc and such ladies as Rukmini, Satyabhama, Jambubati ete. who were forcibly taken away by the Lord in the open selection of bridegroom, after harassing many powerful kings headed by Sisupala. And other ladies who were also similarly forcibly taken away by Him after killing Bhoumasura and his thousands of assistants, all of them are glorious.
PURPORT
Exceptionally qualified daughters of powerful kings were allowed to make choice of her own bridegroom in open competition and such ceremonies were called Sayambara or selecting the bridegroom personally. And because it was open competition between the rival and valiant princes, such princes were invited by the father of the Princess, and usually there was a regular fight between the invited princely order in sporting spirit but it so happened that sometime the belligerent princes were killed also in such marriage-fighting and the victorious prince were offered the trophy princess for whom so many princes died. Rukmini the principal queen of Lord Krishna was the daughter of the King of Vidarbha and he wished that his all round qualified and beautiful daughter might be given away to Lord Krishna. But her eldest brother liked that she should be given away to King Sisupala who happened to be a cousin brother of Krishna. So there was open competition and as usual Lord Krishna came out successful after harassing Sisupala and other princes by His unrival prowess. Rukmini had ten sons like Pradyumna, etc. There were other queens also taken away by Lord Krishna in the similar way. Full descriptions of such beautiful booty by Lord Krishna will be given in the 10th canto. Shortly speaking there were 16100 sixteen thousand and one hundred beautiful girls who were daughters of many kings,-were forcibly stolen by Bhoumasura and he kept them captive for his carnal desire. These girls and daughters of kings prayed pitiously to Lord Krishna for their deliverance and called by their fervent prayer, the merciful Lord released them all in open fighting and by killing Bhoumasura. All these captive princess were then accepted by the Lord as His wives although in the estimation of society they were all fallen girls. Lord Krishna the All powerful accepted the humble prayers of these girls and married them with the adoration of queens. So altogether Lord Krishna had sixteen thousand one hundred and eight queens at Dwarka and in each of them He begot ten children. All these children were grown up and each had as many children like the father. The aggregate number of the family counted to one crore.