When Devakí was pregnant the seventh time, Yoganidrá (the sleep of devotion), sent by Vishńu, extricated the embryo from its maternal womb at midnight, and transferred it to that of Rohińí; and from having been thus taken away, the child (who was Balaráma) received the name of Sankarshańa. Next, the divine Vishńu himself, the root of the vast universal tree, inscrutable by the understandings of all gods, demons, sages, and men, past, present, or to come, adored by Brahmá and all the deities, he who is without beginning, middle, or end, being moved to relieve the earth of her load, descended into the womb of Devakí, and was born as her son Vásudeva. Yoganidrá, proud to execute his orders, removed the embryo to Yasodá, the wife of Nanda the cowherd. At his birth the earth was relieved from all iniquity; the sun, moon, and planets shone with unclouded splendour; all fear of calamitous portents was dispelled; and universal happiness prevailed. From the moment he appeared, all mankind were led into the righteous path in him.

Whilst this powerful being resided in this world of mortals, he had sixteen thousand and one hundred wives; of these the principal were Rukminí, Satyabhámá, Jámbavatí, Játahaśiní, and four others. By these the universal form, who is without beginning, begot a hundred and eighty thousand sons, of whom thirteen are most renowned, Pradyumna, Chárudeshńa, Sámba, and others. Pradyumna married Kakudwatí, the daughter of Rukmin, and had by her Aniruddha. Aniruddha married Subhadrá, the granddaughter of the same Rukmin, and she bore him a son named Vajra. The son of Vajra was Báhu; and his son was Sucháru 3.

In this manner the descendants of Yadu multiplied, and there were many hundreds of thousands of them, so that it would be impossible to repeat their names in hundreds of years. Two verses relating to them are current: "The domestic instructors of the boys in the use of arms amounted to three crores and eighty lacs (or thirty-eight millions). Who shall enumerate the whole of the mighty men of the Yádava race, who were tens of ten thousands and hundreds of hundred thousands in number?" Those powerful Daityas who were killed in the conflicts between them and the gods were born again upon earth as men, as tyrants and oppressors; and, in order to check their violence, the gods also descended to the world of mortals, and became members of the hundred and one branches of the family of Yadu. Vishńu was to them a teacher and a ruler, and all the Yádavas were obedient to his commands.

Whoever listens frequently to this account of the origin of the heroes of the race of Vrishńi, shall be purified from all sin, and obtain the sphere of Vishńu.

Footnotes

439:1 Pauraví is rather a title attached to a second Rohińí, to distinguish her from the first, the mother of Balaráma: she is also said by the Váyu to be the daughter of Báhlíka.