Viṣṇu Purāṇa | Book 5 - Chapter 23

Chapter XXIII

Birth of Kālayavana: he advances against Mathurā. Kṛṣṇa builds Dvārakā, and sends thither the Yādava tribe: he leads Kālayavana into the cave of Muchukunda: the latter awakes, consumes the Yavana king, and praises Kṛṣṇa.

PARĀŚARA:

Śyāla having called Gārgya the Brahman, whilst at the cow-pens, impotent, in an assembly of the Yādavas, they all laughed;

at which he was highly offended, and repaired to the shores of the western sea, where he engaged in arduous penance to obtain a son, who should be a terror to the tribe of Yadu.

Propitiating Mahādeva, and living upon iron sand for twelve years, the deity at last was pleased with him, and gave him the desired boon.

The king of the Yavanas, who was childless, became the friend of Gārgya; and the latter begot a son by his wife, who was as black as a bee, and was thence called Kālayavana.

The Yavana king having placed his son, whose breast was as hard as the point of the thunderbolt, upon the throne, retired to the woods.

Inflated with conceit of his prowess, Kālayavana demanded of Nārada who were the mightiest heroes on earth.

To which the sage answered: "The Yādavas."

Accordingly Kālayavana assembled many myriads of Mlechchas and barbarians, and with a vast armament of elephants, cavalry, chariots, and foot, advanced impatiently against Mathurā and the Yādavas; wearying every day the animal that carried him, but insensible of fatigue himself.

When Kṛṣṇa knew of his approach, he reflected that if the Yādavas encountered the Yavana, they would be so much weakened by the conflict, that they would then be overcome by the king of Magadhā;

that their force was much reduced by the war with Magadhā, whilst that of Kālayavana was unbroken; and that the enemy might be therefore victorious.

Thus the Yādavas were exposed to a double danger.

He resolved therefore to construct a citadel for the Yadu tribe, that should not be easily taken; one that even women might defend, and in which therefore the heroes of the house of Vṛṣṇi should be secure;

one in which the male combatants of the Yādavas should dread no peril, though he himself should be drunk or careless, asleep or abroad.

Thus reflecting, Kṛṣṇa solicited a space of twelve furlongs from the ocean, and there he built the city of Dvārakā, defended by high ramparts, and beautified with gardens and reservoirs of water, crowded with houses and buildings, and splendid as the capital of Indra, Amarāvatī.

Thither Janārdana conducted the inhabitants of Mathurā, and then awaited at that city the approach of Kālayavana.

When the hostile army encamped round Mathura, Kṛṣṇa unarmed went forth, and beheld the Yavana king.

Kālayavana, the strong-armed, recognizing Vāsudeva, pursued him; him whom the thoughts of perfect ascetics cannot overtake. Thus pursued, Kṛṣṇa entered a large cavern, where Muchukunda, the king of men, was asleep.

The rash Yavana entering the cave, and beholding a man lying asleep there, concluded it must be Kṛṣṇa, and kicked him; at which Muchukunda awoke, and casting on him an angry glance, the Yavana was instantly consumed, and reduced to ashes.

For in a battle between the gods and demons, Muchukunda had formerly contributed to the defeat of the latter; and, being overcome with sleep, he solicited of the gods as a boon that he should enjoy a long repose:

"Sleep long and soundly," said the gods; "and whoever disturbs you shall be instantly burnt to ashes by fire emanating from your body."

Having burnt up the iniquitous Yavana, and beholding the foe of Madhu, Muchukunda asked him who he was.

"I am born," he replied, "in the lunar race, in the tribe of Yadu, and am the son of Vāsudeva."

Muchukunda, recollecting the prophecy of old Garga, fell down before the lord of all, Hari, saying:

"Thou art known, supreme lord, to be a portion of Viṣṇu; for it was said of old by Garga that at the end of the twenty-eighth Dvāpara age Hari would be born in the family of Yadu:

Thou art he, without doubt, the benefactor of mankind; for thy glory I am unable to endure:

Thy words are of deeper tone than the muttering of the rain cloud; and earth sinks down beneath the pressure of thy feet.

As in the battle between the gods and demons the Asuras were unable to sustain my lustre, so even am I incapable of bearing thy radiance.

Thou alone art the refuge of every living being who has lighted on the world. Do thou, who art the alleviator of all distress, show favour upon me, and remove from me all that is evil.

Thou art the oceans, the mountains, the rivers, the forests: thou art earth, sky, air, water, and fire: thou art mind, intelligence, the unevolved principle, the vital airs,

the lord of life--the soul; all that is beyond the soul; the all-pervading; exempt from the vicissitudes of birth; devoid of sensible properties, sound and the like;

undecaying, illimitable, imperishable, subject neither to increase nor diminution: thou art that which is Brahma, without beginning or end.

From thee the immortals, the progenitors, the Yakṣas, Gandharvas, and Kinnaras, the Siddhas, the nymphs of heaven, men, animals, birds, deer, reptiles, and all the vegetable world proceed; and all that has been, or will be, or is now, moveable or fixed.

All that is amorphous or has form, all that is subtile, gross, stable, or moveable, thou art, O creator of the world; and beside thee there is nothing.

O lord, I have been whirled round in the circle of worldly existence forever, and have suffered the three classes of affliction, and there is no rest whatever.

I have mistaken pains for pleasures, like sultry vapours for a pool of water; and their enjoyment has yielded me nothing but sorrow.

The earth, dominion, forces, treasures, friends, children, wife, dependants, all the objects of sense, have I possessed, imagining them to be sources of happiness; but I found that in their changeable nature, O lord, they were nothing but vexation.

The gods themselves, though high in heaven, were in need of my alliance. Where then is everlasting repose? Who without adoring thee, who art the origin of all worlds, shall attain, O supreme deity, that rest which endures forever?

Beguiled by thy delusions, and ignorant of thy nature, men, after suffering the various penalties of birth, death, and infirmity, behold the countenance of the king of ghosts, and suffer in hell dreadful tortures, the reward of their own deeds.

Addicted to sensual objects, through thy delusions I revolve in the whirlpool of selfishness and pride; and hence I come to thee, as my final refuge,

to thee who art the lord deserving of all homage, besides whom there is no other asylum for my mind afflicted with repentance for my trust in the world, and desiring the fullness of felicity, emancipation from all existence."