Wherever the Yadava settled, great violence and disorder prevailed. Krishna seems to have occu pied the town of Math= w ith hisYadava brethren, and to have been twice attacked by the Turanian king Jarasandha of MagnOlia, supposed to be Behar. The tirst attack was repulsed, but after the second Krishna retired with the Yadava to Dwaraka. There is, however, no account extant of the migration or flight from Mathura to Dwaraka, though it must have occupied at least a year. Krishna fought with and defeated Paundmka, though supported by the king of Benares. At some subsequent period of his career ho entered the region of the Saura in Gujerat as a conqueror, as he had before been compelled to seek shelter there in defeat, on his flight from the king of Chedi, which obtained him the unenviable epithet of Rinchor, or fleer from the battle-field, though Hindus now appear to consider Rinchor a com plimentary title, as under this designation they worship him in crowds. But he last visited this land in company with a few of his kinsmen, the remnant of that tremendous civil conflict which desolated India, to pass the remainder of their days in this insulated nook, in sorrow and repentance for the blood their ambition had shed, though in defence of their rights. Thus, wandering from one tirat or place of pilgrimage to another, he, with his friends Arjuna, Yudislithra, the abdicated paramount sovereign of India, and I3aldeo, approached the sacred soil around the shrine of Somnath. Having performed his ablu tion in the holy Triveni, Kaniya took shelter from the noontide heat under an umbrageous pipal, and while he slept, a forester Mil, says the legend, mistaking tile padma or lotus-like mark on the sole of his feet for the eyes of a deer, sped an arrow to the mark. When his kinsmen returned, they found that life was extinct. For a long time Balder, would not part from the corpse, but at length they gave it sepulture at the point of junction of three streams. A pipal sapling, averred to be a scion of the original tree, marks the spot where the Hindu .Apollo expired, and a flight of steps now conducts to the bed of the golden Iiimnya, for the pilgrim to lustmto him self. This place of purification bears the name of Swargadwara, or door of bliss, and contends with that of Devaputtun for superior efficacy in absolving from sin.
The Mahabharata gives two summaries of his numerous exploits, overthrowing, while a youth, kings, cities, and demons. He was present at the Swayamvara of Draupadi, helped Agni to defeat Indra, connived with Arjuna to carry off his sister Subhadra, killed Sisupala, took part in the council which was held prior to the great war ; was Arjuna's charioteer in the battle. On the eve of the battle, while acting as charioteer, he related to Arjuna the Bhagavat Gita, or divine song. In the battle he aided Arjuna, but in two instances he suggested unfair dealing. He after wards went to Hastinapura with the conquerors, and attended their Aswa Medha. sacrifice.
On his return to Dwaraka, he gave periniaision for wine to be drank for the day. A. drunken brawl ensued, in which his son Przulyuirma was killed in his presence, and nearly all the chiefs of the Yadava were slain. Bala Rama left the fray, and died peacefully under a tree, and Krishna was killed unintentionally by a hunter named Jams, who shot him with an arrow, mistaking him for a deer. Arjuna proceeded to Dwaraka and performed the funeral obsequies of Krishna. A few days afterwards the city was overwhelmed by a storm - wave. Five of Krishna's widows were subsequently burned upon a funeral pile, in the plain of Kuru-kshetra.
During the discussions prior to the battle de scribed in the Nfahabliamta, Krishna, who was related both to the Kuru and the Pandu, tried to bring about a reconciliation, and he seems to have continued his efforts to restore peace throughout the eighteen days of the conflict, but he (lid not personally engage in the fight, and the only part of his career in which he is shown as personally brave, is related in the legend describing his forcing an entry into Mathura. At the gate of the town, the bow of Siva was kept under the care of warders. Krishna entered by that gate to take part in the festival which king Kansa held on the occasion of a great sacrifice to Siva. As he entered the gate of the bow, he took and broke it, slaying the warders. A popular com motion followed, during which the troops of kina. Kansa were defeated, and Kansa himself was slain.
The popular history of Krishna is'contained in the Puranas, which mix up fable with historical details ; and the Bhagavat Purana is the great authority about raja Kansa and his cousin Devaki, her seventh conception of Krishna, his change to Rohini's womb, and his birth and preservation and rearing by Nanda, the herdsman in Gokala, where he was brought up. In his childhood killing demons and serpents, doing marvellous feats, playing tricks on the Gopi milkmaids; persuading Nanda to cease the worship of Indra and to wor ship the mountain Govardhana ; his amours with the Gopi, seven or eight of whom he married, his favourite wife being Radha, with whom he danced in the Rasa Mundala. Ho afterwards killed Kansa, killed the demon Panchajana, de feated Jarasandha, father of his two wives, but retreated before Kola Yavana to Gujerat, where he built and fortified Dwaraka.
Here he carried off Rukinini, daughter of the raja of Vidarbha ; he recovered the Syamantaka gem, and married Jambavati and Satyabharna. But he is fabled to have had 1G,000 wives and 180,000 sons. ltukmini bore his son Pradyunena and daughter Charumati. Jambavati bore Samba, and by Satyabhama ho had ten sons.
He killed the demon Meru and the king Naraka. With Satyabhama he visited Indra at Swarga, and she persuaded him to carry away the Part jata tree which belonged to Sachi, Indra's wife. Indra with an army tried to recover it, but was, defeated by Krishna.
Pradyumna bore a son named Aniruddha, whom a female Daitya, Celia, daughter of Bans, fell in love and carried off, but he was rescued, by Krishna. Bala Rama and Pradyumna, and Bann and his allies Siva and Skanda, were wounded.
Krishna's names aro numerous. He being Vishnu, they enjoy several in common,--31uraris Hari, Madhava (Vishnu destroyed the giant Mad hu), Baghavan, are among them ; Govinda, Gopala, Gokala are derived from his occupation of herds man ; Gopinatha, the Gopi's god ; Murlidar, the tuneful ; Kesava, or Kesavi refer to the fineness of his hair ; Vanimali, to his pendent garland ; Yadva, Varshneya, and Vasudeva, to his tribe and family. Gokal is a small town on the banks of the Jumna, below Mathura; and Radha, the mistress of Krishna, was wife of a cowherd of Gokal ; hence one of Krishna's titles is Gokal Nath, lord of Gokal. Gokal is almost an island, and is one of the prettiest spots in the holy land of the Hindus. The scene there is still as pastoral as it had been 3500 years ago. Large herds of heavy - uddered kine remind us of the days of Nanda, though their number is far short of nine lakhs, possessed by that shepherd-chief of old.