- 21) Balarama, having been hit badly by him, instantly fell down unconscious. The reason for this was the boon of invincibility obtained from Brahma. He was earlier held by Balarama only due to the avesha of Vishnu in him.
- 22) When Balarama fell unconscious thus, Sri Krishna attacked the lord of Magadha with his mace. He hit him on his chest and the middle of the neck. Jarasandha, having been hit badly, fell down bleeding profusely.
- 23) At that time, Balarama got up. Along with him, Jarasandha, the valorous one, also got up. The powerful Rama was instigated with anger and held Jarasandha’s head, and lifted his plough to kill him.
- 24) At that time, Vayu (ashareeravani) spoke thus – “O Rama! You will not be able to kill this Maagadha. Do not waste your strength on him. Just as your strength, your astra too is extraordinary”
- 25) “There is another strong warrior who will kill him”. Having heard thus, Balarama left the son of Jara and went away. When Jarasandha came again to attack them, Sri Krishna hit him with his mace.
- 26 and 27) Due to the blows by Sri Krishna, Jarasandha’s body was bruised badly. He rolled down unconscious. He got up after a long time and, due to extreme embarrassment, got together with the remaining few Kings, and escaped from there not to be seen anywhere. “I have spared you” – with such a sendoff from Sri Krishna, he reached his city. Thereafter, he kept attacking Sri Krishna many times in a similar fashion, along with many Kings and got defeated every time.
- 28) Sri Krishna, having defeated Jarasandha, joined Balarama and Damaghosha and left from there. Damaghosha was the husband of Sri Krishna’s paternal aunt. Although he was defeated earlier in battle by Sri Krishna, he had been spared considering that he was a relative.
- 29) “Let us visit the Kshetra of Mahalakshmi; let us go to Karaveerapura” – thus requested Damaghosha, the one who was defeated in battle. Due to his devotion, Sri Krishna agreed and went with him.
- 30) Damaghosha was originally a Gandharva by name Danu. He had taken birth as a human. Therefore he had devotion towards Sri Krishna. When the sinner Srugala Vasudeva heard that they (Sri Krishna and Damaghosha) had come to his city (Karaveerapura – Kolhapura), he came to battle with them.
- 31) With the boon of invincibility from Surya, he (Srugala Vasudeva) climbed a divine chariot given by Surya and came there to fight with Sri Krishna. He released a shower of arrows. Sri Krishna immediately beheaded him.
- 32) Sri Krishna split his body into two (with the Sudarshana chakra). He crowned Shakradeva, who was his devotee and the son of Srugala Vasudeva, as the King and returned to his city (Madhura) along with his elder brother (Balarama). In his original form, Shakradeva was a devata called Manibhadra.
- 33) Having shown to all that statecraft was in avoiding powerful armies and going afar to safeguard one’s own army, the all-complete and most powerful Sri Krishna, who was naturally endowed with infinite strength, reached his city once again and stayed there, being worshiped by all the people.
|| End of chapter 16, known as ‘Srugala Vadha’, from the Mahabharata Tatparya Nirnaya, composed by Srimadanandatirtha Bhagavatpada ||
|| Sri Krishnarpanamastu ||
Anandatirtha Prathishtana 