Leadership - Kṛṣṇa Vāsudeva Speaks

1 years ago

BrhannadaArmour

@BrhannadaArmour

Leadership - Kṛṣṇa Vāsudeva Speaks

Every day, I wonder, why am I the one in this position? Everyone in our Mādhava clan has his or her own opinion about what we should do, so why do they expect me to unite us and lead us in one direction?

Obviously, it started when our clan decided that we didn't like Kaṃsa's leadership. Kaṃsa and Sunāman were acting in the interest of their father-in-law Jarāsaṃdha, the king of Magadha far away in the east. That was no good for us in Mathurā, in the middle country. As a cowherding community, our livelihood depended on access to fresh pasturelands and fending off the wolves. We had to balance our relationships on all sides with our neighbours in Kuru and Pañcāla, Cedi and Śibi, Yakṛlloma and Matsya, Śālva and Trigarta.

So, the clan decided that Kaṃsa and Sunāman had to be killed, and Saṃkarṣaṇa and I should do it. It wasn't an easy decision, because my mother Devakī's cousins were like her own sons; we had grown up with them. Kaṃsa had never done anything to hurt me. I had looked after Kaṃsa's white horse, Keśin, but when we faced each other in battle, I had to kill that magnificent animal too. I did it because that's our dharma. When we disagree, someone has to die, but we'll meet again as friends in svarga, because that's where all heroes go.

Of course, we needed to choose a new leader before we eliminated Kaṃsa and Sunāman. We couldn't ignore their father, Ugrasena, Devakī's pitṛvya, who belongs to the Kukura-Andhaka branch of our Sātvata family, but we wanted someone from my father Vasudeva's branch of the family, the Vṛṣṇi branch. So, it was decided that Ugrasena's daughter Sutanu would marry Akrūra, the eldest Vṛṣṇi of my generation, obligating him to protect Ugrasena's surviving sons.

It was a gamble to kill Kaṃsa and Sunāman, and we paid the price. It didn't deter Jarāsaṃdha from expanding his empire westward. He and Haṃsa and Ḍibhaka marched their armies right up to Yamunā. Luckily, our cowherds' Nārāyaṇa army never had to face Jarāsaṃdha's armies on the battlefield. Our Mādhava clan left our ancestral Mathurā behind us and migrated westward, taking over the coastal Dvāravatī region from the Niṣāda people, and pushing back my paitṛṣvaseya cousin Ekalavya all the way to Carmaṇvatī.

Vasudeva is famous for the loudness of his kettle-drum called Ānaka. When he beats this duṃdubhi, our cowherds gather, ready to march. He says that he made Ānaka out of a giant crab's one claw, and the other claw is Āḍambara, the drum that summons the Asura army in the depths of the ocean. It was Vasudeva's drum-playing that convinced Rohiṇī, a Paurava princess of Bāhlika, to marry him when he was only a cowherd. Vasudeva's ambition is to perform an aśvamedha, which will entitle him to a royal umbrella. I want to make that a reality for him. I'd like to show the world that my father's horse can travel unobstructed through every country: Vidarbha, Cedi, Śibi, Sauvīra, Madra, Gandhāra, Kalinda ... maybe even through the Yavana territories, which would open up the trade route to Prāgjyotiṣa!

Usually, an aśvamedha is performed by a king in his own name, and our king is Ugrasena. He might give Vasudeva permission because they're friends since childhood, and seven of Ugrasena's nieces are among my father's thirteen ladies. On the other hand, Akrūra, whose father Śvaphalka is credited with the power to make it rain and ward off sickness, wouldn't want royal status for anyone but himself. When we moved to Dvāravatī and Prasena discovered that gem called Syamantaka while playing in the ocean water, people began to say that the gem also had the power to bring rain and keep sickness away. Akrūra was so determined to get that gem for himself, he first tried to marry Satyabhāmā, who is Prasena's niece and my cousin from our clan's Vṛṣṇi branch. After Satyabhāmā married me instead, Akrūra sent Śatadhanvan from the Andhaka branch to steal the gem from her father Satrājit, murdering him. At the time, I was in Vāraṇāvata to perform last rites for my pitṛṣvasṛ Pṛthā and her sons, and Akrūra was in charge of government in Dvāravatī, so he promised to rescue Śatadhanvan if I came after him. Instead, Akrūra waited to see who won the fight; if Śatadhanvan had killed me, Akrūra would have punished him and claimed to have found the gem with him, but since I killed Śatadhanvan, Akrūra led his Andhaka relatives out of Dvāravatī in protest.

I'll have to persuade Akrūra to come back, somehow. It's just my luck that it's not raining in season this year, so the citizens are convinced that I must have done something against dharma. We never found that gem, Syamantaka, and my obvious guess is that Akrūra has it with him. Akrūra's sister Sundarā has a nice smile. If I offered to marry her, Akrūra would have a reason to come back to Dvāravatī, and stop trying to kill me too.

Ideally, my brothers and sons and I would all work together to convince our clan to support Vasudeva's aśvamedha initiative. The reality, however, is that our eldest brother Saṃkarṣaṇa talks brusquely to everyone and rejects anyone who offends him. He even accused me of hiding Syamantaka from him. I've tried talking to Revatī about Saṃkarṣaṇa being always drunk, but he doesn't want to change. My younger brother Gada, on the other hand, is really sensitive and easily pushed back in an argument. Gada's an excellent warrior, but fighting with words is not for him. Fortunately, his wife Bṛhatī understands how to handle him delicately. As for my eldest son Pradyumna, flattery will convince him to agree with anyone. So, I guess it's up to me.

Kṛṣṇa speaks to Nārada (Śāntiparvan 82.3-12):

n'āsuhṛt paramaṃ mantraṃ Nārad'ārhati veditum

apaṇḍito vā'pi suhṛt paṇḍito vā'pi n'ātmavān

A non-well-wisher shouldn't know top secrets, Nārada, nor a well-wisher who is unschooled, nor a scholar who isn't independent.

sa te sauhṛdam āsthāya kiṃ cid vakṣyāmi Nārada

kṛtsnāṃ ca buddhiṃ saṃprekṣya saṃpṛcche tridivaṃgama

So, trusting your benevolence, I will tell you something, Nārada, and observing your full awareness, confer with you, who travel to the triple heavens.

dāsyam aiśvarya-vādena jñātīnāṃ vai karomy aham

ardha-bhoktā'smi bhogānāṃ vāg-duruktāni ca kṣame

Slavery called leadership is what I do for my relatives, really. I halfway enjoy pleasures, and endure insulting speeches.

araṇīm agnikāmo vā mathnāti hṛdayaṃ mama

vācā duruktaṃ Devarṣe tan me dahati nityadā

Like a kindling-wood rubbed by someone who needs fire, an insult spoken to me rubs my heart, seer of the Gods, and burns constantly.

balaṃ Saṃkarṣaṇe nityaṃ saukumāryaṃ punar Gade

rūpeṇa mattaḥ Pradyumnaḥ so'sahāyo'smi Nārada

Saṃkarṣaṇa (my elder half-brother) is always forceful, and on the other hand, Gada (my younger half-brother) is sensitive. Pradyumna (my son) is proud of appearances. So, I have no help, Nārada!

anye hi sumahābhāgā balavanto durāsadāḥ

nityotthānena saṃpannā Nārad'Āndhaka-Vṛṣṇayaḥ

The others, whether Andhaka (my mother's family) or Vṛṣṇi (my father's family), are very prosperous, powerful, unassailable, always ready to stand up, Nārada.

yasya na syur na vai sa syād yasya syuḥ kṛcchram eva tat

dvābhyāṃ nivārito nityaṃ vṛṇomy ekataraṃ na ca

Whoever didn't have them just wouldn't exist, and when one has them, it's only excruciating! Every time two parties bar me from each other, I can't choose either one!

syātāṃ yasy'Āhuk'Ākrūrau kiṃ nu duḥkhataraṃ tataḥ

yasya vā'pi na tau syātāṃ kiṃ nu duḥkhataraṃ tataḥ

To have both the Āhuka (Ugrasena, son of Āhuka, an Andhaka) and Akrūra (his son-in-law, a Vṛṣṇi) - what could be more troublesome than that? And suppose they both weren't here - what could be more troublesome than that?

so 'haṃ kitava-māte'va dvayor api mahāmune

ekasya jayam āśaṃse dvitīyasy'āparājayam

Great hermit! So, like the gamblers' scorekeeper, between the two of them, I want a win for one, without defeat for the other (so that both stay in the game).

mam'aivaṃ kliśyamānasya Nārad'obhayataḥ sadā

vaktum arhasi yac chreyo jñātīnām ātmanas tathā

I'm squeezed from both sides like this constantly, Nārada. You should tell me what's best for my relatives and for me too.