Devalok
From the epics · 2 tellings · West India

The chariot from Raivataka

Arjuna sees Subhadra at the Raivataka festival; Krishna advises him to carry her off rather than risk a swayamvara; the Yadavas rush to arms and Balarama rages until Krishna persuades them to bring Arjuna back for the wedding. The Bhagavata has Arjuna come as an ascetic, Subhadra want him too, and her parents agree.

Who is in it

Places: Raivataka hill · Texts: Mahabharata, Bhagavata Purana

The story, beat by beat

  1. Arjuna, on his travels, is brought to Dwaraka by Krishna.
  2. At the Raivataka festival Arjuna sees Subhadra.
  3. Krishna names her and advises carrying her off, since a swayamvara is uncertain.
  4. Yudhishthira consents by messenger.
  5. Arjuna seizes her on her way back from worship on the hill.
  6. The Yadavas are called to arms; Balarama vows to destroy the Kurus.
  7. Krishna argues that Arjuna meant no insult and cannot be beaten; they bring him back.
  8. The wedding at Dwaraka; a year there; Subhadra greets Kunti and Draupadi in a cowherd woman's dress.
  9. Abhimanyu is born.

marriage elopement brothers consent

How it is told, place by place

Base telling · Primary text (translation)

Mahabharata, Adi Parva, sections 220 to 223 (Ganguli)

West India · Raivataka and Dwaraka All traditions

Arjuna, on a long journey away from his brothers, meets Krishna at Prabhasa and goes with him to Dwaraka. At a festival of the Yadavas on Raivataka hill he sees Subhadra among her companions and is smitten. Krishna, smiling, tells him she is his sister Bhadra, Sarana's own sister and their father's favourite, and offers to speak to his father; but since no one knows whom a girl will choose at a swayamvara, and carrying off a bride is praised for brave warriors, he advises Arjuna to take her by force. Yudhishthira consents by messenger. Arjuna, in armour on a golden chariot drawn by Saivya and Sugriva, seizes her as she comes back from worship on the hill. Her guards raise the alarm in the Sudharma hall; the clan runs for weapons; Balarama, in blue, stops them until Krishna speaks, then vows to rid the earth of the Kurus. Krishna answers that Arjuna knows they do not sell daughters, thought a swayamvara uncertain, is of a great line and unbeatable but for Shiva, and should be brought back kindly. They bring him back; he marries her at Dwaraka and stays a year. At Indraprastha she bows to Kunti and to Draupadi in a cowherd woman's dress, and Draupadi blesses her. Krishna and Balarama bring the wedding gifts, and Abhimanyu is born.

Mahabharata, Adi Parva, Subhadra-harana and Haranaharana Parvas, sections 220 to 223, tr. K. M. Ganguli

Primary text (translation)

Bhagavata Purana 10.86.1 to 12

West India · Dwaraka Vaishnava

At Prabhasa Arjuna hears that Balarama means to give Subhadra to Duryodhana, against everyone else's wish. He comes to Dwaraka as a wandering ascetic with a triple staff and stays through the rains, honoured by Balarama and the citizens, who do not know him. Balarama has him to dine, and there he sees Subhadra; she wants him too, and shows it with shy smiles and glances. At a great festival procession of the Lord she rides out of the fortress, and he carries her off, with the consent of her parents and Krishna, driving off the guards with his bow. Balarama heaves like the sea at the full moon; Krishna takes hold of his feet and the kinsmen calm him, and he sends elephants, chariots, horses and servants as wedding gifts.

Srimad Bhagavatam 10.86.1 to 12 (Bhaktivedanta Book Trust)

Sources: Mahabharata, Adi Parva, Subhadra-harana and Haranaharana Parvas, sections 220 to 223, tr. K. M. Ganguli; Srimad Bhagavatam 10.86.1 to 12 (Bhaktivedanta Book Trust)

More stories with the same people

Local story

The chariot that waited for Salabega

Salabega, son of a Mughal officer and a Brahmin widow, became one of Jagannath's poets but was never allowed into the temple; falling ill on his way to the chariot festival, he prayed for the god to wait, and the chariot would not move until he came; it still pauses at his grave on the Grand Road.
From the epics

The child born still

Abhimanyu falls inside Drona's wheel array; Subhadra mourns him and Krishna comforts her. When Uttara's son is born dead from Ashvatthama's weapon, Subhadra bows her head to Krishna and asks him to keep his vow, and he revives the child by an act of truth. The Bhagavata has Krishna shield the child in the womb, and the child spend his life searching for the one he saw.
Local story

The sister at the door

In a Gaudiya Vaishnava telling, Subhadra guards the door while Rohini tells Krishna's queens about Vrindavan; she and her brothers are so absorbed that all three take the round-eyed, handless forms of Puri, and Krishna promises Narada to show them there. At Puri she rides between her brothers on her chariot Darpadalana, with Arjuna as its charioteer.
Festival story

The chariot festival of Puri

Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra ride three chariots to the Gundicha temple, stay seven days and return in the Bahuda Yatra.
Temple legend

The carving of the images at Puri

An old carpenter carves the images of Jagannath from the log behind a closed door; in Puri's tradition the door is opened early and the images stay unfinished.
Festival story

The sister who waited with a lamp (Subhadra welcomes Krishna; Bhau Beej and Bhai Phonta)

After killing Narakasura, Krishna comes to his sister Subhadra's house. She welcomes him with a lamp, flowers and sweets, puts the mark on his forehead and prays for his long life, and western India says this is why sisters do the same on the second day of bright Karttika. Bengal keeps the day as Bhai Phonta, with a sandal-paste mark and a rhyme that bars Yama's door, and its tellers give both the Krishna and the Yama origin.
From the epics

Ulupi, the princess under the river

On his exile Arjuna is pulled beneath the Ganga by Ulupi, a naga princess, who wins his love by argument and gives him power over every water creature; years later, when his son Babhruvahana kills him, she revives him with a naga gem and tells him it freed him from the curse of the Vasus for Bhishma's death.
Legend

The riddle on the swing (Ghatotkacha's bride and Barbarika's birth)

Krishna proposes Kamakantakata, Mura's daughter, as Ghatotkacha's bride; he wins her in Pragjyotisha with a riddle and in battle, she carries him to Indraprastha, and their son is born grown, named Barbarika for his hair and Suhridaya by Krishna. Khatu gives the boy a mother called Morvi or the Naga princess Ahilavati, who teaches him war, and has Shiva give the three arrows and Agni the bow.