6. Unwanted alliance
The stars twinkled brightly on the night's canvas. The golden hue of fire glistened against Krishna's dusky and Balram's fair complexions.
Mathura was still in danger because of Jarasandh. Not wanting to endanger the lives of the innocent citizens, the two princes decided to leave the city. Balram still didn't know Krishna's entire plan— what he knew was that they were on a mission to find a new land. That's all.
On the other hand, Jarasandh learned about their travel. A mountain called Pravarsan was on their way. Jarasandh followed them till there. When Krishna and Balram were escaping from the backside of the mountain, Jarasandh decided to set the mountain ablaze to kill them. With the entire mountain on fire, the brothers must have died, he thought.
Wilen, the wicked emperor, was celebrating his supposed victory, Krishna and Balram escaped unscathed.
Balram looked at flames of the bonfire, which was relfecting the surrounding of the forest they were in. His gaze diverted towards his younger brother, who was strangely quiet. Tensed, he was about to speak when Krishna began to answer his question, as he could read his brother's mind. "It's alright, Dau. Mathura has suffered a lot due to the constant attacks."
"Then we should've first requested out allies to give shelter to the citizens of Mathura," Balram spoke, concerned. "The Yadava clan has a lot of well-wishers, Kanha! They would've helped us."
"We've talked about this before, Dau." Krishna had knowing smile, "If they would support us, they would have to lock horns with Jarasandh. And nobody wants that."
"Kanha, we've defeated Jarasandh not once, not twice. But 17 times!" Balram pointed.
"Now even our soldiers have begun to raise questions," He carried on disappointed, "That why doesn't their brave warrior Krishna fight with Jarasandh once and for all, and kill him."
"It is not easy to kill him." Krishna replied, "And most importantly, he is destined to kill by someone else's hands, not ours." He smiled.
Krishna spoke after a brief silence, "Jarasandh doesn't have any enemity towards the people of Mathura. We're his enemy, and just because of us, the entire kingdom is suffering."
"So isn't it better to shift our kingdom somewhere else." He added. "Don't you agree with your anuj, Dau?"
Balram smiled, "I may not agree with your idea for a moment. But me not supporting you would never happen."
Krishna smiled as he leaned back on Balram's shoulder, and closed his eyes.
"You've got a lot to do. Sleep well, dear brother." The latter whispered lovingly.
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The Yadava Kumaras had measured a long distance from Mathura to the coastal side of the west, as they reached their destination— Kushasthali.
The news that Krishna had build a new, never seen like before city, and renamed it as Dwarka, begun to reach the ears of everyone in Bharatvarsh. Jarasandh was enraged, and realised that he was fooled, when he heard of Krishna and Balram reaching the coastal land.
He was hatching yet another conspiracy, and soon as he got the news that Krishna would come back to Mathura, to take his people to the kingdom.
Rukmini, on the other hand, who had blindly believed that nothing could happen to Krishna, was utterly ecstatic. She ran to the Gauri Temple of her palace with tears of joy rolling down her cheeks. She had already begun to understand the divine nature of her beloved.
She was sharing her thoughts with Divine Mother, when a handmaid arrived and informed— Rukmi was calling for her.
She would be there in a while, Rukmini replied with a sigh. She stood up, and joining her hand in front of the goddess, she walked out of the temple.
"Bhrata, did you call for me?" Rukmini asked, entering inside the chamber.
"Please walk in Rajkumari Rukmini. I mean would-be queen of Chedi." Jarasandh replied and she masked her feelings of discomfort and disbelief.
She tried to observe for what such reason, Jarasandh looked so relaxed. He had went all crazy when he got to that Krishna and his elder brother were all safe and sound. "Is he plotting something wicked again?" She said mentally.
"Yes, dear sister." Rukmi smiled. Gesturing towards Shishupal, he continued, "Meet Rajkumar Shishupal, the Yuvraj of Chedi." Rukmini shifted slightly, feeling uncomfortable under Shishupal's gaze that were fixed on her ever since she had walked into the room.
"We have fixed your alliance with him." Rukmi added and Shishupal gloated at his fate with the thought of marrying the most beautiful woman of the era. He smirked in victory.
"That is nothing surprising." She murmured as Shishupal jumped from his seat, getting ready to greet her.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Rajkumari." Shishupal greeted, unable to get over the bewitching beauty of the princess.
"Pranam Yuvraj." She replied and turned towards her brother, "Bhaiya, do you have something important to tell me? If not, I shall leave."
"Is this how guests are treated in Vidarbha, Yuvraj Rukmi?" Shishupal looked at Rukmi, the pieces of his ego crumbling under Rukmini's firm voice.
Rukmi turned towards his sister in irritation. But before he could say a word, she replied, "We, the people of Vidarbha, treat our guests very well. I, myself, will take care of the comforts of your people and you. You wouldn't have to worry about that Yuvraj!"
"You're brave." Jarasandh complimented, "Since you are the Yuvrani of Chedi, we shall let everything you said slide off. "
"That is for time to tell whether I'll be the queen of Chedi or not. Till then, I request you not to address me with such terms."
"What if destiny garlands me with another man, wouldn't that be embarrassing for Yuvraj Shishupal? After all, your words have filled him brittle pride. How would he handle his pride once it shatters?" She added, replying boldly and turned to walk away like a queen.
They stood there, dumbfounded and silent.
She was almost out of the chamber, when one of Jarasandh's man came running, shocked and anxious. Rukmini hid behind the curtain, eavesdropping their talks.
"What?" Jarasandh yelled astonished.
"That's true, Samrat," The man said nervously, "Krishna had slayed Kalyavan."
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Kalyavan was dead.
Kalyavan, a Yavana warrior had an army of three million yavanas. He would be undefeated in the battlefield, as a result of the boon given to him by Lord Shiva. Jarasandh allied with him, after all the latter's plans of killing Krishna and Balram had failed.
Knowing well that Krishna would return to Mathura, to bring his people to Dwarka, he made his plan. But what he didn't know was that he cannot think beyond Krishna.
Krishna had strategically fled away and, Kalyavan followed him. He lured him into a cave where a great sage called Muchukund, a great king from Treta Yuga and one of the forefathers of Lord Shri Ram was in a deep slumber of thousands of years after helping devas in an epic war against the asuras. He was also given a boon by Lord Indra that anyone who dared to disturb his sleep would get burnt to ashes immediately.
There was extreme darkness inside the cave. Krishna took it as an advantage and covered Rishi Muchukund with his yellow angavastra. Kalyavan assuming him to be Krishna kicked him, thus disturbing his sleep. Kalyavan was burned into ashes as soon as the sage woke up.
Jarasandh's roguish act was failed in front of Krishna's clever strategy.
Krishna stood in the beautiful garden, with multiple beautiful and rare flowers blooming around, watching his new city with fondness. The city of Moksha— Mokshapuri; the city of Dwarka.
Reaching Kushasthali, at the coastal, he summoned Samudra Dev, requesting him to give some land, where the people of Mathura can reside, and where Jarasandh cannot reach.
The Sea God, revealed himself and said, that he was obliged to help Krishna, and would give him 12 acres of land. But there was a condition, when the time comes, he would reclaim that land in a flood.
"The land and the city won't be touched by me, till Mahadevi Lakshmi would be present there. As soon as she would leave, the city would be submerged by me."
Krishna smiled understanding well, what Samudra Dev was trying to imply. Also, Goddess Lakshmi was the latter's daughter.
He, with his yogic powers, summoned Vishwakarma and asked him to build an impregnable city near the sea.
Bringing such a huge population and settle them in Dwarka was a task. The night before Kalyavan attacked Mathura, Krishna returned, and during the midnight, when everyone was sleeping, with a blink of an eye, Krishna did it— when the people woke up next morning, they were in Dwarka.
Although Krishna was not technically the king of Dwarka, he was regarded as the leader and king-like figure in the city. The people of Mathura, now the residents of Dwarka, respected and worshipped him.
In their eyes, he was the best among the best, and thus they jeweled a new title to his name— Dwarkadhish Shri Krishna, as a mark of respect and admiration for his role in the city.
Krishna had a charming smile on his lips thinking that the queen of Dwarka would be here as well soon. Right now, he was eagerly waiting for Balram to come, for a reason, when he saw a middle-aged man, entering through the palace gate, along with a young woman, who was his daughter.
Looking at their attires, one of could easily tell that they were royals. Krishna smiled knowingly, as he approached them. "Pranam," He greeted.
The man smiled, "Pranam. You must be Shri Krishna, if I'm not wrong."
"Indeed, I am," Krishna smiled, "Who are you, Mahoday?"
"I'm Raja Kakudmi, and she's my daughter, Rajkumari Revati."
Krishna gazed shifted towards the figure beside the king, as he greeted the princess courteously, who greeted back with smile.
Krishna smirked mentally, "A lot more is about to come— including for you, Dau."
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