16,108 Weddings of Shri Krishna

16,108 Weddings of Shri Krishna
There is lot of talks about thousands of wives of Shri Krishna. But very few people know the real stories behind Shri Krishna’s wedding with 16,108 girls. Shri Krishna wedded with 16,100 widows of the demon Narkasura who made them captive, to save their dignity. Rest of the eight weddings was due to peculiar circumstances.
 
Shri Krishna had eight principal wives viz. Rukmani, Satyabhama, Jambavati, Kalindi, Mitravinda, Nagnajiti, Bhad- ra and Lakshmana. The stories behind their weddings are mentioned as under:
 

• Rukmni is considered as the incarnation of goddess Lakshmi who wanted to be with her husband Vishnu on earth. Rukmini wrote a letter to Shri Krishna of her love for him and suggested to kidnap her. (A separate article on marriage of Shri Krishna with Rukmani is published on this website earlier)

 
Satyabhama & Jambavati: She is considered to be the incarnation of Mother Earth. Satyabhama's father Satrajit owned a divine jewel called syamantaka. Krishna told Satrajit to send the jewel to Ugrasena so that it could be guarded safely. Satrajit's brother prasena took the jewel and went for hunting, he was attacked and killed by a lion, and meanwhile Jambava (who lived from the time of Sri Rama) took the jewel and gave it to his daughter to play with. When satrajit heard of his brother's death and missing syamantaka he accused Krishna of it. Krishna went in search of syamantaka so that he could clear the accusation; he found the jewel with Jambava. They fought for 28 days for the jewel; Jambava finally surrendered and recognized Krishna to be the incarnation of Rama and prayed him to marry his daughter. Jambavati was daughter of Jambava. Thus Krishna married Jambavati. Krishna returned the jewel to Satrajit, when satrajit came to know of the happenings he asked Krishna's forgiveness and gave his daughter Satyabhama's hand in marriage to Krishna
 

• : She is considered the daughter of Surya (sun god), she is considered as the deity of river Yamuna. Once Krishna and Arjuna were hunting and resting along the coast of Yamuna. They see a young girl walking on the banks, Krishna asked Arjuna to enquire, “who she was”. When Arjuna asked her, “she replied, she is the daughter of Sun god and was in penance and desires to marry Lord Vishnu”. Thus Krishna marries her.

 

• : She was the daughter of Nagnajita of Kosala, the king Nagnajit had taken a vow of giving his daughter's hand in marriage to whomever tame his 7 bulls and puts noose on them successfully. Many had tried but failed. When Krishna heard about this he went to Kosala, he was greeted by the king and worshipped by him, when Krishna expressed his intent to marry his daughter. He mentioned the task that Krishna has to complete before having her hand in marriage. Krishna assumes 7 forms and tames all of them at once, thus takes her hand in marriage.

 

•  She was a cousin of Sri Krishna, her brothers wanted her to marry Duryodhana and arranged for a Swayamvara, but they had not invited Krishna and Balarama. Balarama knew affection of Mitravinda for Krishna. He advised Krishna to abduct her. Krishna being not sure of Mitravinda's wishes took his sister Subhadra with him, who talked with Mitravinda and confirmed her love for Krishna. Thus knowing of her affection for him, Krishna abducted her and married her.

• : Bhadra's five brothers headed by the eldest prince Santardana married Bhadra to Krishna. In another text, she is described to have chosen Krishna as her husband in a Swayamvara ceremony.

 

•  Lakshmana's father the King of Madra had arranged for a swayamvara, where the archer had to shoot the target to win the hand of bride in marriage. All the princes gathered including Duryodhana and Jarasandha missed the target. Krishna hit the target.

 
Sixteen thousands one hundred wives:
Narkasura made captive sixteen thousands one hundred girls. Shri Krishna slew Narkasura, rescued enslaved girls and accepted them as his wives to save their dignity in the society who saw them as slaves of the demon king Narkasura. The chief amongst them is sometimes called Rohini.
 
Marital Life of Shri Krishna:
Once, Narada ji desired to see the married life of Shri Krishna and his conduct with 16108 wives. He reached Dwarka. Shri Krishna was with Rukmani. They welcomed Narada ji. Shri Krishna asked him the reason of his visit.
 
Shri Krishna cleaned the feet of Narada ji. From there, Narada ji went to other houses. He saw, Shri Krishna was playing chess with Uddhav. There also Shri Krishna welcomed him. Likewise, Narada ji went to houses one by one and found Shri Krishna in all houses. He found him in different activities viz. playing with children, taking food, doing japa, listening discourse etc. wherever he went, he found Shri Krishna engaged in family affairs and Shri asked about his time of arrival. Despite Narada ji was roaming around for several hours, he had to say that he came just now. Ultimately, Narada ji begged pardon from Shri Krishna.