Chapter 95 - Lord Kṛṣṇa marries sixteen thousand and one hundred virgins

Vyāsa said:

1. O excellent brahmins, eulogised thus by the king of Devas, lord Kṛṣṇa laughed and spoke in an emotionally majestic manner.

The lord said:

2. You are Indra, the king of Devas. O lord of the universe, we are mortals. The crime committed by me should be excused by you.

3. May this Pārijāta tree be taken to its proper site. O Indra, it was at the instance of Satyā that it was taken by me.

4. Take back this thunderbolt which had been hurled at me by you. O Indra, it is your own weapon that pierces enemies.

Indra said:

5. O Lord, why do you try to delude me by saying “I am a mortal”. We know you; we are conversant with the infinite happiness.

6. As you are, so you are, O lord of the universe. O lord, you are firmly fixed in your work. O slayer of Asuras, you remove thorns of the universe.

7. O Kṛṣṇa, may this Pārijāta tree be taken to Dvāravatī. Except with you this will not remain anywhere else in the mortal world.

Vyāsa said:

8. After saying “So be it” to the lord of Devas Śrī Kṛṣṇa came to the Earth, eulogised by the liberated Siddhas, Gandharvas and sages.

9. Taking the excellent tree with him, Kṛṣṇa hastened. He then reached the aerial space over Dvārakā and blew the conch.

10. O brahmins, getting down from Garuḍa in the company of Satyabhāmā he delighted the residents of Dvārakā.

11. He fixed the great tree Pārijāta in his garden. People who approached it were able to remember their previous birth.

12-18. The ground three Yojanas all round it was rendered fragrant by the sweet scent of its flowers. Coming and looking at it, the Yādavas saw divine and super-human scents on that tree.

Kṛṣṇa took possession of elephants, horses, and other wealth brought by the servants from the collection of Naraka. Kṛṣṇa, on an auspicious day married damsels brought from Naraka’s residence.

O excellent brahmins, with a separate body for each of these, Kṛṣṇa married them in accordance with piety. There were sixteen thousand and one hundred women or even more. Lord Kṛṣṇa took up as many forms. But those virgins considered him as their sole lord individually, thinking, “Kṛṣṇa married me alone.”

During the nights, O brahmins, Kṛṣṇa the creator of the universe, Kṛṣṇa of universal forms, stayed in the abodes of all of them.