Ashtabharya

Ashtabharya with Krishna - 19th Century Mysore painting depicting Krishna with his eight principal consorts.

The Ashtabharya (Sanskrit: अष्टभार्या, romanized: Aṣṭabhāryā) or Ashta-bharya(s) is the group of eight principal queen-consorts of Hindu god Krishna, the king of Dvaraka, Saurashtra[1] in the Dvapara Yuga (epoch). The most popular list, found in the Bhagavata Purana, includes: Rukmini, Jambavati, Satyabhama, Kalindi, Nagnajiti, Mitravinda, Lakshmana and Bhadra. Variations exist in the Vishnu Purana and the Harivamsa, which includes queens called Madri or Rohini, instead of Bhadra. Most of them were princesses.

In Hinduism, all of Krishna's chief consorts including Radha are revered as the avatars of the goddess Lakshmi[2] while the Gopis of Braj are considered as Radha's manifestations.[3]

Rukmini, the princess of Vidarbha was Krishna's first wife and chief queen (Patrani) of Dvaraka. She is considered as the avatar of Sridevi, the goddess of prosperity. Satyabhama, the third wife, a Yadava princess, is considered as Lakshmi's aspect of the earth-goddess Bhudevi. Jambavati is believed to be the manifestation of the third aspect of Lakshmi, Niladevi.[4] Kalindi, the goddess of the river Yamuna, is worshipped independently. Besides the Ashtabharya, Krishna had 16,100 ceremonial wives]].

The texts also mention the many children Krishna fathered by the Ashtabharya, the most prominent being the crown-prince Pradyumna,[5] son of Rukmini.

  1. ^ Khorana, Meena (1991). The Indian Subcontinent in Literature for Children and Young Adults: An Annotated Bibliography of English-language Books. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-25489-5.
  2. ^ Thakur, Pradeep (6 January 2012). Vikram & the Vampire (Improvised ed.). Lulu.com. pp. xcviii (98). ISBN 978-1-105-42303-1.
  3. ^ Jestice, Phyllis G. (2004). Holy People of the World: A Cross-cultural Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 316. ISBN 978-1-57607-355-1.
  4. ^ Books, Kausiki (2021-07-11). Garuda Purana: Brahma Khanda: English Translation only without Slokas: English Translation only without Slokas. Kausiki Books.
  5. ^ Austin, Christopher R. (2019-10-04). Pradyumna: Lover, Magician, and Son of the Avatara. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-005411-3.