Text 30]
Departure of Lord Kṛṣṇa for Dvārakā
547
because it was open competition between the rival and valiant princes, such princes were invited by the fathers of the princess, and usually there were regular fights between the invited princely order in a sporting spirit, but it so happened that sometimes the belligerent princes were killed in such marriage-fighting, and the victorious prince was offered the trophy princess for whom so many princes died. Rukmiṇī, the principal queen of Lord Kṛṣṇa, was the daughter of the King of Vidarbha, who wished that his qualified and beautiful daughter be given away to Lord Kṛṣṇa. But her eldest brother wanted her to be given away to King Śiśupāla, who happened to be a cousin of Kṛṣṇa. So there was open competition, and as usual Lord Kṛṣṇa emerged successful, after harassing Śiśupāla and other princes by His unrivalled prowess. Rukmiṇī had ten sons, like Pradyumna, etc. There were other queens also taken away by Lord Kṛṣṇa in a similar way. Full description of this beautiful booty of Lord Kṛṣṇa will be given in the Tenth Canto. There were 16,100 beautiful girls who were daughters of many kings and were forcibly stolen by Bhaumāsura, who kept them captive for his carnal desire. These girls prayed piteously to Lord Kṛṣṇa for their deliverance, and called by their fervent prayer, the merciful Lord released them all by fighting and killing Bhaumāsura. All these captive princesses were then accepted by the Lord as His wives, although in the estimation of society they were all fallen girls. The all-powerful Lord Kṛṣṇa accepted the humble prayers of these girls and married them with the adoration of queens. So altogether Lord Kṛṣṇa had 16,108 queens at Dvārakā, and in each of them He begot ten children. All these children grew up, and each had as many children as the father. The aggregate number of the family numbered 10,000,000.
TEXT 30
एताः परं स्त्रीत्वमपास्तपेशलं
निरस्तशौचं बत साधु कुर्वते ।
यासां गृहात्पुष्करतोचनः पति-
न जात्वपैत्याहृतिभिर्हृदि स्पृशन् ॥३०॥
etāḥ param strītvam apāstapeśalam
nirasta-śaucam bata sādhu kurvate
yāsām grhāt puṣkara-locanaḥ patir
na jātv apaity āhṛtibhir hṛdi spṛśan
etāḥ —all these women;  param —highest;  strītvam —womanhood;  apāstapeśalam —without individuality;  nirasta —without;  śaucam —purity;