Krsna Erects the Dvaraka Fort 331

ashamed, and he decided that he would no longer live as a king, but would
resign from his position in the royal order and go to the forest to practice
meditation under severe austerities and penances.

As he was returning home with other royal friends, however, they
advised him not to retire, but to regain strength to fight again with Krsna
in the near future. The princely friends of Jarasandha began to instruct
him that ordinarily it would not have been possible for him to have been
defeated by the strength of the Yadu kings, but the defeat which he had
experienced was simply due to his ill luck. The princely order encouraged
King Jarasandha. His fighting, they said, was certainly heroic; therefore,
he should not take his defeat very seriously, as it was due only to his past
mistakes. After all, there was no fault in his fighting.

In this way, Jarasandha, the King of Magadha Province, having lost all
his strength and having been insulted by his arrest and subsequent release,
could do nothing but return to his kingdom. Thus Lord Krsna conquered
the soldiers of Jarasandha. Although Krsna’s army was tiny in comparison
to Jarasandha’s, not a pinch of His strength was lost, whereas all of
Jarasandha’s men were killed.

At that time the denizens of heaven became very pleased and began to
offer their respects by chanting in glorification of the Lord and by
showering Him with flowers. They accepted the victory with great appre-
ciation. Jarasandha returned to his kingdom, and Mathura City was
made safe from the danger of an imminent attack. The citizens of Mathura
organized the combined services of a circus of professional singers, like
siitas, magadhas, and poets who could compose nice songs, and they began
to chant the victory glorification of Lord Krsna. When Lord Krsna entered
the city after the victory, many bugles, conches and kettledrums were
sounded, and the vibrations of various musical instruments, like bherya,
tiirya, vind, flute and mrdanga—all joined together to make a beautiful
reception. While Krsna was entering, the whole city was very much
cleansed, all the different streets and roads were sprinkled with water, and
the inhabitants, being joyous, decorated their respective houses, roads and
shops with flags and festoons. The brahmanas chanted Vedic mantras at
numerous places. The people constructed road crossings, entrances, lanes
and streets. When Lord Krsna was entering the nicely decorated city of
Mathura in a festive attitude, the ladies and girls of Mathura prepared
different kinds of flower garlands to make the ceremony more auspicious.
In accordance with the Vedic custom, they took yogurt mixed with
freshly grown green grass and began to strew it here and there to make the
victory jubilation even more auspicious. As Krsna passed through the
