374 Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead

strength, Pradyumna was able to counteract his strength and powers by the
superior power of mahdvid ya. When Sambarasura was defeated in every
respect, Pradyumna then took his sharpened sword andimmediately cut off
the demon’s head, which was decorated with a helmet and with valuable
jewels. When Pradyumna thus killed the demon, all the demigods in the
higher planetary systems began to shower flowers on him.

Pradyumna’s wife, Mayavati, could travel in outer space, and therefore
they directly reached his father’s capital, Dvaraka, by the airways. They
passed above the palace of Lord Krsna and began to come down as a cloud
comes down with lightning. The inner section of a palace is knewn as
antahpura (private apartments). Pradyumna and Mayavati could see that
there were many women there, and they sat down among them. When the
women saw Pradyumna, dressed in bluish garments, with very long arms,
curling hair, beautiful eyes, a smiling reddish face, jewelry and ornaments,
they first of all could not recognize him as Pradyumna, a personality
different from Krsna. They all felt themselves to be very much blessed by
the sudden presence of Krsna, and they wanted to hide in a different
corner of the palace.

When the women saw, however, that all the characteristics of Krsna were
not present in the personality of Pradyumna, out of curiosity they came
back again to see him and his wife, Mayavati. All of them were conjecturing
as to who he was, for he was so beautiful. Among the women was
Rukminidevi, who was equally beautiful, with her lotus-like eyes. Seeing
Pradyumna, she naturally remembered her own son, and milk began to
flowfrom her breast out of motherly affection. She then began to wonder,
“Who is this beautiful young boy? He appears to be the most beautiful
person. Who is the fortunate young woman able to give birth to this nice
boy in her womb and become his mother? And who is that young woman
who has accompanied him? How have they met? Remembering my own
son, who was stolen even from the maternity home, I can only guess that
if he is living somewhere, he might have grown by this time to be like this
boy.” Simply by intuition, Rukmini could understand that Pradyumna
was her own lost son. She could also observe that Pradyumna resembled
Lord Krsna in every respect. She was struck with wonder as to how he
acquired all the symptoms of Krsna. She therefore began to think more
confidently that the boy must be her own grown-up son because she felt
much affection for him, and, as an auspicious sign, her left arm was
trembling.

At that very moment, Lord Krsna, along with His father and mother,
Devaki and Vasudeva, appeared on the scene. Krsna, the Supreme Person-
