potash
—K iol IX
\
31/ The Kidnapping of Subhadra and Lord
Krsna’s Visiting Srutadeva and Bahulaéva

After hearing this incident, King Pariksit became more inquisitive to
hear about Krsna and His pastimes, and thus he inquired from Sukadeva
Gosvami how his grandmother Subhadra was kidnapped by his grandfather
Arjuna at the instigation of Lord Krsna. King Pariksit was very much eager
to learn about his grandfather’s kidnapping and marriage of his grand-
mother.

Thus Sukadeva Gosvami began to narrate the story as follows: “Once
upon a time, your grandfather Arjuna, the great hero, was visiting several
holy places of pilgrimage, and while he was thus traveling all over he
happened to come to the Prabhasaksetra. In the Prabhasaksetra he heard
the news that Lord Balarama was negotiating the marriage of Subhadra,
the daughter of Arjuna’s maternal uncle, Vasudeva. Although her father,
Vasudeva, and her brother, Krsna, were not in agreement with Him, Bala-
rama was in favor of marrying Subhadra to Duryodhana. Arjuna, however,
desired to gain the hand of Subhadra.”’

As he thought of Subhadra and her beauty, Arjuna became more and
more captivated with the idea of marrying her, and with a plan in mind
he dressed himself like a Vaisnava sannydsi, carrying a tridanda in his hand.
The Mayavadi sannydsis take one danda, or one rod, whereas the Vaisnava
sannyasis take three danda, or three rods. The three rods, or tridanda, indi-
cate that a Vaisnava sannydsi vows to render service to the Supreme
Personality of Godhead by his body, mind and words. The system of
tridanda-sannydsa has been in existence for a long time, and the Vaisnava
sannyasis are called tridandis, or sometimes tridandi-svamis or tridandi-
gosvamis.

Sannyasis are generally meant to travel all over the country for preaching
work, but during the four months of the rainy season in India, from
September through December, they do not travel, but take shelter in one

227
