Text 30] Departure of Lord Krsna for Dvaraka 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. Rukmini, the principal queen of
Lord Krsna, was the daughter of the King of Vidarbha, who wished that
his qualified and beautiful daughter be given away to Lord Krsna. But her
eldest brother wanted her to be given away to King Sisupala, who happened
to be a cousin of Krsna. So there was open competition, and as usual Lord
Krsna emerged successful, after harassing Sigupala and other princes by
His unrivalled prowess. Rukmini had ten sons, like Pradyumna, ete. There
were other queens also taken away by Lord Krsna in a similar way. Full
description of this beautiful booty of Lord Krsna will be given in the
Tenth Canto. There were 16,100 beautiful girls who were daughters of
many kings and were forcibly stolen by Bhaumasura, who kept them
captive for his carnal desire. These girls prayed piteously to Lord Krsna for
their deliverance, and called by their fervent prayer, the merciful Lord
released them all by fighting and killing Bhaumasura. 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
Krsna accepted the humble prayers of these girls and married them with
the adoration of queens. So altogether Lord Krsna had 16,108 queens at
Dvaraka, 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
Te UM MreaITT ITS
remit qa ay Fad |
ARTAITEAES FIAT oll
etah param stritvam apastapesalam
nirasta-Saucam bata sadhu kurvate

yasam grhat puskara-locanah patir
na jatv apaity ahrtibhir hrdi sprsan

etah—all_ these women; param—highest; stritvam—womanhood;
apastapesalam—without individuality; nirasta—without; saucam— purity;
