ORIENTAL SERIES.

164
KRISHNA.
of Arjuna. After this, at the request of the Panrfavas, he went
in splendid state to Hastina-pura as a mediator, but his efforts
were unavailing, and he returned. Preparations for action were
then made and the forces drawn out. On the eve of the battle,
while acting as Aijuna's charioteer, he is represented as relating
to Arjuna the Bhagavad-gita or divine song. He rendered
valuable services to Arjuna throughout the battle, but on two
occasions he suggested unfair dealing. He prompted the lie by
which Yudhi-shzfliira broke down the prowess of Drona, and he
suggested the foul blow by which Bhima shattered the thigh of
Dur-yodhana. He afterwards went to Hastina-pura with the
conquerors, and he also attended their Aswa-medha sacrifice.
On returning to Dwaraka he issued a proclamation forbidding
the use of wine. Portents and fearful signs appeared, and a
general feeling of alarm spread among all in Dwaraka. Krishna
gave directions that the inhabitants should go out to Prabhasa
on the sea-shore and endeavour to propitiate the deity. He
gave permission also that wine might be drunk for one day.
A drunken brawl followed, in which his son Pradyumna was
killed in his presence, and nearly all the chiefs of the Yadavas
were slain. Bala-rama went out from the fray and died peacefully
under a tree, and Krishna himself was killed unintention-
ally by a hunter named Jaras, who shot him with an arrow,
mistaking him at a distance for a deer. Arjuna proceeded to
Dwaraka and performed the obsequies of Krishna. A few
days afterwards the city was swallowed up by the sea. Five
of Krishna's widows were subsequently burnt upon a funeral
pile in the plain of Kuru-kshetra.
"Among the texts of the Maha-bharata," says Dr. Muir,
"
there are some in which Krishna is distinctly subordinated to
Maha-deva (Siva), of whom he is exhibited as a worshipper, and
from whom, as well as from his wife TJma, he is stated to have
received a variety of boons. Even in these passages, however,
a superhuman character is ascribed to Krishna."
The popular history of Krishna, especially of his childhood
and youth, is given in the Puranas, and is the subject of many
a story. The Bhagavata Purana is the great authority, and from
that the following account is condensed :
The sage Narada had foretold to Kansa that a son of Devaki,
bis brother's daughter, should destroy him and overthrow his