Bhaktisandesam / Krishna and the Gem

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Krishna and the Syamantaka Gem

 

Satrajit, a nobleman of Dwarka, was a devotee of Surya, the sun God.

Surya being pleased with Satrajit's devotion appeared before him and

gifted him the Syamantaka gem. The Syamantaka gem's specialty was

that it could magically produce eight measures of gold a day.

 

Satrajit became a really wealthy man. Krishna then approached

Satrajit and told him that he should share the gem with the other

people of Dwarka and give it to King Ugrasena. Satrajit declined

saying that the jewel belonged to him.

 

A few days later, Satrajit's brother Prasena wore the jewel as a

necklace and went out on a hunt. He climbed a tree waiting for some

game, a lion came by and just as Prasena was about to shoot it, a

snake, which dropped from the branch above, surprised him. Now

Prasena was startled and he fell from the tree. As he was falling,

the necklace with the Syamantaka gem got caught in a branch and

Prasena hung by the neck, and was killed instantly.

 

Now the lion below, being attracted to the glow of the gem, picked it

up and carried it away. As the lion walked away with the gem,

Jambavan the king of the bears saw him. Being seduced by the glow of

the gem, he attacked the lion and killed it and took the gem to his

cave and gifted it to his infant son.

 

Prasena did not return to Dwarka and people were wondering what had

happened to him. Satrajit suspected that Krishna might have killed

Prasena in order to attain the gem. Krishna, in order to prove his

innocence, gathered a search party and went into the forest.

 

A few hours later, they found Prasena's body. Krishna noticed lion

tracks around the body and assumed that a lion must have killed

Prasena. On following the lion tracks, they came across the body of

the dead lion. Krishna noticed that the lion had the marks of a

bear's claws and noticed that there were bear tracks around the body.

On following the bear tracks Krishna reached Jambavan's cave. Krishna

sensing the danger ordered the rest of the party to stay outside

while he entered the cave alone. Krishna found Jambavan's son playing

with the Syamantaka gem. Frightened by the stranger, Jambavan's son

let out a wail that alerted Jambavan. Now Jambavan thought someone

was attacking his child and attacked Krishna. Krishna fought Jambavan

for twenty-eight days after which Jambavan recognised Krishna's

divinity and surrendered to him. Along with the gem, Jambavan offered

Krishna his daughter Jambavati's hand in marriage. This Krishna

accepted.

 

Krishna then returned to Dwarka with the Syamantaka gem and his new

bride. Krishna returned the gem to its rightful owner Satrajit who by

then was ashamed of accusing Krishna. In order to make up for his

accusations and show his good will towards Krishna, Satrajit offered

his daughter Satyabhama to Krishna.

 

But Satyabhama already had three suitors - Akrura, Kritavarma and

Shatadhanwa. They were angered by the fact that Satrajit have given

Satyabhama to Krishna and not to one of them. Shatadhanwa in his rage

killed Satrajit while he slept and stole the Syamantaka gem from him.

On realizing what he had done, Shatadhanwa left the gem with Akrura

and fled from Dwarka. Krishna and Balrama gave chase and killed

Shatadhanwa for his crime. Not finding the gem on Shatadhanwa,

Krishna knew that he must have left it with Akrura for safekeeping.

 

Krishna approached Akrura and requested him to tell the people of

Dwarka that he possessed the gem otherwise the people of Dwarka would

think that he had killed his father in law in order to possess the

gem. This Akrura did and Krishna's name was cleared.

 

 

 

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Jai Shree Krishna !