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Jambavati - The Third Wife Of Krishna

Jambavati – The Third Wife Of Krishna

Jambavati, the third wife of Lord Krishna and one of the Ashtabharyas lived in the Dvapara Yuga. Jambavan was the king of the bear and Jambavati was his only daughter. She was extremely dear to her father. She got married to Krishna when he defeated her father in attempts to retrieve and save the Syamantaka Jewel. The Jewel was one of the most famous jewels described in the Hindu scripture. The reason the jewel was so famous and preserved is because it had magical powers.

Devi Bhagavata Purana and Mahabharata are the two prime sources of reading up on Jambavati. The story of Jambavati’s son Samba is narrated in the following manner. Jambavati was extremely unhappy and disheartened when she came to know that she had not borne children of Krishna while the others had several children from Krishna. She went to Lord Krishna, her husband and requested to seek a solution for this. She wished for a son like Pradyumna who was handsome, brave and righteous. Krishna decided to go to an Ashram in the Himalayas to meet Upamanyu Rishi and find out a solution for this.

The sage advised him to pray to Lord Shiva and perform penance in order to achieve what he desires. Krishna started praying to Lord Shiva and the penance went on for six long months. There was a period when Lord Krishna was only standing on his toe and consumed air. Lord Shiva appeared in front of Lord Krishna in the avatar of Samba. Samba is the half female – half male form of the deity also known as Ardhanarishvara. Lord Shiva was impressed and wanted to grant him a boon. Lord Krishna requested for a son from Jambavati which was fulfilled. She birthed a son very shortly after Lord Krishna was blessed and named him Samba.

Jambavati then gave birth to nine children with Samba being the first born and the eldest and Kratu being the tenth born and the youngest. This is explained in the Bhagavata Purana. Vishnu Purana backs this up by saying that Samba headed the sons of Lord Krishna and Jambavati. Samba was not anything like his mother had wished for. He grew up to trouble the entire clan of Yadavas. In fact, he was the reason the clan had to face extinction. He got married to Lakshmana who is the daughter of Duryodhana. He was captured by them and was rescued by his father Krishna and uncle Balarama.

Samba was a very notorious being and once dressed up as a pregnant lady to annoy the sages. When the rishis found out that they were misguided by Samba, they cursed him to give birth to an iron pestle which would destroy the clan of Krishna, Yadavas. The prophecy or the curse had to come true and led to the death of the entire clan of Krishna. Jambavati was a close companion of Rukmini and loved her dearly but was often involved in a cold war with the second wife of Krishna, Satyabhama.

Much like Rukmini, Jambavati also started her journey to the heavenly abode after Lord Krishna disappeared after the Yadu massacre.

Click here to read about Satyabhama – The Second Wife Of Krishna.

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