The sixth wife of Lord Krishna or the sixth one from the Ashtabharya is Mitravinda. She is the daughter of King Jayasena of Avanti. Vindya and Anuvindya were the siblings of Mitravinda. She becomes a part of the Yaduvansh clan after her marriage to Lord Krishna. Her adobe is said to be Dwarka and Vaikuntha. She is also known by the names of Sudatta, Shaibya and Dwarkeshwari. The information about her mother is not found very prominently in the Puranas or the literary texts of ancient times. However, she has been mentioned in Puranas and epic literature like Vishnu Purana, Mahabharata, Harivamsa and Bhagavata Purana.
Vishnu Purana has mentioned that Shaibya or Shaivya is the name that comes from her being the descendent or the daughter of King Shibi/Shivi. There is an element of uncertainty in the exact names of her and her father. Various commentators, researchers and historians have identified Mitravinda with other characters relevant in this story. Ratnagarbha has mentioned in Vishnu Purana that Mitravinda shows a great deal of similarity to Kalindi who happens to be the wife of Lord Krishna as well. The name Sudatta comes from Harivamsa where she is given the name due to her descendants from Shibhi.
Mitravinda is described to be a beautiful, attractive, pure, pious, noble, righteous and virtuous girl. As we saw earlier, she has two brothers namely Vinda and Anuvinda. Their names are spelt as Vindya and Anuvindya as well. They were the co-rulers of the Avanti kingdom at the time of Mitravinda’s marriage to Lord Krishna. They were friends with Duryodhana who was the eldest of the Kauravas and naturally their leader. They were against the marriage and opposed their sister being married to someone who allies with their friend’s enemy. Lord Krishna was a dear friend to the Pandavas and a nephew to Kunti. Keeping the enmity of Kauravas and Pandavas in mind, naturally, Krishna became an enemy indirectly to them.
Bhagavata Purana has given a very brief narration of how Mitravinda got married to Shri Krishna. There was a Swayamvar arranged for the marriage of Mitravinda where she chose Shri Krishna to be her husband. Since we already know that her brothers were against this marriage, they decided to join hands with Kauravas and fight Krishna. Krishna in an instance defeated Vindya and Anuvindya and took Mitravinda away from the happenings. The other suitors present at the ceremony kept wondering where she had disappeared. It is through Vallabhacharya’s commentary that we understand that Mitravinda and Krishna were in deep love with each other. Her brothers wished for her to marry Duryodhana instead. In fact, Duryodhana was present at the swayamvar as well.
Krishna and his wives paid a visit to Hastinapur to meet his aunt Kunti, his cousins and his friend Draupadi. Draupadi greets them with gifts and Mitravinda narrates to her the story of her marriage to Lord Krishna. Mitravinda and Shri Krishna have ten sons with Vrika being the eldest and Kshudhi being the youngest. Mitravinda’s departure from the earth has been described as her burning herself alive when the race was coming to an end. She was also attacked by robbers while she was leaving Dwarka after attending Krishna’s funeral.
Click here to read about Nagnajiti – The Fifth Wife Of Krishna.
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