Satrajiti is the second spouse of Lord Krishna and also a Hindu goddess similar to Rukmini. Satyabhama, which is the more popular known name of Satrajiti, helped and assisted Lord Krishna in defeating the Narakasura demon. She is known as the incarnation of Bhudevi meaning goddess of the earth. Bhu means ground or the earth and Devi means a goddess. The goddess originating from the earth and who is responsible for taking care of it is Bhudevi.
Satyabhama’s name is mentioned several times in many ancient Puranas, especially in Mahabharata. The third book of this epic sheds light on the beautiful bond of friendship that Satyabhama and Draupadi shared. This incident has been described in Vana Parva of the book. Lord Krishna along with Satyabhama used to visit his friend Draupadi and his cousins/friends Arjuna and the rest of the Pandavas. They go to the forest of Kamyaka which is situated at the banks of river Saraswati and the western boundary of the Kuru Kingdom.
Satyabhama is filled with questions and poses them to Draupadi when they get some alone time away from Lord Krishna and the Pandavas. Her questions are circled around married life and a term known as “Stri dharma”. Draupadi, being the wise and intelligent woman, advised her on how to lead a happy married life and shared some secrets too. Out of the many themes of discussion, they primarily are believed to have discussed work, respect, family and relationships.
She has been mentioned one more time in Mahabharata, precisely in the Ashwamedha Parva. Bhima makes his entry into Dwarka to invite Lord Krishna for the Ashwamedha Yajna, Satyabhama serves Lord Krishna.
We all know of the Hindu festival Naraka-Chaturdashi but do we know the story behind this festival and its link to Satyabhama and Lord Krishna? Let’s find out! Narakasura was an evil demon who was known for his ego, power, temper and wicked ways of ruling the kingdom. He had earned a boon from Lord Brahma that he would be only killed by his mother and his mother Bhudevi had been given the boon of his son dying only upon her wish. Narakasura used to rule Pragjyotisha which in the present day is known as Assam.
One day, Narakasura did the grave mistake of defeating Lord Indra and kidnapping 16000 women to imprison them in his palace. He also ran off with the earrings of Aditi who is the mother of heavens. Lord Indra requested Lord Krishna to take some action on this and defeat this demon. Lord Krishna captured Narakasura’s city and arrived for a war with the demon. Satyabhama accompanied him too.
Their tiff leads to a very gruesome battle with equal strength and valour on both sides. There was a point where Krishna even fell unconscious due to an attack by Narakasura. Satyabhama was enraged at this and decided to take action to kill this demon. As we have discussed earlier, she is considered as the manifestation of Bhudevi, her arrows along with Krishna’s hit Narakasura and resulted in his death. Lord Krishna even retrieved the earrings of Goddess Aditi and returned them back to her. She was very impressed with both of them but with Goddess Satyabhama more. She was moved by the devotion and love Satyabhama had for Krishna in her heart and soul. Aditi blessed Satyabhama with a boon to stay young, beautiful and attractive forever.
Click here to read about Rukmini – The First Wife Of Krishna.
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