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Rukmee
Who Was Rukmee?
Rukmee was the brother of
Rukminee - Krishn's wife. He was the son of
Vidarbh Raaj Bheeshmak who had five sons and one beautiful daughter.
Bheeshmak's 5 sons' names were Rukmee, Rukmarath, Rukmbaahu, Rukmesh and
Rukmamaalee. The eldest one was Rukmee. He was the disciple of
Drone. He had learned archery with all the four divisions of army and
got a celestial bow named Vijaya belonging to Indra. It was equal to
Gaandeev of Arjun and Shaarng of Krishn in energy. He had got this bow
from his Guru Drone. Although Rukminee's all brothers loved her very much
but Rukmee had some special affection towards her. Rukminee loved Krishn
very much and she wanted to marry Him only, but
Shishupaal was Rukmee's great friend, so he wanted to marry Rukminee
to Shishupaal
Abduction of Rukminee and a Fight With Krishn
When Krishn killed Kans,
and made widow Jaraasandh's two
daughters (Asti and Praapti), Jaraasandh was very angry ans wa looing for
an opportunity to become stronger to fight with Krishn to take his revenge.
So he thought of his friend Bheeshmak and came to him with this proposal
that Rukminee should be married to Shishupaal, so that they could be mightier.
Bheeshmak regarded Jaraasandh very much, otherwise also in those times
Jaraasandh was a great power and nobody could oppose him. Even
Yudhishthir could not do his
Raajsooya Yagya without winning or removing him. Since he could not win him
so he had to remove him. Bheem killed him
and then only he could do his Raajsooya Yagya.
As both, Jaraasandh and
Rukmee wanted to marry Rukminee to Shishupaa, Bheeshmak had no reason to
oppose them, but since Rukminee did not want this marriage, she prayed
Krishn, called Him to Kundinpur (capital of Vidarbh Desh) and arranged
her abduction. Balaraam Jee did not want his younger brother going there
alone so he followed Krishn for His safety. When Krishn was coming back
to Dwaarakaa with Rukminee, Rukmee came to know about this, and he came
to take his sister back from Krishn. They fought. Seeing their fight
Rukminee got scared, so He left him there only after making him ugly by
shaving his mustache and beard and hair and tying him with His own cloth.
Defeated Rukmee did not dare to go back to his kingdom (Kundinpur) and went
to some other city, made it his capital and named it Bhojkat. He was still
not in peace.
Rukmee Marries His Daughter Rukmvatee to Pradyumn
Krishn and Rukminee had a son named Pradyumn. So to please Rukminee,
Rukmee married his daughter Rukmvatee to Pradyumn Jee.,
Rukmee Marries His Granddaughter Rochanaa to Aniruddh
He married his granddaughter (son's daughter) Rochanaa to Pradyumn's son
Aniruddh also.
Rukmee Vadh
From
Bhaagvat Puraan, 10/u9
Krishn and Balaraam went to marry their child Aniruddh to marry Rukmee's
granddaughter Rochanaa. The marriage was completed in peace, but after
that the coming kings, especially the King of Kaling Desh, instigated
Rukmee against Balaraam, thinking that Balaraam does not know Dice game
(being a herdsman), so we can defeat him easily. Rukmee got excited and
invited Balaraam to play Dice Game to let him down. Balaraam Jee accepted
his invitation and started playing the game. First Balaraam Jee put 100
Mohar (gold coin) on stake, then 1,000 Mohar on stake, and then 10,000 Mohar
on stake. Rukmee won all of them. The Kaling King started laughing at this.
Balaraam Jee could not tolerate his laugh. After this Rukmee put 100,000 Mohar
on stake. This time Balaraam Jee won it, but Rukmee argued that he won that
money. At this Balaraam Jee got very angry. This time Rukmee put 100 billion
Mohar on stake. This time also Balaraam Jee won them, but Rukmee again argued
that he won that money. Aakaashvaanee (Divine voice) also said that Balaraam
Jee had won that money, but Rukmee didn't pay any attention to that and said
to Balaraam Jee - "You are only a Gwaal Baal, what do you know about the
Chausar game? Arrows and Chausar game are only for kings not for you." At
this Balaraam Jee picked a thick stick (Mudgad - like a baseball bat) and killed
Rukmee from it then and there only. He devoured other kings also. Krishn did not
comment on Rukmee's killings.
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