Yadhuvanshi-- यदुवंशी

Dr Uday Dokras
Yadhuvanshi means belonging to the lineage of Krishna. These Coven or descendants were
called Yadhuvanshi.1 In Indian tradition, there were 2 important dynasties representing the
two natural wonders- The Sun and the Moon. The Ikshvaku dynasty was founded by the
legendary king Ikshvaku. The dynasty is also known as Sūryavaṃśa ("Solar dynasty" or
"Descendants of the Sun") which means that this dynasty prays to the Sun as their God and
their originator and along with Lunar dynasty comprises one of the main lineages of
the Kshatriya Varna.Lord Ram was from this dynasty.
The other is the Lunar dynasty (Candravaṃśa) which is a legendary principal house of
the Kshatriyas varna, or warrior–ruling caste mentioned in the ancient Indian texts. This
legendary dynasty was said to be descended from moon-related deities (Soma or Lunar).
The Hindu deity Krishna is believed to have been born in the Yaduvamsha branch of the
Lunar dynasty. According to the Shatapatha Brahmana, Pururavas was the son
of Budha (himself often described as the son of Soma) and the gender-switching
deity Ila (born as the daughter of Manu). Pururavas's great-grandson was Yayati, who had
five sons named Yadu, Turvasu, Druhyu, Anu, and Puru. These seem to be the names of five
Vedic tribes as described in the Vedas. According to the Mahabharata, the dynasty's
progenitor Ila ruled from Prayaga, and had a son Shashabindu who ruled in the country of
Bahli. The son of Ila and Budha was Pururavas who became the first Chandravamsha
emperor of the entirety of the earth. Ila's descendants were also known as the Ailas.
YADU is the name of a king, who was the ancestor of Krishna,(as per his earthly birth) and
the eldest son of Yayati and Devayani, the sixth monarch of the lunar dynasty. Yaduvanshi
means those who descent from this king yadu. The story of the yaduvanshi and that of
Krishna is intertwined as per one narrative.1 Vansha means lineage.

Symbols of Krishna

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. In this paper
https://www.academia.edu/102790211/Death_of_Krishna_and_the_Rule_over_Dwarka
I have dealt with the death of Krishna in detail, which I will not discuss here. Please
refer. You may also like to read….
2. https://www.academia.edu/83823404/KRISHNA_and_The_concept_of_the_Ghanshyam
3. https://www.academia.edu/61239664/Lord_Krishna_in_Cambodia

1
2
3
Chandravamsha (Moon) Family Tree

4
 Krishna’s position in short above
In Hindu texts, the Kurukshetra War, which forms the subject of the Indian
epic Mahabharata, was largely fought between rival branches of the Lunar dynasty, famously
resulting in Arjuna's turnaround- away from war and the reprimand given to him by his
mentor Krishna. Krishna reminds Arjuna that dharma or religion stands above everything,
and Dharma is doing one’s duty. The text forms an integral cultural cornerstone for
all Kshatriya houses.

5
By the conclusion of the Kurukshetra War, most of the Yaduvamsha lineage is in peril. The
sinking of Dvārakā sees the destruction of the entire Yaduvamsha lineage, with the exception
of Vajra, who was saved by Arjuna, and later becomes the King of Mathura.
Mausala Parva – The end of mighty Yadavas
Thirty-six years had passed since Gandhari cursed the Yadava race to total annihilation,
blaming Krishna for the Mahabharata war. The chain of events leading to disaster and
destruction of the race started from a prank, indulged in by the Yadava youth.

It was the fag end of Dwaparayuga.Sages Viswamitra, Kanva and Narada arrived on a visit to
Dwaraka. Their senses fogged by Fate, some of the Yadava youth approached the
distinguished rishis to play a prank on them. One of the youth, Samba, was dressed like a
pregnant woman. They asked the sages, “You noble ones, this is the wife of Babhru who is
desirous of having a son. Could you tell if she would be blessed with one?”

The rishis immediately understood the mischief being played upon them. They cursed the
youth, “This scion of the Vasudeva family, Samba, would bring forth an iron rod which
would cause the destruction of the Yadavas. All of them, excepting Balarama and Krishna,
would perish due to this curse.”

The very next day Samba brought forth an iron rod. When the king of the Vrishnis, Ugrasena,
came to know about this, he became alarmed. He ordered the iron rod to be ground to powder
and thrown into the sea. He also announced a total ban on the manufacture and consumption
of spirits throughout his kingdom. The Yadava clans of Vrishnis, Andhakas, Bhojas and
Kukuras were at their best behaviour, in fear of the sages’ curse. But there were omens of
impending disaster. Asses were born to cows and mules to elephants. Worms were found in
the food that was cooked clean. Brahmins were ill-treated and wives and husbands deceived
their spouses. The configuration in the sky was similar to what appeared before the eighteen-
day war. Death in the form of a black and hideous woman roamed the city. The discus given
by Agni to Krishna disappeared into the sky. The standards in the chariots of Krishna and

6
Balarama, the Garuda (Kite) and the Palmyra tree, were taken away by the apsaras. The
chariot of Krishna, drawn by the four famous steeds, Sugriva, Saivya, Megapushpa and
Balahaka, bolted away.

Alarmed by these signals, the Yadavas, with their families, journeyed to the holy sea shore of
Prabhasa. Having reached Prabhasa, however, they took to drinking wine, even in the
presence of Krishna, and were soon intoxicated. Balarama himself joined the revelers. There
followed arguments that led to fights. Inebriated by spirit, Satyaki derided Kritavarman for
having killed at Kurukshetra, those who were sleeping. Kritavarman hurled back abuses at
Satyaki who promptly severed his adversary’s head. A free for all ensued and whatever
weapons could be found, was used to attack and kill. Whoever could not find a weapon took
blades of grass grown from powdered iron, which turned into cursed rods eventually.

Knowing that the Yadavas’ hour of destruction had arrived, and remembering Gandhari’s
curse, Krishna did not interfere in the fight. In fact Krishna himself killed many of his
kinsmen, using the rod. All the men, save Krishna, his charioteer Daruka and Balarama were
killed.

Krishna dispatched Daruka to Hastinapura to inform Arjuna of the events, so that the
Pandava prince could come and take the surviving Yadava women with him. Balarama,
grieved at the slaughter of the Yadavas, walked into the forest. When Krishna caught up with
him, he saw his brother’s soul leaving its body. A ten-headed serpent issued from Balarama’s
mouth and drifted into the seas. Adisesha, the serpent under Vishnu’s feet, had completed his

7
mission on earth and was returning to the region of gods. Krishna decided that his own hour
to give up his body had come.

Krishna laid himself down in the forest and entered into meditation. On an earlier occasion,
Durvasa had given him the boon that his body would be invulnerable, excepting for his feet.
A hunter, Jara by name, mistook him for a deer and shot at him. The arrow pierced Krishna’s
foot at the sole and went through his body.

Alarmed at his mistake, the hunter sought Krishna’s pardon. Krishna comforted him and sent
him away. The supreme deity returned to his abode in Heaven, to the welcome of all gods
and demigods.

Receiving news about the happenings in Prabhasa, Arjuna went to Dwaraka where he met his
uncle Vasudeva. The aged father of Krishna was found lying on the ground, deeply afflicted
by the loss of his near and dear ones. Soon after Arjuna’s arrival, Vasudeva died, unable to
bear the grief over his losses.

Arjuna performed the rites for his uncle. Vasudeva’s four wives, Devaki, Bhadra, Rohini and
Madira also ended their lives, overwhelmed by the loss of their husband.

Arjuna gave seven days for the inhabitants of Dwaraka to leave the city. He knew that the
Yadava capital would be swallowed by the sea. He told the citizens that the young prince,
Vajra, Krishna’s grandson, would be their king. Arjuna then proceeded to Prabhasa to
perform the last rites for Krishna, Balarama and the others who had died.

8
Seven days after his arrival, Arjuna started his journey back to Hastinapura. He proceeded
with a huge entourage of women and children, and carried with him all the wealth that he
could. Close on his heels, the city of Dwaraka disappeared under the rising waves of the
ocean.

On his way home, Arjuna’s party was plundered by robbers. Besides gold and other
valuables, the robbers/pirates carried away many of the women from ships. Arjuna found
himself bereft of the power to ward off the robbers, unable to invoke any of his celestial
weapons.

Arjuna took all the surviving Yadavas to Kurukshetra. He then established Vajra as king at
Indraprastha. Krishna’s wife, Rukmini, ended her life by entering fire. His other wife,
Satyabhama, proceeded to the Himalayas to undertake penance.

From Kurukshetra, Arjuna went to the hermitage of Vyasa. There the sage consoled Arjuna
by saying, “There is no need for you to be depressed. The robbers were successful because all
your power has been lost since you have accomplished all that was expected of you.
Whatever happened to the Kshatriyas and the Yadavas was pre-ordained.”

Explanations
After the departure (“death” ) of Lord Krishna and with no saviour to save the world from
evil, Adharma flourished in the Kali Yuga. As per the Hindu mythology, we are living in Kali
Yuga. Since this is the last yuga in the current cycle of the cosmos/life decided by Brahma, to
cleanse the world of evil and to end Kali Yuga, Lord Vishnu said that he will take the 10th
avatar namely Kalki Avatar when adharma reaches the pinnacle and end the world to start a
new and fresh cycle of life. Lord Parashuram, one of the 7 immortals (chiranjeevi) of the
Hindu mythology will be the guru for Kalki Avatar.

Background: By that time, Kunti, Gandhari, Vidur and Dhritarastra all went to a voluntary
forest exile becoming too old for the administration and because of grief and died in a forest
fire (Sometime during the 36 period rule of pandavas after the Kurukshetra War, most
possibly, immediately after crowning Yudhistir as the King), Parikshit (Grand son of Arjuna
and Subathra, son of Abhimanyu and Uttara) was crowned as the king of the Kuru dynasty as
none of the Upapandavas (sons of Pandava brothers with Panchali) or the other sons of
Pandavas survived the war, the Dwapara Yuga was on the verge of ending and Kali Yuga
was about to start. And also, chaos and adharma slowly started creeping into King Parikshit's
reign.

Pandavas and Panchali (or Draupadi) decided to climb the Himalayas as a final penance/yatra
(sort of) to reach heaven. They climbed the Himalayas and were accompanied by a dog (Lord
Yama in disguise). As they climbed/walked their way to the top, one by one they started
falling and dying, and ending up in hell. Apparently, the reason for their deaths is because of
their desires, issues and troubles caused by them and their own pride. Panchali falls first
possibly because of her pride and she favoured Arjuna more among her pandava husbands.
(she had a soft corner for him.). Sahadev and Nakul fall next possibly because they were
prideful about their looks, Arjuna dies next because he was prideful about his archery skills.
Bheem dies last, because many a times, during the forest exiles of the Pandavas, he was
inconsiderate about food. He used to eat a lot without leaving anything for others, thereby
starving them. So they used to share the food among themselves before letting him to eat.

9
Yudhistir, who did not take pride in anything (except for his pride on following
righteousness) nor was biased to anyone and the dog finally reached the top of the himalayas.
The dog revealed it's true Identity to be Lord Yama. Lord Yama takes him to hell first and
makes him stay there for 1 day, stating that a steady headed dharmaraj such as Yudhistir
should also have the experience of knowing what is hell like. Yudhistir was later taken to
heaven and was promised that Panchali and his brothers will join him shortly as they they get
the experience (of punishment) of hell.

On Earth, Parikshit was ruling his empire in a noble way and a son named Janemejaya was
born to him. He crowned him the Crown Prince of Kuru Dynasty. Once Parikshit was
adventuring into a forest, he met a Demon named Kali. This demon requested him to grant
permission to enter kingdom and later the world. He also added that Kali Yuga should start as
per the laws of nature and in this yuga, righteousness and noble qualities will degrade and the
world will be thrown into imbalance. King Parikshit refused and said that as long as he lived,
he will not allow Kali to occupy this kingdom and this world. Since Parikshit was as mighty
as Pandavas (May be more than them, it depends on sources) Demon Kali requested for a
negotiation. After a long negotiation, Kali got the permission to reside in 5 places in the
world. (Places where (Not in order) 1. Prostitution happens, 2. Animals are slaughtered, 3.
People gamble with wealth and property, 4. People consume Alcohol and other drinks, 5.
Where Gold exists. On some sense, these 5 are great sources of evil even today). By his
permission to reside in places where gold exists, Kali went to reside in the crown of Parikshit
and started to control and corrupt Parikshit's head. Under the influence of Kali, he in his
mentally deranged condition, took a dead snake, made it similar to a garland and put it on the
neck of a Rishi (Don't know his name) and went away. The Rishi was insulted, and on seeing
this act, the Rishi's son (who, apparently is an immature (spiritually and righteously)
adolescent) gave a curse to Parikshit that he will die by a serpent bite within 7 (in some
sources 10) days.

However the Rishi became sad and surprised because of two things. How did such a young
immature lad get to power to grant such devastating curses?

(Usually in Dwapara, Treta and Satya Yuga, only a reasonably old, mature and aesthetically
strong people who have followed righteousness firmly and/or did great penances like Rishi's,
Great Gurus, Exceptionally powerful and Kings or people, in their extreme anger, who have
suffered a great and terrible loss such as having a member of their family killed, have the
power to grant such curses ). Second, Laws of judgement/punishment/dharma is failing. (As
per the Rishi's opinion, this is not a great sin that can be punished with death curse).

The implicit message is that people have started to get very great powers and are capable of
misusing them very easily. Moral values will fade and materialistic things will gain more
importance than the righteous things. As per the curse, Parkishit was bitten by a snake and
died. (Some sources say that this snake was actually the serpent king Takshak, who sworn to
kill Arjuna or his lineage because he captured Khandivaprastha by burning down the magical
forest occupied by the snakes.

Later the Pandavas with the aid of Lord Krishna and Lord Indra transformed
Khandivaprastha into the grand city Indraprastha ( present day close to New Delhi ) which
was supposed to be more glorious and economically prosperous than Hastinapur. And as soon
as Parikshit died, Kali Yuga prevailed in full dominance. Parikshit was so mighty that he was
able to delay the onset of Kali Yuga for 7 to 10 days. The angry crown prince Janamejaya,
now became the king and ordered to start a grand yagna to kill all the snakes in the world.

10
While the yagna was in progress, his fellow courtiers advised him that it was a grave decision
and pleaded him to stop the yagna. The yagna was stopped and they all explained to him
about the entire lineage of Kuru Dynasty, right from the Lunar Dynasty's founder, following
down to King Bharat (Who united our country and gave the name "Bharata"), King Hastin
(Who founded the Hastinapur City), King Kuru, (Who officially formed the alternate name,
Kuru Dynasty) and proceeding down to King Shantanu and all the way till present day events
of Mahabharat. Janamejaya forgave and continued his reign in the foot- steps of his ancestors.
In due course of time, the entire Kingdom of Kuru was becoming rebellious and restless with
chaos and adharma.

King Janamejaya did his best to restore dharma. Possibly because of Draupati's curse in
Hastinapur court when she was disrobed (only to be saved by Lord Krishna) or because of
some other reason, the Hastinapur city was hit with a massive flood and sunk into the ground.
The capital was shifted to some city (name not sure) some -where south of it. In a situation of
great political and economic unrest, King Janamejaya was forced to wage a war against some
enemy invasion. At the end of the war, he was dethroned by the enemy king and possibly
killed. Janamejaya had no progeny and hence the Kuru dynasty ended. After Janamejaya
died, the very last survivor who has some power to stop Kali is gone.

Yadavas: On a parallel note, after Kurukshetra war, the Yadavas, who did not take part in the
war became more and more "adharmic" and nearly 36 years after the war, some of the
Yadavas after getting drunk, started a fight among each other due to differences of opinion or
mutual hate (It's a complicated set of reason, but as far as my understanding goes, it happens
more or less immediately when Parikshit was corrupted by Kali). This fight became a serious
one and in the process, all of Lord Krishna's sons including the noble Pradyuman and several
other powerful Yadavas met with their doom, to such a point that the Yadava clan almost got
wiped out. (Some sources say that the clan and Yadavas died completely and some say that
there were a few survivors who suffered a lot and existed in Kali Yuga.) Lord Krishna and
Lord Balaram did not prevent this uprising. Both of them fled to the forests and started
meditating to calm themselves. While doing so, a hunter, who was hiding in a bush,
mistakenly pierces Krishna with an arrow, thinking him to be a deer. Later the hunter (Who
was King Baali, Bother of King Sugreev of Ramayana time in his previous birth) begged for
forgiveness. Krishna said that this was not his fault and "Leaves the Earth". Later Balram also

11
"Leaves the Earth" (A white serpent came out of his mouth and it went into the sea.) This was
because of Queen Gandhari's curse.

At the ending of Kurukshetra war, possibly, on the 16th or 17th day evening of the war,
Queen Gandhari came to the battle field and was extremely sad and devastated to have her 99
sons (except Duryodhan) killed by Bheem. When Lord Krishna went to offer his
condolences, Gandhari in fury asked Lord Krishna why he did not end the war in a moment's
notice though he has the power, and let it proceed. It was King Dhritarastra's fate to be born
blind and having his 100 sons killed in this life time (There is a story behind this regarding a
tyrant king, a swan and it's 100 cygnets.) But Gandhari did nothing in her past lives nor in her
current life to receive such brutal suffering. Gandhari, in her desperation and rage, gave a
notorious curse to Lord Krishna: To feel the pain she is facing of having her sons being
killed, Krishna will see the entire of his Yadava clan, die infront of his eyes and his kingdom
will burn to the ashes. He and his brother will be left with no lineage to rule. All of Krishna's
sons will die in a massive fight that will happen in Dwaraka. Krishna on the other hand will
have no power to stop this war and will flee to the forest without any weapons. There in the
forest, unarmed, he will be killed by a hunter and later, the entire city of Dwaraka will sink
into the sea. The remaining Yadavas, who survive the war will be suffering a lot because of
chaos and facing all the above misery. Lord Krishna, though he had the power to nullify the
curse, wholeheartedly accepted the curse.

With Lord Krishna gone and with no saviour to save the world from evil, Adharma will
flourish in the Kali Yuga. As per the Hindu mythology, we are living in Kali Yuga. Since this
is the last yuga in the current cycle of the cosmos/life decided by Brahma, to cleanse the
world of evil and to end Kali Yuga, Lord Vishnu said that he will take the 10th avatar namely
Kalki Avatar when adharma reaches the pinnacle and end the world to start a new and fresh
cycle of life. Lord Parashuram, one of the 7 immortals (chiranjeevi) of the Hindu mythology
will be the guru for Kalki Avatar.

12
13