Kakawin Hariwangsa

Kakawin Hariwangsa is an Old Javanese poem in Indian metres (kakawin or kavya) which tells the story of Krishna, as an Avatar of Vishnu, when he wished to marry the Goddess Rukminī, from the land of Kundina, and daughter of Lord Bhishmaka. Rukmini is an avatar of the goddess Śrī.

In its most fundamental meaning, Hariwangsa means the genealogy or family tree of the god Hari, or Vishnu. In India Harivamśa in Sanskrit is a literary work about Vishnu and his family tree in which the story of the marriage of Krishna and Rukminī is but a small part. Therefore, in the case of the Kakawin Hariwangsa, the name is not entirely appropriate because this kakawin only covers a small part of the story outlined in the Harivamśa.

The Lord Krishna was walking in a garden when he received a visit from the god Narada, who told him that his designated wife, an avatar of the goddess Śrī, was going to descend to earth in the land of Kundina. Krishna, as an avatar of the god Vishnu, must marry her. This avatar of the goddess Sri was called the goddess Rukminī, who would be the daughter of prabu Bhishmaka. However, the royal Jarasanda was about to marry her to the King of Cedi, who was called Lord Cedya.

Thus, Krishna wanted to elope with the goddess Rukminī. One evening before the celebrations for the wedding were held, Krishna went to Kundina and ran away with Rukmini. Guests from many countries had already arrived at the wedding. Lord Bhishmaka was extremely angry, and he immediately held discussions with the other visiting kings. They were scared to confront Krishna as he was known to have magical powers. Then Jarasanda developed a strategy to fight him, that is to enlist the assistance of Yudistira and the other Pandava.

A messenger was then sent to Lord Yudistira, who was quite confused. On the one hand, he had the obligation to a noble knight to protect the earth and fight evil. Krishna was a close friend of the Pandava, however his actions were wrong and had to be punished. Finally he agreed to help Jarasanda. Nevertheless, Bhima was furious and wished to murder Jarasanda's messenger, but was prevented by Arjuna. A short while later, they received a visit from an ambassador from Krishna asking their help. Because they had already promised their help to Jarasanda, Yudistira was forced to turn down the request while telling the ambassador that Krishna had no need to worry because of his divine powers.

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