+* Portrayal of Krishna's wives *+ - Page 6

Anyway, one thing that struck me - normally, Rukmini was supposed to be as omniscient as Krishna himself, as illustrated during the Tulabharam episodes, and yet, when Pradhyumna was kidnapped, she was shattered (SB 10.55.15).  Wouldn't she have been as informed as Krishna about Pradhyumna's need to slay Shambara?

Note that I'm now discussing more what's actually in the scriptures, rather than what's shown in the serial.

On Tuesday's episode, they showed Rukmini on the verge of stabbing herself, when Jambavati stopped her.  Itself an extreme depiction, since the person who mattered most to Rukmini was Krishna, not Pradhyumna.  In fact, in Devi Bhagvatam, Krishna approached some deity to get more sons from all his wives, so that they'd all be happy w/ their marriages.  So Rukmini, like the others, had her next 9 sons, led by Charudeshna, and her daughter, Charumati.

Anyway, Jambavati, in order to comfort Rukmini, told her that her baby was still alive.  Krishna then came in and busted that 'bubble' by telling Rukmini that that baby was indeed alive - in their hearts - implying that the baby was dead.  This was beyond sadistic - first of all, Krishna lying, and what's worse, doing so to destroy whatever hope Rukmini had.  This was not like Yudhisthir lying to Drona to save his soldiers - it was Krishna lying to Rukmini for no rhyme or reason 😡🤢

Aside from that, the other bizarre thing is that Krishna is now all the time watching the Shambara channel w/ Jambavati, instead of spending his time comforting his bereaved Rukmini.  I know that Satyabhama was his favorite, but watching this serial, one would think that Krishna hated Rukmini.  Really, if a man and his wife had lost their first-born, wouldn't he be comforting her, instead of spending all his time watching what his baby's enemy is up to?  When he himself has resolved that Ms Vidhi's vidhan will play out, and there's nothing they can or will do to change anything?  Then why watch all this?

As for Pradhyumna, they've totally fictionalized Shambara.  First of all, since when was Shambara afraid of the color 'red', and it's ridiculous to show him being a mamma's boy, w/ his mom upbraiding anybody who dares offend him.  

Also, they've totally glossed over Pradhyumna's own divine origins.  Pradhyumna wasn't raised by some anonymous fisherman & his wife.  As many know, he was Kama - reborn after Shiva had incinerated Kama for disrupting his meditation.  Rati, Kama's wife, had been desolate, and at one point, wanted to cremate herself, but a divine voice promised her that she'd be re-united w/ her husband, who had taken birth as Krishna's son.  So Rati took the form of Mayavati and found employment in Shambara's kitchen.  She was the one who the fisherman handed over the guardinship to Pradhyumna, and when Pradhyumna grew up, she fell in love w/ him.  Narada narrated to her the story of Pradhyumna's origin, and what Shambara did to him, which she later narrated to Pradhyumna.  After Shambara's death, she returned w/ Pradhyumna to Dwarka, and became Krishna's eldest bahu.

Anyway, SP seems to be stumbling from track to track, and has no clue of how to make this serial flow.  Not to mention their ignorant rendition of Krishna's thoughts & messages.  I've long lost interest in these clowns showing the Gita.  The sooner Imagine TV pulls the plug on this abomination, the better.

Rukmini is a Goddess and incarnation of Lakshami. She was a learned and a wise woman.I dont know what they are getting by showing her in this form. Trying to comit suicide and all

Actually, a good track would have been showing the birth of Samba, who later among other things fought Shalva's army alongside Pradhyumna, abducted Duryodhan's daughter Lakshmanaa (Balarama had to bail him out) and finally, went cross dressed to Vishwamitra & Kanva, which caused the curse that destroyed the Yadavas.

Krishna explaining to Jambavati the esp capabilities of mothers was funny, given that Jambavati didn't seem to instill much of a sense of values in Samba.

Ddin't Krishna also have a hand in spoiling Samba, given that he was forever forgiving Samba's mistakes until his own patience ran out ?

Did Krishna ever run out of patience w/ Samba?  The latter's most egregious crime was posing as a pregnant woman to Vishwamitra & Kanva, and the entire clan getting cursed.  One would have thought that Krishna would have been riled @ his behavior - at least, Yudhisthir would, but in the MB at least, I didn't read of Krishna reacting to that.  Does SB or HV have anything about it?

Also, Samba abducting & marrying Lakshmanaa - was that a boon or a bane for the Pandavas?  On one hand, since Lakshmanaa couldn't marry any prince of any other kingdom not already allied to the Kauravas, that meant that Duryodhan was denied a matrimonial ally.  OTOH, had Lakshmanaa married someone already an ally of Duryodhan, like say the scions of Vinda/Anuvina, Sudakshina of Kambhoja or any other allies, Duryodhan would have had no claims to Krishna's allegiance.

When Arjun & Duryodhan visited Dwarka after Abhimanyu's marriage, their claims were different.  Arjun claimed Yadava support on basis of Subhadra (and arguably Kunti), while Duryodhan claimed it on basis of Samba.  Had Samba not married Lakshmanaa, Krishna would have been relatively free to unanimously join the Pandavas, and he and all his sons could have been combatants in the war.  But since Samba made the Kauravas their matrimonial allies, Krishna was forced to split his support.