हतं दृष्ट्वा तु शैनेयं पुत्रं च यदुनन्दनः ॥
एरकाणां तदा मुष्टिं कोपाज् जग्राह केशवः ॥
तद् अभून् मुसलं घोरं वज्रकल्पम् अयोमयम् ॥
जघान तेन कृष्णस् तान् ये ऽस्य प्रमुखतो ऽभवन् ॥
ततो ऽन्धकाश् च भोजाश् च शैनेया वृष्णयस् तथा ॥
जघ्नुर् अन्योन्यम् आक्रन्दे मुसलैः कालचोदिताः ॥
यस् तेषाम् एरकां कश् चिज् जग्राह रुषितो नृप ॥
वज्रभूतेव सा राजन्न् अदृश्यत तदा विभो ॥
तृणं च मुसलीभूतम् अपि तत्र व्यदृश्यत ॥
ब्रह्मदण्डकृतं सर्वम् इति तद् विद्धि पार्थिव ॥
आविध्याविध्य ते राजन् प्रक्षिपन्ति स्म यत् तृणम् ॥
तद् वज्रभूतं मुसलं व्यदृश्यत तदा दृढम् ॥
hataṃ dṛṣṭvā tu śaineyaṃ putraṃ ca yadunandanaḥ ||
erakāṇāṃ tadā muṣṭiṃ kopāj jagrāha keśavaḥ ||
tad abhūn musalaṃ ghoraṃ vajrakalpam ayomayam ||
jaghāna tena kṛṣṇas tān ye 'sya pramukhato 'bhavan ||
tato 'ndhakāś ca bhojāś ca śaineyā vṛṣṇayas tathā ||
jaghnur anyonyam ākrande musalaiḥ kālacoditāḥ ||
yas teṣām erakāṃ kaś cij jagrāha ruṣito nṛpa ||
vajrabhūteva sā rājann adṛśyata tadā vibho ||
tṛṇaṃ ca musalībhūtam api tatra vyadṛśyata ||
brahmadaṇḍakṛtaṃ sarvam iti tad viddhi pārthiva ||
āvidhyāvidhya te rājan prakṣipanti sma yat tṛṇam ||
tad vajrabhūtaṃ musalaṃ vyadṛśyata tadā dṛḍham ||
Seeing Śaineya slain, and his son — the joy of the Yadus — Keśava in wrath seized a handful of erakā grass. That became a terrible club of iron, like a vajra; with it Krishna struck down those who stood before him. Then the Andhakas and Bhojas, the Śaineyas and Vrishnis, struck one another in the battle with clubs, impelled by time. Whoever among them, enraged, seized the erakā grass, O king, it appeared as though become a vajra, O lord. And the grass becoming a club was likewise seen there — all of this wrought by the staff of the brāhmaṇa, know it thus, O sovereign. Swinging and swinging, O king, whatever grass they hurled appeared as a solid club become a vajra.
6db1c1a0c197 · published Jun 21, 2026, 1:15:00 AM UTC
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The curse fulfils itself to the letter: the iron ground to dust, which sprouted as erakā grass on the shore, becomes deadly clubs in the hands of the doomed. Even the most trivial thing — a blade of grass — becomes a vajra, for "all is wrought by the staff of the brāhmaṇa": what is foreordained finds its fulfilment through the most negligible of means. Thus is revealed the inexorability of the word of the holy, and the futility of the king's attempt to cheat fate by pulverizing the iron club. What is ordained by the curse of the righteous comes to pass inescapably, and nature itself serves as its instrument, turning a blade of grass into a deadly vajra; the attempt to deflect the supreme will by human contrivance is vain, for the fate that is governed by Providence finds its way to fulfilment even through the very thing by which it was thought to be averted.