KNOW YOUR KRISHNA: J.K. SIVAN
Krishna, the king of Dwaraka, had many wives. One of them Rukmani's marriage with him involved an adventure. Krishna married Rukmini, the Vidarbha princess, by abducting her, at her request, saving her from the proposed wedding with Shishupala. He married eight queens—collectively called the Ashtabharya— Rukmini, Satyabhama, Jambavati, Kalindi, Mitravinda, Nagnajiti, Bhadra and Lakshmana.
Krishna subsequently married 16,000 or 16,100 maidens who were held captive by the demon Narakasura, to save their honour. Krishna killed the demon and released them all. According to social custom of the time, all of the captive women were degraded, and would be unable to marry, as they had been under the Narakasura's control. However Krishna married them to reinstate their status in the society.
This symbolic wedding with 16,100 abandoned daughters was more of a mass women rehabilitation. In Vaishnava traditions, Krishna's wives are forms of the goddess Lakshmi— consort of Vishnu, or special souls who attained this qualification after many lifetimes of austerity, while his two queens, Rukmani and Satyabhama, are expansions of Lakshmi.
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