syamantaka-rift

Had reason to do a reading of the syamantakopAkhyAna from the harivaMsha. It causes rifts between many yadu-s including between kR^iShNa & balabhadra. The angered balabhadra goes away to the land of the videha-s after blasting kR^iShNa. It was there that he is said to have tutored the mighty kuru hero duryodhana in gadA-yuddha.

Finally, the syamantaka is handed to akrUra babhru who had cunningly taken it from satyabhAmA’s father even as kR^iShNa, balarAma& sAtyakI were making funerary offerings for their cousins, the pANDu-s, at vAraNAvata. satyabhAmA arrives at vAraNAvata on her chariot to inform them of his killing by akrUra’s ally shatadhanvan. I believe that place is not far from the archaeological site where the famous chariot-like cart indicating early Indo-Aryan presence/influence in India was recovered.