TeodoroGalvan6 at 22:01, 5 October 2025

2025-10-05T22:01:42Z

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{{short description|Father of Rukmini in Hinduism}}
{{Use Indian English|date=April 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Hindu
| image = Krishna as guest meet king of Vidarbha ( father of Rukmini ).jpg
| caption = Bhishmaka meets Krishna
| texts = [[Harivamsha]], [[Puranas]]
| children = [[Rukmi]] (son), [[Rukmini]] (daughter)
| region = [[Vidarbha]]
}}

'''Bhishmaka''' ({{Langx|sa|भीष्मक|translit=Bhīshmaka}}), also called '''Hiranyaroman''',<ref>{{Cite web |last=www.wisdomlib.org |date=2020-04-01 |title=Section CLIX [Mahabharata, English] |url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/the-mahabharata-mohan/d/doc375096.html |access-date=2022-08-15 |website=www.wisdomlib.org |language=en}}</ref> is the king of [[Vidarbha]] In [[Hinduism]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dowson |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u22JJclPaBUC&dq=bhishmaka+story&pg=PA54 |title=A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature |date=1879 |publisher=Trübner |pages=54 |language=en}}</ref> He is the father of [[Rukmini]], the chief wife of [[Krishna]] and an incarnation of the goddess [[Lakshmi]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bhandarkar |first=Ramkrishna Gopal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C5zKrCIBmBwC&dq=rukmini+chief+consort&pg=PA161 |title=Vaiṣṇavism, Ṡaivism and Minor Religious Systems |date=1987 |publisher=Asian Educational Services |isbn=978-81-206-0122-2 |pages=21 |language=en |quote="expressed a desire for as good a son as Rukmini, his chief consort, had."}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Dasa |first=Gopiparanadhana |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GcpGCgAAQBAJ&dq=rukmini+queen+of+dvaraka&pg=PT231 |title=Sri Brhad-bhagavatamrta: Volume One |date=2002-01-01 |publisher=The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust |isbn=978-91-7149-784-0 |pages=Verse 74 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Moor |first=Edward |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J_ri-gem1ssC&dq=bhishmaka+legend&pg=PA153 |title=The Hindu Panthwon |date=1998 |publisher=Laurier Books, Limited |isbn=978-81-7020-963-8 |pages=153 |language=en}}</ref>

==Legend==

=== Skanda Purana ===
The [[Skanda Purana]] describes Bhishmaka to be a wealthy and powerful monarch. At the time of the birth of Rukmini, the text describes a celestial voice instructing him to marry his daughter to a four-armed one ([[Chaturbhuja|Caturbhujā]]) who had been born on earth. After eight years, he betroths his daughter to [[Shishupala]] upon the insistence of the latter's father, Damaghosha, who tells him that Caturbhujā was an epithet of his son. His daughter Rukmini was against marriage and wished to marry her childhood love Krishna and send letter to him to take her away from her marriage. Krishna and [[Balarama]] are invited to her marriage ceremony by Bhishmaka, upon which Krishna elopes with his daughter and gets marriage like she wished.<ref>{{Cite web |last=www.wisdomlib.org |date=2020-10-22 |title=The Greatness of Rukmiṇī Tīrtha [Chapter 142] |url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/the-skanda-purana/d/doc425871.html |access-date=2022-12-28 |website=www.wisdomlib.org |language=en}}</ref>

=== Harivamsha ===
In the [[Harivamsa|Harivamsha]], when the king Bhishmaka's eldest son [[Rukmi]] chooses to marry his sister Rukmini off to suitors through a [[svayamvara]] ceremony, the king opposes Rukmi's decision, regarding it to be bad conduct on his part. When the king grants an audience to Krishna, he begs the god's forgiveness for this folly, upon which the latter agrees with his opinion, revealing that the bride was in fact Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity. He assures the king that this was no sin on his part. Bhishmaka offers many exultations of Krishna before the god's departure.<ref>{{Cite web |last=www.wisdomlib.org |date=2020-11-14 |title=Conversation between Krishna and Bhishmaka [Chapter 52] |url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/harivamsha-purana-dutt/d/doc485593.html |access-date=2022-08-15 |website=www.wisdomlib.org |language=en}}</ref>
[[File:Mola Ram - Shispul Arguing with Rukmini's Father, Bhishmaka, page from a Rukmini Manga - 1984.66 - Cleveland Museum of Art.tif|thumb|260x260px|Bhishmaka argues with Shishupala, Cleveland Museum of Art]]

=== Malinithan ===
A legend was implanted around [[Malinithan]] by [[Srimanta Sankardev]] in the 16th century, connecting the place to the mythological king of Bhishmaka (Lord of [[Vidarbha]]) of the epics.<ref>"Among many works of Śaṅkaradeva, the Rukmiṇiharaṇa, the poem of Rukmimi and Krishna, gained considerable popularity in the Sadiya area and influenced its regional identity construction. Rukmiṇī, in this poem, was a daughter of king Bhīṣmaka"{{harvcol|Shin|2020|p=55}}</ref> The association of the legend with the place led to a widespread renaming of the Eastern Assam and Eastern Arunachala Pradesh regions.<ref>"Considering the wide popularity of the Rukmiṇīharaṇa among the people, especially as the staged performance, it is not surprising that many toponyms of the area were derived from this Vaiṣṇava legend and the legendary places associated with Bhīṣmaka were reproduced in the local landscape. For instance, Vidarbha, the name of the country, once ruled by Bhīṣmaka according to the Epics and Purāṇas and perhaps identical with [[Berar Province|Behar]] in [[Maharashtra]], was applied to the area around Sadiya."{{harvcol|Shin|2020|p=56}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite journal|last1=Shin|first1=Jae-Eun|year=2020|title=Descending from demons, ascending to kshatriyas: Genealogical claims and political process in pre-modern Northeast India, The Chutiyas and the Dimasas|journal=The Indian Economic and Social History Review|volume=57|issue=1|pages=49–75|doi=10.1177/0019464619894134|s2cid=213213265}}

[[Category:Characters in the Bhagavata Purana]]
[[Category:Characters in the Mahabharata]]
[[Category:Kings in Indian mythology]]
[[Category:People related to Krishna]]
[[Category:Vidarbha]]

Bhishmaka - Revision history

TeodoroGalvan6 at 22:01, 5 October 2025