Bhadra () is one of the ''

Ashtabharya The Ashtabharya or Ashta-bharya(s) is the group of eight principal queen-consorts of Hindu god Krishna, the king of Dvaraka in the Dvapara Yuga (epoch). The most popular list, found in the ''Bhagavata Purana'', includes: Rukmini, Satyabhama, Ja ...

'', the eight principal queen-consorts of

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

god

Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one ...

, according to the scripture ''

Bhagavata Purana The ''Bhagavata Purana'' ( sa, भागवतपुराण; ), also known as the ''Srimad Bhagavatam'', ''Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana'' or simply ''Bhagavata'', is one of Hinduism's eighteen great Puranas (''Mahapuranas''). Composed in S ...

.'' The ''Bhagavata Purana'' regards her as being the eighth wife of Krishna; sometimes she is described as the seventh wife. The ''

Vishnu Purana The Vishnu Purana ( IAST:, sa, विष्णुपुराण) is one of the eighteen Mahapuranas, a genre of ancient and medieval texts of Hinduism. It is an important Pancharatra text in the Vaishnavism literature corpus. The manusc ...

'' and the '' Harivamsa'' do not name Bhadra at all in the list of the Ashtabharya, but refer to her as 'the daughter of Dhrishtaketu' or 'the princess of Kekeya'.

Legend

The ''Bhagavata Purana'' gives her the epithet Kaikeyi, the princess of the Kaikeya kingdom. She was the daughter of King Dhrishtaketu and his wife Shrutakirti, the sister of Kunti and the sister (or cousin) of

Vasudeva According to Hindu scriptures, Vasudeva (Sanskrit: वसुदेव, IAST: ''Vasudeva''), also called Anakadundubhi, (''anakas'' and ''dundubhis'' both refer to ''drums'', after the musicians who played these instruments at the time of his ...

(Krishna's father) and thus Krishna's cousin. Bhadra's five brothers headed by the eldest prince Santardana married Bhadra to Krishna. In another text, she is described to have chosen Krishna as her husband in a '' Svayamvara'' ceremony, in which a bride chooses a groom from assembled suitors. Krishna and his queens once visited Hastinapura to meets Kunti, her sons the

Pandavas The Pandavas (Sanskrit: पाण्डव, IAST: Pāṇḍava) refers to the five legendary brothers— Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva—who are the central characters of the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata''. They are acknowledge ...

and Pandavas's common wife Draupadi. As directed by Kunti, Draupadi worships and honours Bhadra and other queens with gifts. Bhadra also narrates to Draupadi how she married Krishna. According to the ''Bhagavata Purana'', Bhadra had ten sons, namely Sangramajit, Brihatsena, Shura, Praharana, Arijit, Jaya, Subhadra, Vama, Ayur, and Satyaka. The ''

Mausala Parva Mausala Parva ( sa, मौसल पर्व, lit=Book of Clubs) is the sixteenth of eighteen books of the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata''. It traditionally has nine chapters.Ganguli, K.M. (1883-1896)Mausala Parva in ''The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwai ...

'' of the Hindu epic ''

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the s ...

'' which describes the death of Krishna and end of his race and the ''Bhagavata Purana'' records the wailing of Bhadra and other seven chief queens and her subsequent leap in Krishna's funeral pyre immolating themselves (see ''

sati Sati or SATI may refer to: Entertainment * ''Sati'' (film), a 1989 Bengali film by Aparna Sen and starring Shabana Azmi * ''Sati'' (novel), a 1990 novel by Christopher Pike *Sati (singer) (born 1976), Lithuanian singer *Sati, a character in ''Th ...

''). While ''Bhagavata Purana'' says all queens committed

, the ''Mahabharata'' mentions only four, including Bhadra.

In popular culture

A book titled ''Bhadra Kalyanam'' (meaning: a marriage of Bhadra) was written in

Telugu language Telugu (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken by Telugu people predominantly living in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where it is also the official language. It is the most widely spoken member of the Dravidian language fam ...

by Dr.K.V.KrishnaKumari. She dedicated this book to

Satya Sai Baba Sathya Sai Baba (born Ratnakaram Sathyanarayana Raju; 23 November 192624 April 2011) was an Indian guru. At the age of fourteen he claimed that he was the reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba, and left his home to serve his devotees. Sai Baba's b ...

on his 80th birthday. In this book, she describes Bhadra as

Mahalakshmi Lakshmi (; , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism. She is the goddess of wealth, fortune, power, beauty, fertility and prosperity, and associated with '' Maya'' ("Illusion"). Al ...

(wife of Vishnu) and her marriage with Krishna, as his seventh wife, as "the confluence of beauty, devotion and love”.

References

{{Reflist Consorts of Krishna Characters in the Bhagavata Purana