The Shukla paksha Dwadashi tithi, in the auspicious month of Vaishakh, is the holy appearance day of Srimati Rukmini Devi, the eternal consort of Lord Sri Krishna. She is the foremost among Lord Krisna’s 16,108 wives in Sri Dwarika Dham. Here Lord Krishna performs His eternal pastimes as Dwarakadheesh.

Just as Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva, Rukmini is the supreme goddess of fortune, Maha-Laksmi. According to the authority of Caitanya-caritamrta, the expansion of Krsna and Srimati Radharani is simultaneous; Krsna expands Himself into various Visnu-tattva forms, and Srimati Radharani expands Herself into various Sakti-tattva forms by Her internal potency, as multi-forms of the goddess of fortune.

Srimati Rukmini Devi is extremely devoted and submissive to her husband Sri Krishna and is the epitome of Swakiya rasa.

Story of Lord Krishna’s marriage with Mother Rukmini

The King of Vidarbha, Maharaja Bhismaka, was very qualified and a great devotee. He had five sons eldest being Rukmi and one daughter by the name Rukmini. She was very beautiful and chaste. Many saintly persons and sages like Narada Muni and others used to visit the palace of King Bhismaka. Naturally, Rukmini had a chance to talk with them, and in this way, she obtained information about Krsna. She was informed about the six opulences of Krsna, and simply by hearing about Him, she desired to surrender herself to His lotus feet and become His wife. Krsna had also

heard of Rukmini. She was the reservoir of all transcendental qualities: intelligence, liberal-mindedness, exquisite beauty, and righteous behaviour. Krsna, therefore, decided that she was fit to be His wife.

Other than Rukmi, all Rukmini’s family members and well-wishers, including her father, favoured her match with Krishna. And Rukmini, Krishna’s eternal consort, could not think of marrying anyone else. Later, she told Krishna that only a woman who had not relished the fragrance of the honey of His lotus feet could accept someone else as her husband or lover. Any other suitor would be a “living corpse”—a bag covered with skin, whiskers, nails, and hair and filled with flesh, bones, blood, stool, mucus, bile, and air. “The aroma of Your lotus feet,” she averred, “which is glorified by great saints, awards people liberation, and is the abode of Goddess Laksmi. What woman would take shelter from any other man after savoring that aroma? Since You are the abode of transcendental qualities, what mortal woman with the insight to distinguish her own true interest would disregard that fragrance and depend instead on someone who is always subject to terrible fear?” She insisted that she would depend only on Krishna, who has an eternal, blissful, spiritual form.

Rukmini, in a bold move, sent a message to Krishna through a trustworthy brahmana, expressing her heart’s desire to have only Him as her husband and suggesting how He could kidnap her.

She wrote in her letter that it was the custom of her family to visit the temple of the goddess Durga, their family deity, before a marriage. Rukmini suggested that it would be easiest for Him to kidnap her while she was either going from the palace to the temple or else while she was returning home.

Rukmini was so beautiful and attractive that not only Sisupala but many kings and princes desired her.

Excepting her request, Sri Krishna went and kidnapped her and excepted her as His wife. Lord Balaram also went after Krishna when he got news of the happenings and he fought the battle with Jarasandha and Shishupal while Krishna was kidnapping Rukmini. At Rukmini’s request, Rukmi, who had followed the chariot of Krishna, was spared from being killed by Krishna. After the fight that ensued between them when Rukmi caught up with Krishna’s chariot, as a punishment, Sri Krishna shaved His head and left him to live with the dishonour of being defeated. Taking His newly wedded bride back to Dwaraka, where the residents of the place welcomed them with a grand festival to celebrate the occasion, Rukmini Devi went on to be Krishna’s most prominent wife and the mother of Pradyumna and 9 other sons and 1 daughter. There are many other pastimes as well, that extol her transcendental qualities.

Qualities of Rukmini Devi

1. Ruciraananaam – whose face is charming

2. Hriyaa, vriidaa – shy

3. Sati – exalted, of saintly character

4. Buddhi – possessing intelligence

5. Lakshana – possessing auspicious bodily markings

6. Audaarya – magnanimous

7. Shiela – of proper behavior

8. Sadrshim bhaaryaa- an ideal wife

9. Deviim – the divine goddess

10. Asitaapaangii – dark-eyed

11. Mohiniim – enchanting

12. Mahatii – aristocratic

13. Dhiiraa – sober-minded

14. Kulavatii – of good family

15. Laksanaabhijn~aa – an expert knower of bodily symptoms

16. Aaraadhito – having rendered devotional service

17. Mat-paraam, aatmaarpitaS – dedicated exclusively to Krishna

18. Anavadyaangiim, Sobhaam – of flawless beauty

19. Sucismitaa – sweetly smiling

20. Varaaroha – of lovely hips

21. Bimba-phala-adhara – glowing bimba red lips

22. Syaamaa – firm breasts

23. Calantiim kalahamsa – walking with the motions of a royal swan

24. su madhyamam – who has a thin waist

25. Govinda-hrtamaanasaa – whose mind is stolen by Krishna

26. Gunasrayaam – a repository of all other good qualities