Bhagwan Balarama

01Drawn from one womb to another

Balarama was Devaki’s seventh child. To save him from Kamsa, Yogamaya drew him from Devaki’s womb into that of Rohini, Vasudeva’s other wife, who lived in Gokul; that is why he is called Sankarshana, the one drawn out (Bhagavata Purana 10.2). He grew up beside Krishna among the cowherds, killed the asuras Dhenuka and Pralamba, and with Krishna went to Mathura to end Kamsa’s rule. He married Revati, daughter of King Kakudmi, and lived in Dwarka.

02Plough, mace and pilgrimage

With his plough he dragged the Yamuna to his side when she would not come, and in another katha pulled the city of Hastinapura toward the Ganga. He taught mace-fighting to both Bhima and Duryodhana. When the Kurukshetra war came, he would not fight his own pupils and went instead on a pilgrimage along the Sarasvati, returning only to see the last duel (Mahabharata, Shalya Parva). Farmers have honoured the haladhara for ages; Hal Shashthi in Bhadrapada and Balarama Jayanti on Shravan Purnima are his days.

03The ninth avatar

Jayadeva’s Dashavatara stotra in the Gita Govinda names, after Rama, the haladhara Balarama and then Buddha, and treats Krishna as the one who takes all ten forms. Many South Indian and Vaishnava traditions give Balarama the ninth place. Others, especially in the north, give it to Buddha. Both are honoured; the difference is of lists, not of devotion. At Baldeo near Mathura, the Dauji temple keeps him with Revati, and at Puri he rides first in the Rath Yatra on his chariot Taladhvaja.

In the texts

• Bhagavata Purana 10.2 and 10.65
• Mahabharata, Shalya Parva (tirtha yatra)
• Harivamsha
• Gita Govinda, Dashavatara stotra

Utsav: festivals