01Taken from Raivataka
During his twelve years away Arjuna came to Dwaraka, and at the Yadavas’ festival on Mount Raivataka he saw Krishna’s sister among her friends and could not look away. Krishna smiled and advised him: a svayamvara is uncertain, and for a kshatriya, carrying off a bride by force is honoured. With Yudhishthira’s consent sent by messenger, Arjuna took her up into his chariot as she returned from worship on the mountain. The Vrishnis roared for war, Balarama loudest of all, until Krishna persuaded them that no better husband could be found.
02Into Draupadi’s house
Arjuna feared Draupadi’s anger, so he sent Subhadra to her dressed as a cowherd woman, in a simple red silk. She bowed to Draupadi and said, I am your servant. Draupadi embraced her and blessed her: may your husband be without an enemy. Krishna came after with a wedding gift of chariots, horses, cattle and gold. Subhadra’s son was Abhimanyu, and during the exile she took him back to Dwaraka, where he grew up among his mother’s people, the Vrishni heroes.
03A mother and a grandmother
Abhimanyu died in the chakravyuha, sixteen years old by tradition, and Subhadra’s lament over him is among the most painful passages of the Drona Parva. Months later his widow Uttara gave birth to a stillborn son, struck in the womb by Ashvatthama’s weapon. Subhadra fell at Krishna’s feet and reminded him of his promise to revive the child, and he did. When the Pandavas set out on the great departure, Yudhishthira left the kingdom to that child, Parikshit, and asked Subhadra to guard him and Krishna’s great-grandson Vajra. At Puri she is worshipped between Jagannatha and Balabhadra, a temple tradition outside the Mahabharata.