From the powdered remains of the iron seeds, mighty reeds sprang forth—hard as thunderbolts themselves. In the midst of this, a fish swallowed the last fragment of the fatal club, a piece no larger than a little finger. Later, a hunter caught that fish, discovered the piece of iron within its belly, and fashioned from it an arrowhead. One day, all the Yadavas—including Rāma, Kṛṣṇa, Pradyumna, and others—gathered together and drank the Varuṇī liquor, a potent brew sent by Indra. Intoxicated by its strength, they began to speak harshly, hurling insults at one another. Their quarrels escalated into a terrible fight, and in that frenzy, they destroyed each other. After the battle, weary and spent, Kṛṣṇa lay down beneath the shade of a wish-fulfilling tree. Meanwhile, a hunter, with bow and arrows in hand, assumed the role of a protector in the forest. Thus, all the Yadavas, having departed from their bodies, ascended to their respective divine realms. In this way, after the destruction wrought by the club, the one supreme Lord remained alone. Surrounded by the remnants of his army, Kṛṣṇa reclined beneath the great tree, contemplating his own true Self—Vāsudeva—arranged in the posture of a warrior, his knees upon the ground, prepared to relinquish his human form. At that moment, the hunter, moved by the irresistible force of time, saw the lotus-like foot of Hari—marked with the discus, thunderbolt, banner, and goad, and glowing red—and pierced it with his arrow. Instantly, realizing he had struck Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the hunter was seized by overwhelming fear. Trembling, he fell at Kṛṣṇa’s feet, hands joined in supplication, and begged, “Let all my offenses be forgiven.” Seeing the hunter so stricken, Śrī Kṛṣṇa gently raised him with hands full of nectar, comforting him with the words, “You have not committed an offense.” Kṛṣṇa soothed his fears and, in his boundless grace, granted the hunter entry to the eternal Vaishnava world—a realm attained only by yogis, eternal, non-returning, and composed of the essence of the Upanishads. At that very moment, Kṛṣṇa abandoned his human form. Together with all his sons and wives, he assumed a radiant Vaishnava form, shining with the light of the five Upanishads. Entering a divine celestial vehicle, he journeyed to the single golden realm of Vāsudeva, surrounded by celestial nymphs and glowing like a thousand suns. At this time, Dāruka mounted his chariot and approached Viṣṇu. Kṛṣṇa sent word, “Bring Arjuna, who is like myself, here as before.” Dāruka, swift as the mind, reached Arjuna and brought him to the Lord. Arjuna, together with the queens, mounted the chariot. Having performed the marriage rites, he bowed with joined hands and asked, “What shall I do?” Kṛṣṇa replied, “O Pārtha, I will go to my own world. You must go to Dvāravatī, bring my eight wives—Rukmiṇī and the others—who remain there, and send them to my body.” With Dāruka, Arjuna entered the city. Meanwhile, the gods and sages, gathered in celestial vehicles in the sky, beheld Kṛṣṇa’s ascent to heaven. They praised him and showered him with flowers. Kṛṣṇa, abandoning his human body—which was the cause of the world’s maintenance and destruction, the indwelling knower of all, the object of yogic meditation, free from affliction, and the very essence of Vāsudeva—mounted Garuḍa. Praised by the great sages, he departed for his supreme abode. Arjuna conveyed all that had happened to Vasudeva, Ugrasena, Rukmini, and the chief queens. Upon hearing this, all the citizens and women of Dvāravatī left their inner chambers. Together with Vasudeva, Ugrasena, and Kṛṣṇa’s beloveds, they hurried to Hari. One by one, Vasudeva, Ugrasena, Akrura, and all the elders of the Yadu clan relinquished their bodies and approached the eternal Vāsudeva. Revati, embracing the body of Balabhadra, entered the fire. Having attained her husband’s form, she ascended a divine aerial chariot and reached the abode of Śeṣa, the divine realm of Sankarṣaṇa. In the same way, Rukmaputri with Pradyumna, Uṣā with Aniruddha, and all the Yādava women, after honoring the bodies of their departed husbands, entered the fire. Arjuna performed the last rites for all of them. At that time, Dāruka arrived, driving a celestial chariot named Sugrīva, yoked with divine horses and adorned with every jewel. The Parijāta tree, the Sudharma assembly hall, and the city itself ascended to the world of the gods. Then, the city of Dvāravatī was swallowed by the great ocean. As Arjuna led the sixteen thousand wives of Kṛṣṇa toward Indraprastha, they were set upon by robbers. These women, who were once goddesses and Gandharva maidens, had in a previous birth laughed at the sage Ashtavakra and were cursed to become courtesans. Appeased and honored by them, the sage’s grace allowed them to attain Vasudeva as their husband, worshipped by all the worlds. Yet, by that same curse, they now fell into the hands of robbers. Arjuna, defeated and overwhelmed by grief, lamented, “My strength, my valor, all my majesty have departed with Kṛṣṇa; today, my fortune is exhausted.” Like the evening sun bereft of its rays, he returned to his own city, his radiance utterly gone. Thus, for the welfare of the gods and the destruction of the earth’s burden, Vasudeva descended in the Yadu line. He destroyed the great demons, removed the heavy load from the earth, and liberated all the residents—moving and unmoving—of Nanda’s Vraja, Dvāraka, and Mathurā from the bonds of time and death. He established them in the supreme, eternal, yogic, golden, and pure realm, ever attended by his divine queens, and there Vasudeva resides. All other descents are his; the wondrous deeds of Kṛṣṇa are for the destruction of the earth’s burden. The Lord of Lakṣmī appeared for this purpose. This account of Kṛṣṇa is a tale for the destruction of the wicked; Śrī Kṛṣṇa, ocean of compassion, ever rejoices in Vaikuṇṭha. O Devi, this most wondrous and auspicious account of Kṛṣṇa has been briefly told to you, and it bestows all fruits. Whoever recites, remembers, or hears with devotion the deeds of Vāsudeva in the presence of Hari attains the supreme state. Even one burdened with great or lesser sins, upon hearing the deeds of child Kṛṣṇa, is freed from all sins. Whoever remembers Hari, seated in Dvāraka with Rukmiṇī, surely attains great lordship—of this there is no doubt. In battle, in distress, or beset by enemies, one who meditates on the leader of all the gods will surely be victorious.