Pandu, the noble king, took Kunti as his wife. Through the blessings of Dharma, Vayu, and Indra, she bore three illustrious sons: Yudhishthira, Bhimasena, and Arjuna. Yet, even before her marriage, by the radiance of a divine being, she had given birth to Karna, known as a Kānīna, whose destiny was extraordinary. Kunti’s co-wife was Madri, and in her, through the twin Ashvins, Nakula and Sahadeva were born, completing the five sons of Pandu. Elsewhere, Shrutadeva was married to Vriddhadharma, the king of Karusha, and she bore the mighty asura Dantavakra. Shrutakirti, another noble lady, was wed to the king of Kekaya, and in her, five sons of Kekaya were born, beginning with Santardana. From Rajadhidevi, the Avanti princes Vindya and Anuvindya came forth. Shrutashrava was married to the Chedi king Damaghosha, and she bore Shishupala. This Shishupala, in a previous birth, had been the noble and powerful Hiranyakashipu, the foremost among the Daityas. He had been slain by the Lord, the teacher of all worlds, who took the form of Narasimha for this purpose. Once again, endowed with inexhaustible strength, heroism, prosperity, and valor, possessing the powers of all the lords of the three worlds, Hiranyakashipu was reborn as Dashanana, the mighty Ravana. He enjoyed many ages, but eventually fell in battle at the hands of the Lord in the form of Raghava, and thus attained the fruit of his accumulated merit. Yet again, he was born as Shishupala, the son of Damaghosha, king of Chedi. As Shishupala, he developed intense enmity toward the Lord, who had descended as Pundarikanayana to relieve the earth’s burden. Ultimately, by the Blessed Lord, Shishupala met his end, and through single-pointed concentration of mind upon the Supreme Self, he attained union with Him. When the Blessed Lord is pleased, He grants whatever is desired; even when confronting an enemy and slaying him, He bestows a divine and incomparable state. Maitreya, filled with curiosity, asked: “In the forms of Hiranyakashipu and Ravana, though slain by Vishnu, he obtained enjoyments not attained even by the immortals. Yet, being slain by Him, he did not attain dissolution then; how did he, as Shishupala, finally obtain eternal union with Hari? Please tell me, O best of those upholding dharma.” Sri Parashara replied: “For the destruction of the lord of the Daityas, the Supreme Lord first manifested as Narasimha, a form that creates, sustains, and dissolves the worlds. But Hiranyakashipu did not recognize this as Vishnu; he thought, ‘This being has arisen from an unsurpassed accumulation of merit.’ With a mind made one-pointed by the surge of passion, and through the practice of that contemplation, he attained, in the form of Dashanana, a state of supreme enjoyment and prosperity affecting all the three worlds, as a result of the cause of his death. But his mind did not attain dissolution in the Lord, who is the beginningless and endless Supreme Brahman, unattached to all. Thus, even as Dashanana, subject to the sway of desire and attached to Janaki, when slain by the Lord in the form of the son of Dasaratha, his perception was only of that form; there was no attachment to the imperishable one—his mind was overcome by merely human understanding. Again, as the fruit of falling by the hand of the Imperishable, he was born in the illustrious royal line of Cedi, praised throughout the world, and as Shishupala, he enjoyed unobstructed sovereignty. There, indeed, he became the cause of the utterance of all the Lord’s names. Then, due to the enmity accumulated over many births, ever increasing, his mind was bound to reviling and threatening the Lord’s names, and he uttered them constantly in censure and anger, as was his habit from previous times. And that form—resplendent, with eyes like fully blossomed lotus petals, adorned with brilliant yellow garments, a spotless crown, armlets, necklaces, bracelets, and so on, noble, four-armed, bearing conch, discus, and mace—because of his deeply rooted enmity, in all circumstances such as walking, eating, bathing, sitting, lying down, and others, his mind did not turn elsewhere. Thus, constantly uttering the Lord’s name in abuse, yet holding Him in his heart, as long as he lived, Shishupala beheld the Lord—brilliant, with rays from the discus in His hand, of inexhaustible splendor, the embodiment of Brahman, free from faults such as enmity—when the Lord appeared before him for his own destruction. Then, swiftly slain by the Lord’s discus, all his accumulated sins burned away by remembrance of the Lord, Shishupala was brought to the Lord and there attained dissolution. All this I have declared to you. Indeed, when this Blessed Lord is praised or even remembered, even if with feelings of enmity, He grants all the exceedingly rare rewards that are difficult for gods and demons to obtain—how much more so for one who possesses true devotion! Now, Vasudeva, son of Anakadundubhi, had many wives, chief among whom were Devaki, Rohini, Madira, Bhadra, and others. From Rohini, Vasudeva begot sons such as Balabhadra, Shatha, Sarana, Durmada, and others. Baladeva, too, through Revati, begot two sons: Vishatha and Ulmuka. Thus, the noble lineages and destinies unfolded, shaped by the will and grace of the Blessed Lord.