he concludes that Krishna has caused his death and starts a whispering campaign, accusing Krishna of making away with the jewel.  Krishna hears of the slander and at once decides to search for the missing man, recover the jewel and thus silence his accuser for ever.  As he goes through the forest, Krishna finds a cave where the dead lion is lying.  He enters it, grapples with the bear but is quickly recognized by the bear as Krishna himself.  The bear bows before him and begs him to accept his daughter Jambhavati in marriage.  He includes the jewel as part of the dowry.  Krishna marries the girl and returns.  Back at the court he upbraids Sattrajit for falsely accusing him.  ‘I did not take the jewel,’ he says.  ’The bear took it.  Now he has given the jewel to me and also his daughter.  Take back your jewel and be silent.’  Sattrajit is overwhelmed with shame and by way of amends gives Krishna his own daughter, Satyabhama.  Krishna marries her and Sattrajit begs him to take the jewel also.  Krishna refuses and the jewel remains with its owner.  A little later, Sattrajit is murdered and the jewel once again stolen.  The murderer thief is tracked down by Krishna and killed, but only after many delays is the jewel at last recovered from Akrura—­the leading Yadava who earlier in the story has acted first as Raja Kansa’s envoy to Krishna and later as Krishna’s envoy to Kunti.  Krishna orders him to return it to its owner, Sattrajit’s grandson.  Akrura places it at Krishna’s feet and Krishna gives it to Satyabhama.  The upshot, then, is that the slander is ended, the jewel is regained and in the process Krishna acquires two further wives.

These extra marriages, however, by no means end the tally of his consorts, for during a visit to his relatives, the Pandavas, now returned from exile and for the moment safely reinstalled in their kingdom, he sees a lovely girl, Kalindi, wandering in the forest.  She is the daughter of the sun and has been sent to dwell by a river until her appointed bridegroom, Krishna, arrives to claim her.  Krishna is delighted with her youth, places her in his chariot and on his return to Dwarka, celebrates their wedding.  A little later other girls are married to him, in many cases only after a fierce struggle with demons.  In this way, he obtains eight queens, at the same time advancing his prime purpose of ridding the world of demons.

At this point, the Purana embarks on an episode which, at first sight, appears to have very little to do with its main subject.  In fact, however, its relevance is great for, as a consequence, Krishna the prince acquires as many female companions as he had enjoyed as a youth.  The episode begins with Earth again appearing in heaven.  Having successfully engineered Krishna’s birth, she does special penance and again beseeches the supreme Trinity to grant her a boon.  This boon is a son who will never be equalled and who will never die.  Brahma, Vishnu and Siva agree to give her a son, Naraka, but