Å›rÄ«-Å›uka uvÄca
arjunas tÄ«rtha-yÄtrÄyÄá¹
paryaá¹ann avanÄ«á¹ prabhuḥ
gataḥ prabhÄsam aśṛṇon
mÄtuleyÄ«á¹ sa Ätmanaḥ
duryodhanÄya rÄmas tÄá¹
dÄsyatÄ«ti na cÄpare
tal-lipsuḥ sa yatir bhÅ«tvÄ
tri-daṇá¸Ä« dvÄrakÄm agÄt
Å›rÄ«-Å›ukaḥ uvÄca - Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ« said; arjunaḥ - Arjuna; tÄ«rtha - to holy places; yÄtrÄyÄm - while on pilgrimage; paryaá¹an - wandering; avanÄ«m - the earth; prabhuḥ - the great lord; gataḥ - having gone; prabhÄsam - to PrabhÄsa; aśṛṇot - heard; mÄtuleyÄ«m - uncle's daughter; saḥ - he; Ätmanaḥ - his; duryodhanÄya - to Duryodhana; rÄmaḥ - Lord BalarÄma; tÄm - her; dÄsyati - intends to give; iti - thus; na - not; ca - and; apare - anyone else; tat - her; lipsuḥ - desirous of obtaining; saḥ - he, Arjuna; yatiḥ - a sannyÄsÄ«; bhÅ«tvÄ - becoming; tri-daṇá¸Ä« - carrying a triple staff; dvÄrakÄm - to DvÄrakÄ; agÄt - went.
Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ« said: While traveling far and wide visiting various holy places of pilgrimage, Arjuna came to PrabhÄsa. There he heard that Lord BalarÄma intended to give his maternal cousin SubhadrÄ to Duryodhana in marriage, and that no one else approved of this plan. Arjuna wanted to marry her himself, so he disguised himself as a renunciant, complete with triple staff, and went to DvÄrakÄ.
Arjuna’s plan for obtaining SubhadrÄ as his wife may have seemed unconventional, but he was not acting without encouragement; in fact, Lord Kṛṣṇa was his prime co-conspirator. And in DvÄrakÄ, most of the members of the royal family, especially Vasudeva, were unhappy about giving their favorite daughter to Duryodhana.
