śrī-śuka uvāca
indreṇa hṛta-chatreṇa
hṛta-kuṇḍala-bandhunā
hṛtāmarādri-sthānena
jñāpito bhauma-ceṣṭitam
sa-bhāryo garuḍārūḍhaḥ
prāg-jyotiṣa-puraḿ yayau
giri-durgaiḥ śastra-durgair
jalāgny-anila-durgamam
mura-pāśāyutair ghorair
dṛḍhaiḥ sarvata āvṛtam
sri-sukah uvaca -- Sukadeva Gosvami said; indrena -- by Lord Indra; hrita-chatrena -- who had suffered the theft of (Varuna's) umbrella; hrita-kundala -- the theft of the earrings; bandhuna -- of his relative (his mother Aditi); hrita -- and the theft; amara-adri -- on the mountain of the demigods (Mandara); sthanena -- of the special location (the recreational area at its peak, known as Mani-parvata); jnapitah -- informed; bhauma-ceshtitam -- of the activities of Bhauma; sa -- together with; bharyah -- His wife (Satyabhama); garuda-arudhah -- riding on the giant bird Garuda; prag-jyotisha-puram -- to the city of Pragjyotisha-pura, Bhauma's capital (still existing today as Tejpur in Assam); yayau -- He went; giri -- consisting of mountains; durgaih -- by fortifications; sastra -- consisting of weapons; durgaih -- by fortifications; jala -- of water; agni -- fire; anila -- and wind; durgamam -- made inaccessible by fortifications; mura-pasa -- by a dangerous wall of cables; ayutaih -- tens of thousands; ghoraih -- fearsome; dridhaih -- and strong; sarvatah -- on all sides; avritam -- surrounded.
Sukadeva Gosvami said: After Bhauma had stolen the earrings belonging to Indra's mother, along with Varuna's umbrella and the demigods' playground at the peak of Mandara mountain, Indra went to Lord Krishna and informed Him of these misdeeds. The Lord, taking His wife Satyabhama with Him, then rode on Garuda to Pragyotisha-pura, which was surrounded on all sides by fortifications consisting of hills, unmanned weapons, water, fire and wind, and by obstructions of mura-pasa wire.
The acaryas have explained in various plausible ways why Lord Krishna took His wife Satyabhama with Him. Srila Sridhara Svami begins by saying that the Lord wanted to give His adventurous wife a novel experience and thus took her to the scene of this extraordinary battle. Also, Lord Krishna had once granted the blessing to Bhumi, the earth-goddess, that He would not kill her demoniac son without her permission. Since Bhumi is an expansion of Satyabhama, the latter could authorize Krishna to do the needful with the unusually nasty Bhaumasura.
Finally, Satyabhama had been miffed when Narada Muni brought a celestial parijata flower to Queen Rukmini. To pacify Satyabhama, Lord Krishna had promised her, "I'll give you a whole tree of these flowers," and thus the Lord scheduled this procurement of a heavenly tree within His itinerary.
Even nowadays devoted husbands take their wives shopping, and thus Lord Krishna took Satyabhama to the heavenly planets to get a heavenly tree, as well as to retrieve the goods Bhaumasura had stolen and return them to their rightful owners.
Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti notes that in the heat of battle Queen Satyabhama would naturally become anxious for Lord Krishna's safety and pray for the battle to end. Thus she would readily give permission to Krishna to kill the son of her expansion, Bhumi.
