Verse Text
tatra rāgeṇa, yathā śrī-daśame–
śvo bhāvini tvam ajitodvahane vidarbhān
guptaḥ sametya pṛtanā-patibhiḥ parītaḥ |
nirmathya caidya-magadheśa-balaṁ prasahya
māṁ rākṣasena vidhinodvaha vīrya-śulkām ||169||
Translation
Cāpalya arising from attachment: O unconquerable one, tomorrow when my marriage ceremony is about to begin, You should arrive unseen in Vidarbha and surround Yourself with the leaders of Your army. Then crush the forces of Caidya and Magadhendra and marry me in the Rākṣasa style, winning me with Your valor. SB 10.52.41
Purport (Nectar of Devotion)
In the Tenth Canto, Fifty-second Chapter, verse 41, of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Rukmiṇī addresses Kṛṣṇa in a letter as follows: “My dear unconquerable Kṛṣṇa, my marriage day is fixed for tomorrow. I request that You come to the city of Vidarbha without advertising Yourself. Then have Your soldiers and commanders suddenly surround and defeat all the strength of the King of Magadha, and by thus adopting the methods of the demons, please kidnap and marry me.”
According to the Vedic system there are eight kinds of marriages, one of which is called rākṣasa-vivāha. Rākṣasa-vivāha refers to kidnapping a girl and marrying her by force. This is considered to be a demoniac method. When Rukmiṇī was going to be married to Śiśupāla by the choice of her elder brother, she wrote the above letter to Kṛṣṇa requesting Him to kidnap her. This is an instance of impudence in ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa.