Pradyumna was the son of Lord Krishna and Rukmini. He is considered as one of the four Vyuha Avatars of Lord Vishnu. According to some legends, Pradyumna was an incarnation of Lord Kamadeva, the God of Love. Pradyumna is the name of a character in the Srimad Bhagavatam.
Birth of Pradyumna
Pradyumna was son of Lord Krishna and 61st grandson of Adinarayan. His mother was Rukmini, whom Lord Krishna got from her father Bhimkashen Narayan and brother Bhimkaraya Rukmi. Pradyumna was born in Dwaraka. He was the incarnate of Lord Kamadeva. In Satya Yuga, Kamadeva became a barrier to Lord Shiva"s meditation and was burnt by Lord Shiva. Kamadeva"s distraught wife, Rati was then blessed and promised by Shiva that in their next birth Kamadeva will be a part of Krishna and Rati will be the daughter of Bhimkaraya Rukmi and that she will marry him.
Life of Pradyumna
When Pradyumna was a baby, he was abducted by the demon Sambara. He was then thrown into the sea and swallowed by a fish, but that fish was caught and carried to the house of Sambara. The fish was opened and the child was found inside. He was given to a woman in Sambara"s house to raise. Narada informed the woman about the true identity of the child.
When Pradyumna grew up, he battled the demon Sambara and killed him using the Vaishnavastra, the most powerful weapon in the universe. Soon after Pradyumna became a constant companion of his father Krishna and was well liked by the people of Dwaraka. Pradyumna was one of the very few people to know the secret of the Chakra Vyuha. According to Mahabharata, Pradyumna trained Abhimanyu and Upapandavas in warfare. But Pradyumna did not participate in the Kurukshetra War as he went on a pilgrimage with his uncle Balarama and other Yadavas. But he was an active participant in Ashwamedha Yagna which was later conducted by Yudishtir.
Pradyumna along with Arjuna and Krishna fought against the demon Nikumbha. Nikumbha hung Arjuna in the sky and he began to vomit blood. When Nikumbha"s head was cut off by Krishna, Arjuna began to fall down from the sky. Pradyumna held Arjuna and hence his life was saved. In accordance to Lord Shiva"s boon to Rati, he married her incarnation, Princess Mayavati, the Princess of Vidarbha and daughter of his maternal uncle, Bhimkaraya Rukmi. They had a son named Aniruddha and was considered a Vyuha Avatar of Vishnu. Pradyumna was later killed in an intoxicated brawl at Dwaraka that resulted in the death of most Yadava warriors.
