HV 71.1
ते तु युक्त्वा रथवरं सर्व एवामितौजसः । कृष्णेन सहिताः प्राप्तास् तथा संकर्षणेन च । असासाद पुरीं रस्यां मथुरां कंसपालिताम् । विविशुः पूःप्रधानां वै काले रक्तदिवाकरे ॥
te tu yuktvā rathavaraṃ sarva evāmitaujasaḥ | kṛṣṇena sahitāḥ prāptās tathā saṃkarṣaṇena ca | asasāda purīṃ rasyāṃ mathurāṃ kaṃsapālitām | viviśuḥ pūḥpradhānāṃ vai kāle raktadivākare
Yoking the best chariot, all of unmeasured energy, with Kṛṣṇa and Saṃkarṣaṇa, they reached the delightful city Mathurā, guarded by Kaṃsa, and entered the city of many gates in the late, red-sun hour.
The Living Words
*Rasyāṃ mathurām*, 'delightful Mathurā' — the same city that Kaṃsa has made a place of fear is called 'delightful' by the scripture. *Kaṃsa-pālitām*, 'Kaṃsa-guarded', follows immediately. Both are true. *Pūḥ-pradhānām*, 'chief of cities, of many gates'. *Kāle rakta-divākare*, 'in the red-sun hour'.
The Heart of It
The Harivaṃśa's refusal to flatten its adjectives: Mathurā is simultaneously *rasyā* (delightful) and *kaṃsa-pālitā* (guarded by the tyrant). The city is what the god is about to enter; it is not reducible to its political state. The Varkari tradition's deep respect for cities, even contested ones — Pandharpur as *rasyā* regardless of which rulers have controlled it — is in this adjacency. The red-sun hour is the hour of the arrival. Jñāneśvar's Haripāṭh opens at *devāciye dvārīṃ*, at God's door; HV 71.1 is the scripture-moment where the god himself is the arriver at the door of the city.