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According to the Mahabharata, when Sisupala was born with three eyes and four hands, it was proclaimed that the person who caused them to disappear would be Sisupala's slayer. Since his mother Shrutashravas was Krsna's aunt, Krsna and Balarama too came to see their cousin. But as soon as Krsna placed Sisupala on his lap, the third eye and extra two hands disappeared. This must have happened when Krsna was twelve years or older.

Now later on, (in Srimad Bhagavatam), after constructing Dvaraka, Krsna marries Rukmini, who was betrothed to Sisupala. Here, unless the seventeen battles of Jarasandha took more than a decade, Sisupala couldn't have been more than ten years old. How then could he marry Rukmini? And if Rukmini was younger than Sisupala what was the age gap between Krsna and Rukmini?

To summarize: How older was Krsna to Rukmini and Sisupala and at what age did her marry Rukmini?

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    First of all, where does it say that the battles with Jarasandha started as soon as Krishna killed Kamsa? Second of all, what reason do you have to believe that the 17 battles happened within a decade? In any case, it wouldn't surprise me at all if Krishna and Rukmini had a big age difference. In those days men could marry relatively late in life, but girls usually married right when they hit puberty.
    – Keshav Srinivasan ♦
    Dec 14, 2015 at 15:32
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    @Keshav It need not be immediately after Kamsa's death. It could have been a while since he had to ammass his armies. But then maybe he would have begun his sieges when Krsna was 15 years max. So by that logic it does seem to stretch for more than a decade.
    – Surya
    Dec 14, 2015 at 15:52
  • @Keshav But how is it that Krsna wasn't married before this time? Like as soon as he was 15 Vasudeva would have begun bride hunting right?
    – Surya
    Dec 14, 2015 at 15:53
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    Well, in the Vedic period men would often wait until relatively late in life before getting married. Arjuna was 37 when he married Draupadi; see my answer here: hinduism.stackexchange.com/a/5172/36 And he was 56 when Abhimanyu was born.
    – Keshav Srinivasan ♦
    Dec 15, 2015 at 0:36
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    By the way, both the Manu Smriti and the Anushasana Parva of the Mahabharata suggest a rule of thumb that the groom be about three times the age of the bride.
    – Keshav Srinivasan ♦
    Dec 15, 2015 at 0:42

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