Words were then heard from heaven which said that it was Balarama who was in the right. Although Rukmi had not verbally accepted the bet, his throwing of the dice meant that the bet was acceptable to him.

This roused Balarama’s anger and he picked up a dice and killed Rukmi with it. He also caught hold of the king of Kalinga and broke off the king’s teeth. It was with these teeth that the king of Kalinga had laughed at Balarama. Many were the other kings whom Balarama killed on this occasion.