KILLING OF KANSA
Continuing with the divine tales of Sri Krishna, Lord Mahadeva told Parvati–When Kansa failed in his repeated attempts to kill Sri Krishna, he instructed ‘Akrura’ to invite both Krishna and Balaram to Mathura on the pretext of attending a ceremony called Dhanush-yagya. Kansa had planned to kill Sri Krishna by deceitful means.Akrura was a great devotee of Sri Krishna and was aware of Kansa’s evil intentions. But, he had no other option but to follow the command of his master-Kansa. So, Akrura went to Vraja where Sri Krishna and Balaram used to live.
Sri Krishna and Balaram were delighted to meet Akrura. After the formal exchange of pleasantaries, Krishna took Akrura to his home. Akrura conveyed the instructions of Kansa to Nanda and requested him to send both Sri Krishna and Balaram to Mathura. Akrura said–‘Sri Krishna is the incarnation of Lord Vishnu and Kansa will be killed by him.’Nanda and Yashoda were reluctant to send Sri Krishna to Mathura but Sri Krishna convinced them, Ultimately. Akrura returned to Mathura accompanied by Krishna and Balaram. The people of Vraja became sad when the time for Krishna’s departure to Mathura arrived.
When Akrura reached Mathura accompanied by Sri Krishna and Balaram it was already evening. Sri Krishna saw a dyer with colourful apparels going towards Kansa’s palace. Sri Krishna playfully demanded some set of clothes from that dyer which he refused to give. Sri Krishna was infuriated and slapped him so hard that he started vomiting blood. In a short time the dyer was dead. Sri Krishna and Balaram chose some beautiful set of clothes for themselves and proceeded towards the palace of Kansa. After sometime they met a crooked woman carrying ‘sandal-wood-paste’. Sri Krishna demanded some sandal wood paste from her, which she gave without any hesitation. Sri Krishna blessed that crooked woman as a result of which she was cured of her physical–deformity.
At last, both Sri Krishna and Balaram reached the oblation–site where ‘Dhanush-yagya’ was suppossed to be performed. Sri Krishna lifted the divine bow kept there and broke it into two pieces.When Kansa learnt that the divine bow had been broken, he ordered Chaanur to kill Krishna in a wrestling-bout. Kansa also fortified his palace by positioning wild elephants and mighty warriors at all the entrance-points.Sri Krishna and Balaram spent the night at the oblation-site. In the morning both of them proceeded towards the palace. Sri Krishna found an elephant named Kuvalyapeeda standing at the main entrance of the palace. He killed that ferocious elephant without much difficulty.
Sri Krishna and Balaram then entered the gymnasium where wrestling-bouts were supposed to take place. All the demons those who had witnessed Sri Krishna killing that huge elephant without any problem, became terrified and fled away from the gymnasium. Sri Krishna and Balaram entered the chamber of Kansa. Kansa became terrified and ordered his trusted lientenants–Chanur and Mushtik to kill Krishna.Chanur confronted Sri Krishna while Mushtik fought a duel with Balaram. Ultimately, both the demons were killed after a fierce duel. Now, Kansa was left all alone, Sri Krishna pulled Kansa from the throne where he was sitting and slapped him so hard that he fell down on the ground. The injury proved to be fatal and as a result Kansa died. Balaram also killed Kansa’s younger brother whose named was Sunama.
After killing Kansa, Krishna and Balaram went to meet their parents–Vasudev and Devaki. They also freed their maternal grandfather- Ugrasena who had been imprisioned by Kansa. At last they appointed Ugrasena as the king of Mathura.
JARASANDH
Jarasandh was the father-in-law of Kansa. When he learnt about Kansa’ death he surrounded Mathura with a huge army. Sri Krishna was well aware of Jarasandh’s might and bravery.
Sri Krishna and Balaram then entered the battlefied mounted on that divine chariot. A fierce battle was fought between Sri Krishna and Jarasandh’s army. Jarasandh covered Krishna chariot with his various weapons but Sri Krishna destroyed them with his ‘Chakra’. Sri Krishna then destroyed Jarasandh’s army by showering volley of arrows from his famous bow–Sharang. Seeing the death and destruction in his army, Jarasandh came forward to fight Balaram.
Balaram attacked Jarasandh with his dangerous weapon–Hala (plough) and destroyed his chariot. Jarasandh fell down on the ground and as Balaram was about to kill him Sri Krishna requested Balaram not to kill Jarasandh. After being defeated, Jarasandh sought the help of Kaalyan, who had a large army. Kaalyavan agreed to help Jarasandh and surrounded Mathura with his army.
Realizing that Mathura was no longer a safe place to live, Sri Krishna shifted the whole population of Mathura to Dwarka and went to fight Kaalyavan. The battle continued for a long period and after realizing that it was not easy to defeat his enemy, Sri Krishna, ran towards the cave where ‘Muchkund’ had been sleeping since many past eras. Muchkund was blessed with a boon according to which any person upon whom he put his glance after woking from his sleep would die. Krishna hid himself behind Muchkund. Kaalyavan, who was chasing Krishna, entered the cave and kicked Muchkund. Muchkund opened his eyes and saw Kaalyavan. Kaalyavan was burnt to ashes. This way, Sri Krishna was able to defeat his powerful enemy by his cleverness.
ABDUCTION OF RUKMINI
Lord Mahadeva told Parvati— When Jarasandh learnt about Kaalyavan’s death, he attacked Balaram to avenge his friend’s death. But, very soon he realized that it was beyond his capacity to defeat Balaram, so he retreated alongwith his army. Sri Krishna and Balaram returned to Dwarka.In course of time, Balaram married Revati–the daugher of Raivat. At that time, there ruled a king named Bheeshmak. He ruled over Vidarbha. He had a beautiful daughter named Rukmini. He also had many sons among whom Rukmi was prominent.
Rukmi wanted Rumini to get married to Shishupal much against her wishes. Rukmini being an incarnation of goddess laxmi rightly wanted o have Sri Krishna as her husband.Rukmini sent a message to Sri Krishna about her brother’s intention. Sri Krishna went to help her, accompanied by Balaram.Sri Krishna reached Vidarbha on the same day, Rukmini was supposed to marry Shishupal and abducted her to Dwarka. Jarasandh and Rukmi chased Krishna’s chariot but Balaram defeated Jarasandh while Sri Krishna fastened Rukmi with the chariot. Sri Krishna also shaved off Rukmi’s hair, which filled him with so much of shame that he decided not to return to Vidarbha.After reaching Dwarka, Sri Krishna married Rukmini on an auspicious day.
SRI KRISHNA’S QUEENS
Continuing with the divine tales of Sri Krishna, Lord Mahadeva told Parvati–Sri Krishna had 16 thousand queens among whom Satyabhama, Kalindi, Mitravinda, etc. were prominent.King Sattajit had a priceless diamond named–Syamantak, which he had presented to his younger brother–Prasena. Sri Krishna was fascinated by that diamond and demanded it from Prasena, which he refused to part with.
One day, Sri Krishna alongwith Prasena and other yadavas went into the forest for hunting. While chasing a deer, Prasena seceded from his group and was killed by a lion. The lion took the diamond and started playing with it. Incidentally, Jambavan–who had once fought along with Sri Ram against Ravana, saw the lion playing with the diamond. He killed that lion and took the diamond in his possession.
When Sri Krishna returned to Dwarka, he was surprised by a strange rumour, which pervaded the whole city. Some people suspected that Sri Krishna had killed Prasena for the diamond.Sri Krishna was very much distributed by this baseless rumour. To clear the doubts, he went into the forest accompanied by all the residents of Dwarka and showed the dead body of Prasena, which was still lying there. When people saw the mutilated corpse of Prasena, which bore marks of the lion’s claws and canines, they became convinced of Sri Krishna’s innocense.
While returning back to Dwarka, Sri Krishna saw an effulgent cave. Sri Krishna was very surprised and wanted to find out the source of light. He entered the cave and saw Prasena’s diamond hanging on top of a cradle, in which a child was lying. A woman was singing a lulaby so that the child falls asleep—‘The lion killed Prasena while Jambavan killed the lion and acquired this diamond from its possession. O child! Don’t cry as this priceless diamond belongs to your father.’Sri Krishna furiously blew his conch. Jambavan came out from the cave after listening to the sound of the conch. A fierce duel took place between them, which continued for ten days. At last, Jambavan realized that the person against whom he was fighting was none other than Sri Ram himself. Jambhavan then gave his daughter–Jambavati to Krishna in marriage and gave lot of wealth as dowry including that ‘Syamantak’ diamond. Bhadraraj had three daughters–Sulakshamana, Nagnajiti and Susheela. Sri Krishna had married all three of them in a ‘Swayamwara’. This way, Sri Krishna had altogether eight prominent queen consorts–Rukmini, Satyabhama, Kalindi, Mitravinda, Jambavati, Nagnajiti, Sulakshamana and Susheela.
There lived a mighty demon named Narakasur. He had defeated the deities and snatched the divine earrings of Aditi–the mother of deities. He had created an aerial city in which he lived alongwith other demons. The deities went to Sri Krishna and sought his help. Sri Krishna flew up in the sky mounted on the back of Garuda. Satyabhama was also accompanying him. Sri Krishna was amazed to see the well fortified palace of Narakasur. When the demons saw Srikrishna, they attacked him but Sri Krishna challenged them by blowin his conch. Narakasur came forward to fight Sri Krishna. A fierce battle took place in which Sri Krishna broke Narakasur’s bow with his arrows. Ultimately, Sri Krishna was successful in killing Narakasur.
Sri Krishna then returned the whole wealth to the deities, which Narakasur had looted from them. He also liberated sixteen thousand women whom Narakasur had imprisoned. After being liberated all the women accepted Sri Krishna as their husband.
ANIRUDHA MARRIES USHA
Lord Mahadeva continued with the divine tales of Sri Krishna–O Parvati! Sri Krishna had a son from Rukmini whose name was ‘Aniruddha’. Aniruddha was very brave and had killed a demon named Shambasur. There is an interesting tale how Aniruddha married Usha.
Once, Usha–the daughter of Bangur, saw a very handsome young man in her dreams. She was so infatuated by his handsome personality that she developed a deep desire of marrying him. When she woke up next morning, she expressed her desire to her companion–Chitralekha.Chitralekha was an accomplished painter. She drew a sketch of a handsome man as per the descriptions of Usha. When the painting was ready, Chitralekha revealed to Usha that the preson who she had seen in her dream was none other than Aniruddha.
Chitralekha had divine powers. She went to Dwarka and abducted Aniruddha while he was asleep. She then carried the sleeping Aniruddha and laid him on the bed of Usha.When Usha woke up, She was thrilled to see the man of her dreams. Aniruddha remained there for many days without Banasur being aware of his presence.One day, Banasur came to know about Aniruddhas’ presence. He became furious and imprisoned Aniruddha.Sage Narad informed Sri Krishna about Aniruddha’s imprisonment. Sri Krishna went to fight a battle against Banasur and release Aniruddha from his imprisonment. Although Sri Krishna was leading a large army and was accompanied by mighty warriors like Baldeva and Pradyumna yet he was aware that it was not easy to fight Banasur who had one thousand arms and whom Lord Shiva had vowed to protect.
A fierce battle commenced between the armies of Sri Krishna and Lord Shiva. But the battle remained indecisive for a long time. Meanwhile, Banasur came forward to fight against Sri Krishna.Very soon Sri Krishna severed all the thousand hands of Banasur with his ‘chakra’. Lord Shiva then requested Sri Krishna to spare Banasur’s life and said -‘Banasur has received the boon of immortality from me. Now, only you can protect the dignity of my boon given to him.’ Sri Krishna spared Banasur’s life. Banasur then agreed to marry his daughter to Aniruddha. This way Aniruddha married Usha with great fanfare.
