Bhagvat17- Killing of Jarasandha

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Jara bringing child Jarasandha

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the dual intention of freeing the Kings imprisoned by Jarasandha and also attending special Rajasuya ritual organized by Yudhishthira, Krishna and his entourage reaches Indraprastha. It would have taken several days for them to travel from western end of India to almost Northern end.

Yudhishthira was the King of Indraprastha. He was also Krishna’s cousin. Krishna first meets all his relatives in Indraprastha. He shows respect to his elders and embraces others younger to him. They discuss about the ritual planned by Yudhishthira. As I said earlier, that was a nice way of asserting supremacy over other kings and declaring oneself as the supreme ruler.

Yudhishthira had no intention to wage wars that could result in bloodshed. He and his four brothers managed to avoid war in most cases except in one case. The ruler of Magadha, namely Jarasandha was refusing to accept the supremacy of Yudhishthira. The only way was to liquidate him. But that would result in lot of bloodshed since Jarasandha was quite strong and had a vast army.

So, Krishna came up with an alternate plan. He wanted to somehow engage Jarasandha in a one to one combat without involving any army. Krishna knew very well Jarasandha’s mental makeup. He knew that Jarasandha was a very egoistic person who would do anything to satisfy his ego. Jarasandha, though very wicked, was a great patron of learned Brahmins.

So, Krishna along with Bhima and Arjuna disguised themselves as learned Brahmins and went to Jarasandha. By the way, Bhima was the immediate next brother of Yudhishthira and Arjuna was the next. Krishna and Arjuna were of the same age. Bhima was well versed in one to one combat and was considered to be a very strong person.

The trio reached Girivraja the capital city of Magadha – the kingdom of Jarasandha. They reached Jarasandha’s palace and sought an audience with him. Pretending as learned Brahmins, they begged Jarasandha to provide them whatever they wanted. Jarasandha was very generous and would never disappoint any seeker of alms. But these were no ordinary seekers, nor were they poor Brahmins. Their intention was something else.

Looking at the visitors, who were disguised as Brahmins, Jarasandha grew suspicious. The way these three looked, the way they spoke, the scars on their body, all indicated that these three must be some warriors or Kshatriyas and not any Brahmins. But still, he asked them what he could do for them and what they wanted from him.

Krishna understood that their disguise had failed to fool Jarasandha and there was no use pretending any further. So, he revealed their true identity. Krishna told Jarasandha the purpose for which they had come. They wanted to engage him in a one to one combat.

Jarasandha, though a bit puzzled by the trickery of Krishna, did not want to go back on his words. He cared a lot for his honor. He remembered how Kings of the yore sacrificed their lives just to keep their word. Even if he got killed in any such combat, he preferred it rather than being seen as a person who went back on his words.

Now Jarasandha had to choose any one of the three as his opponent. Jarasandha straight away rejected Krishna calling him a coward. He reminded Krishna how he had run away from Mathura to Dwarika unable to face him. He also rejected Arjuna since he felt that Arjuna was no match for him both in age as well as strength. That left only Bhima. Jarasandha chose Bhima as his opponent in the one to one combat.

Jarasandha and Bhima started fighting using their maces and sometimes wrestling. But even after days of fight, neither of them appeared to overpower the other. They seemed to be equals in strength and combat skills. Bhima was quite disappointed unable to subdue Jarasandha. He looked at Krishna for some suggestion.

Krishna just picked up a stick and split it into two halves. That was a hint to Bhima.

What exactly did Krishna mean by that gesture?

Apparently, Jarasandha had a strange past. His father had two wives. Both of them gave birth to a child at the same time. But unfortunately, the newborns were deformed in a strange way. One of them had only the right half of the body and the other had only the left half. Such children would rarely survive. So, Jarasandha’s father got the strange babies thrown in the forest leaving them to their fate.

Fortunately, a demoness by name Jara lived in that forest. She had special powers. She pitied on the two deformed kids abandoned by someone. She put together the two kids who were actually two halves of one body. She made the two halves into one. The child survived and came to be called Jarasandha – one who was put together by Jara.

Krishna was suggesting to Bhima to tear the body of Jarasandha vertically into two halves, the way he was before Jara joined the halves. That was the only way Jarasandha could have been killed. Bhima understood Krishna’s hint and he finally toppled Jarasandha and forcibly tore his body into two halves. That put an end to the tyrant Jarasandha which was long pending. Krishna had tried to avoid that death but it became inevitable since Jarasandha went on harassing people.

Krishna freed the Kings who were kept as hostages by Jarasandha. Krishna also installed the son of Jarasandha in his place as ruler of Magadha empire. One more hurdle in the path of Yudhishthira’s Rajasuya was thus eliminated.

Rajasuya is a special form of Soma ritual that I have discussed in my book “Unravelling the hidden mysteries of the Vedas”. As part of the ritual, one prominent King among the gathered Kings is honored. That is why it is called Raja Suya – Raja meaning King and Suya meaning ritual. Yudhishthira chose Krishna as the most fitting person for that honor.

All the assembled Kings fully endorsed Yudhishthira’s choice except Sisupala. It was the same Sisupala who had to forego Rukmini, the girl he wanted to marry, because of Krishna. Krishna had snatched his girl from him and Sisupala would use every opportunity to attack Krishna. Sisupala objected to the choice and even started attacking Krishna with abusive words. The assembled Kings did not like this act of Sisupala. Even the brothers of Yudhishthira surged to silence him. But Krishna held them back.

Finally, when Sisupala went beyond all limits, Krishna had to kill him. That was the end of Sisupala who was actually one of the two door keepers of the heaven in his previous life. He was cursed to take birth on earth as human being and a God hater. In this way Krishna relieved Sisupala of that curse and Sisupala returned to heaven.

Let us continue in the next episode.

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A series discussing story of Krishna, based on the Indian scripture Bhagavata Purana. © Dr. King, Swami Satyapriya 2022