Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata Read online

  Krishna’s life in the village of cowherds is described in the Harivamsa, the appendix to the Mahabharata and later elaborated in the Bhagavata Purana and the later Brahmavaivarta Purana, written in the 5th, 10th and 15th centuries respectively.

  The cow is the most sacred symbol in Hinduism. This may be taken literally as a legacy of the Vedic past when cows were the only means of livelihood. Or it may be taken symbolically to mean the earth. In Vishnu Purana, which narrates tales of Vishnu, the earth comes before God in the form of a cow, Go-mata, and seeks protection. He promises to be the cowherd of the earth, Go-pal. To ensure harmony between earth and human culture, Vishnu establishes the code of civilization known as dharma. Each time this code is broken, Vishnu descends on the earth as an avatar. The scriptures say that the greatest of these descents is that of Krishna. Krishna loves the cowherds and milkmaids and protects them from all calamities. The world he creates is how the world should be, full of affection, love and security.

  That the plough-yielding Balarama is also said to be an incarnation of Adi-Sesha, the serpent of Time, on which Vishnu reclines, further reiterates the close association between serpent-worshipping tribes and agriculture.

  Krishna’s entry clearly marks a shift in the Vedic mindset from the yagna-rituals aimed at pleasing distant sky-gods to puja-rituals aimed at pleasing earth-bound deities.

  Krishna is a cowherd-god while Balarama is a farmer-god. Krishna holds a cartwheel that is pulled by oxen and horses. Balarama holds a plough. In time, the cartwheel becomes the famous Sudarshan Chakra or discus of Vishnu and the plough becomes Vishnu’s club or gada known as Kaumodaki.

  34

  Return to Mathura

  Every night, outside the village, in the forest, on the banks of the Yamuna, in a meadow known as Madhuvan that was full of fragrant flowers, Krishna would stand and play the flute. All the milkmaids would leave their homes while the rest of the family slept, and come to this meadow to dance around Krishna. This was their secret pleasure. Neither the darkness of the night nor the creatures of the forest frightened them. They felt secure and loved in the company of Krishna.

  Krishna had once stolen their clothes when they were bathing and had forced them to come out of the water naked. They had done so with great embarrassment but then, in his eyes, they saw no lust, only affection, a complete appreciation of who they were, not their external forms, not their flesh or their ornaments or their looks or their clothes, but their hearts. He loved them with all their imperfections. It was a feeling the gopis had never experienced before.

  In Madhuvan, Krishna danced with all of them. If they became possessive and demanded exclusive attention, he disappeared completely, filling them with great misery and longing. They realized that bliss comes when love is shared with all.

  This wonderful relationship of Krishna with the milkmaids came to an end when Kansa sent a chariot to Vrindavan ordering Krishna to come to Mathura and participate in a wrestling competition. Nanda had no choice but to let Krishna go. But he insisted Balarama accompany him.

  The gopis and gopas of Vrindavan beat their chests in grief. They wept and threw themselves on the path of the chariot, trying to stop the boys from leaving, for they knew that life in the village without their beloved Krishna would never be the same again.

  No sooner did Krishna enter the city of Mathura than he won the hearts of the Yadavas with his strength and beauty. Fearlessly, Krishna killed Kansa’s washerman who had showered abuse on him. He then broke the royal bow on display and subdued the royal elephant who tried to block his path to the arena. Krishna and Balarama then defeated all the wrestlers of Mathura, including the champions. The audience cheered the two cowherds making Kansa angrier than ever. Kansa ordered that Krishna and all those who had cheered him be killed. In response, Krishna pounced on Kansa and smote him to death.

  That Krishna had a dark complexion and an opposition to Vedic yagnas has led to speculation that he was perhaps a deity of non-Vedic animal-herding communities.

  Metaphysically, Krishna’s dark complexion aligns with his world-affirming nature (he absorbs all colours) while Balarama’s fair complexion aligns with his world-renouncing nature (reflects all colours back). Between them is their little sister, Subhadra, born to Devaki after Krishna, who like Draupadi, is considered a form of the earth-goddess.

  The story of Krishna stealing clothes of women needs to be compared and contrasted with the disrobing of Draupadi which occurs later in the epic. In both, women are deprived of clothes but while there is romance and joyousness in Krishna’s teasing of the gopis, there is humiliation and horror in Draupadi’s tale. Ultimately, it is not about behaviour alone; it is about intent.

  In the temple folklore of Puri, Orissa, it is said that the daughter of Yashoda who had been sacrificed to save Krishna was reborn through the pit of fire in Drupada’s palace. This made Draupadi Krishna’s sister. Krishna left his village to rescue her. He had promised to return after destroying Kansa but then he had to destroy the Kauravas. He is still destroying the unrighteous rulers of the earth, unable to keep Friendship his promise to the gopis. Each year, at the height of summer, devotees celebrate the chariot-festival in Puri where images of Krishna, his brother Balarama and his sister Subhadra are taken out in a grand procession to remind God to return to his beloved Radha who waits for him in Madhuvan.

  Of all the milkmaids who were dear to Krishna, there was one Radha who was dearer to him than most. Her name is not found in the early Puranas such as the Bhagavata, but is found in later Puranas like the Brahmavaivarta. In Jayadeva’s Sanskrit ballad, written in the 12th century CE, Gita Govinda, the relationship of Radha and Krishna that takes place in secret, at night, outside the village, is at once clandestine, erotic and spiritually sublime. In time, Radha became a goddess in her own right, the symbol of sacrifice, surrender and unconditional love.

  35

  Migration to Dwaraka

  Having killed Kansa, Krishna was hailed as the liberator of the Yadavas. His true identity as the son of Vasudeva and Devaki was revealed. This marked the end of Krishna’s days as a cowherd. He was recognized as a Kshatriya, a descendant of Yadu.

  After being educated in the ways of warriors by Sandipani, Krishna was accepted as a member of the ruling Yadava council which had been restored soon after Kansa’s death.

  Not every one accepted Krishna as a true Yadava though. When a Yadava called Prasenajit got killed while hunting and the jewel called Syamantaka that he wore round his neck went missing, many accused Krishna of stealing it. For was he not known as the thief of butter and the thief of hearts by the gopas and gopis of Vrindavan?

  Krishna managed to prove that Prasenajit had been killed by a lion and that the jewel had been stolen by a bear. To make amends, Prasenajit’s brother, Surajit, gave his daughter, Satyabhama, in marriage to Krishna, a marriage that consolidated Krishna’s position in the Yadava council.

  But all was not well.

  Jarasandha, king of Magadha, was incensed that rather than punishing the cowherd who had murdered his son-in-law, the Yadavas had accepted him into their fold by giving him one of their daughters. He ordered his army to launch an attack on Mathura and raze it to the ground. Jarasandha’s army attacked Mathura seventeen times. Each time, Krishna and Balarama defended the city valiantly and led the Yadavas to victory.

  But the eighteenth time, Jarasandha’s army was led by one Kalayavan who was destined to destroy the city of Mathura.

  Realizing that discretion is the better part of valour, Krishna organized for all the Yadavas, including himself, to slip out of Mathura while the city was set ablaze by Jarasandha’s soldiers. This act of withdrawal earned Krishna the title of Ranchor-rai, the deserter.

  Krishna and the Yadavas moved west, away from the river-fed plains, across the desert and mountains, towards the sea. They finally reached the island of Dwaraka.

  Dwaraka was ruled by one Revata. Long ago, he had gone to the abode of Brahma, father of all living creat