The Upside-Down King Read online

  From this day on, Krishna also came to be known as Murari.

  Narakasura

  Narakasura was the son of Hiranyaksha and a mighty asura with a big kingdom and enormous power. The capital of his kingdom was Pragjyotishpura (today’s Guwahati). He had a special weapon known as Vaishnavastra, and he used it against kings, commoners, gods and his subjects. He was notorious for his defeat of Indra. He had taken Indra’s royal accessories and his mother Aditi’s earrings.

  A revered astrologer once said to Narakasura, ‘If you imprison 16,000 women, you will become invincible.’

  Hearing this prediction, Narakasura immediately began kidnapping girls and imprisoning them. Whoever stood in his way was ruthlessly executed.

  Indra felt helpless, and knew that another onslaught would take place in the heavens and on earth if he did nothing. So he went to Krishna and asked for help.

  Krishna agreed to help, and his wife Satyabhama accompanied him. So Krishna travelled on his vehicle, Garuda, to Pragjyotishpura and blew his conch—to announce his presence to the helpless and to declare a war against his enemies.

  Narakasura sent many generals to fight Krishna, but they all failed. Krishna killed everyone, including Mura.

  Finally, Narakasura decided to fight Krishna himself. The two faced each other even as the battle around them continued. The face-off was fierce. At the end, Satyabhama wounded Narakasura using a bow and arrow, and Krishna took the opportunity to kill him. He had to use all his weapons to defeat Narakasura. This is the only avatar where Krishna used his weapons as well as those of Vishnu. He used the Sudarshan Chakra (which he received from Vishwakarma), Panchajanya (which he obtained from the Panchajana tribe), the mace Koumodiki, the sword Nandaka, and his bow and arrow Sharanga.

  As Krishna killed Narakasura, some of Narakasura’s blood splashed on to Krishna’s body.

  Bhagadatta, Narakasura’s son, rushed to his father. When Krishna saw him, he said, ‘I don’t want to make an enemy out of you, Bhagadatta, and I do not desire your kingdom. The only reason I killed your father is that he was harassing everybody around him. Do not follow in your father’s footsteps. I hope that you will rule justly and lead a good life.’

  Bhagadatta, who was filled with sorrow at his father’s death, realized the truth in Krishna’s words. He nodded.

  ‘Please release all the imprisoned women,’ said Krishna.

  Bhagadatta ordered his guards to release the imprisoned women.

  When the women saw Krishna, they said that they wanted to live in Dwarka so that they may always be near their saviour. Krishna readily agreed. Hence, Krishna is also known to be the protector of 16,000 women.

  Bhagadatta returned the earrings of Aditi, Indra’s mother, and Indra’s royal accessories. He also presented Indra a heavenly flowering tree called Parijata.

  At the end of the long day, Krishna took an oil bath to remove all the blood from his body.

  Later, Krishna returned to Dwarka with Satyabhama and the citizens of the city were ecstatic. It was the fourteenth day from Amavasya, a moonless night. In an effort to welcome the lord, they cleaned their houses, threw away the junk, whitewashed their homes and lit lamps in the early hours of the morning.

  Today, we celebrate this festival as Diwali. Just like the citizens of Dwarka, we clean our homes before Diwali and get rid of the things we do not need. We have an oil bath to indicate the cleansing of our bodies and souls. This festival signifies the welcoming of Lord Krishna after his victory against Narakasura and is one of the many stories behind this celebration.

  Visions of a Blind Grandmother

  Pradyumna was the first son of Lord Krishna and Rukmini.

  Sambasura, a powerful demon king, had a blind grandmother who could see visions of the past and the future. She was aware that he was looking for opportunities to harm Krishna.

  One day, she said to him, ‘My child, don’t fight with Krishna. If you continue down this path, you will lose your children and your life.’

  ‘But there’s no one in this world who can slay me. Tell me, who do you think can do so?’ Sambasura questioned her with arrogance.

  ‘Krishna’s son will be the one to kill you,’ said his grandmother with sadness.

  Sambasura knew then that his grandmother’s words could come true. So he hatched a plan to kill Pradyumna.

  Soon, he sent a few fierce demons to abduct the child and murder him. But none of them were successful.

  In the end, he decided to go himself. He journeyed to Dwarka and entered Krishna’s palace disguised as a woman with the help of his mayavi vidya.

  Within minutes, he abducted Pradyumna even as he was sleeping next to Rukmini, and flew off into the sky with the child. Up in the air, he realized that he could simply drop the baby into the ocean and let him drown. So he threw the child down with great force and returned to his kingdom.

  Back at his palace, Sambasura said to his grandmother, ‘Your vision is wrong this time. I have slayed Pradyumna and nobody can harm me now. I am immortal.’

  The grandmother was sure of her vision. She replied tersely, ‘I don’t think so, child. I have seen Pradyumna sparring with you, but it was only a vision and I do not understand all that I saw.’

  ‘O Grandmother, you are rather old now and your eyesight is failing you. Even your visions may not be what they appear to be,’ said Samba arrogantly, dismissing her with a wave of his hand.

  Meanwhile, the child who had fallen from the sky was swallowed by a fish in the ocean. When the fish grew big, some fishermen caught it. It was so big that the fishermen decided to take it to the king. ‘We are ordinary people and can’t handle this,’ they said to each other. ‘This fish appears to be extraordinary. We should give it to King Sambasura and perhaps he will give us a reward for our find.’

  When the fishermen presented the huge fish to the king, Sambasura was happy and rewarded them with gold coins.

  Queen Mayavati sent the fish to the royal chef. The chef and his wife, Banavati, had been longing for a child of their own for many years. Banavati was a secret devotee of Lord Vishnu. When she saw the gigantic fish, she said to her husband, ‘Let’s cut the fish carefully. I think there is something inside—perhaps gold or jewels. There is no other reason for a fish to grow to this size or shape.’

  When the couple sliced the fish, they found a cherubic baby inside its stomach. Banavati took it as a sign from the heavens—God had sent this baby for her—and she immediately adopted him as her own.

  After a few days, she carried the baby to Sambasura and asked for his blessings, without revealing where she had found him. Clueless Sambasura named the child Pradyumna.

  ‘Why have you named him so?’ somebody asked him in court.

  ‘With the slaying of baby Pradyumna, I have established my victory over Krishna. I want to name this baby Pradyumna too as a reminder of my victory.’

  Banavati loved the baby like her own, and Pradyumna grew up in the house of his enemy. Because of her knowledge of mayavi vidya, he grew up faster than normal into a handsome young man—and looked uncannily like Manmatha, the god of love, who had been killed as a result of Shiva’s anger. His wife, Rati, had been inconsolable then. Vishnu had felt sorry for her and said, ‘Don’t cry, Rati. Your husband will be born in Dvapara yuga again as a human in the form of Pradyumna in Dwarka. You should also take birth and another form so that you can marry him again.’

  Thus, Rati was born as the daughter of Rukmi, who was Rukmini’s brother. In this form, Rati was named Rukmavati.

  In time, Pradyumna became increasingly aware of his identity and the reason for his birth. He waged a fierce war against Sambasura, killed him with his unique weapon Vaishnavastra and went back to Dwarka. He was the constant companion of Krishna and was loved by all. He then married Rukmavati, who later gave birth to their son, Aniruddha.

  The Groom in a Dream

  Banasura, the son of King Bali, was a mighty asura who ruled over a large kingdom. He was a great devotee of