The Great Leelas and exploits of Lord Krishna

Shri Krishna is most famous and probably the most written about among the incarnations of Lord Vishnu. His stories are magical, inspiring and humane. He guided and accounted for Pandava’s victory in Mahabharata war. Here are some interesting and unknown facts about him.

He was born in a prison

Lord was born in Rohini Nakshatra as the eighth son of Devki and Vasudeva.Though Kamsa wanted him dead, on that night the prison doors opened and his father Vasudev took him to safety in Nand Village.

His gurudakshina to Sage Sandipani

Lord Krishna, along with his brother Balarama, went to study under the tutelage of Sage Sandipani, who was known for his knowledge and wisdom. Sage Sandipani’s teachings had a profound impact on Lord Krishna’s life, and he is said to have taught Lord Krishna the art of warfare, diplomacy, and the use of divine weapons. He brought back the son of his guru (teacher), Sandipani, who was dead. Thus he paid his Gurudakshina to Sage Sandipani.

Reunion with his six brothers

Many of us do not know that he also brought back the six sons of Devki (seventh and eighth being Balrama and himself) for a brief reunion. Names of these six sons are Smara, Udgitha, Parishvanga, Patanga, Kshudrabhrit and Ghrini.

These six sons were earlier grand sons of Hiranyakashyap and they were living under a curse.

Killing of Kansa

Kansa or Kamsa was Kalanemi in his earlier birth.  Kalanemi was killed by Lord Vishnu.  The six sons of Devki were Kalanemi sons in his previous birth and they were cursed by Hiranykashyap that they would be killed by their father. Hence Kansa, duly kills six sons of Devki in their next birth. The six sons of Kalanemi were known by the names of Hamsa, Suvikrama, Kratha, Damana, Ripurmardana and Krodhahanta.

Why did Lord Krishna laugh when Ghatotkacha died?

After Ghatotkacha’s death, Lord Krishna is said to have laughed, which puzzled many of the Pandavas and their allies. However, Lord Krishna’s laughter was not out of callousness or insensitivity towards Ghatotkacha’s death. Instead, he knew that Pandavas victory was assured and Dharma will win. The sacrifice of Bhima’s son will ensure the victory of Pandavas.

Gandhari’s curse

Gandhari’s curse to Lord served two purposes. In his earlier avatar as Lord Rama(incarnation), he killed Bali. He assured Tara (Bali’s widow) that Bali would be able to exact his revenge in his next birth. The hunter Jara was  Bali reborn, and in this life, he ended Shri Krishna’s stay on earth with a simple arrow. Thus Gandhari’ s curse and his assurance has been fulfilled.

Shri Krishna and his wives

Shri Krishna had a total of 16,108 wives, of which only eight were his princely wives, also known as Ashtabharya. Shri Krishna wife names are as following. Rukmini, Satyabhama, Jambavati, Nagnajiti, Kalindi, Mitravinda, Bhadra and Lakshmana.

His marriage to Rukmini

Rukmini is also considered to be an avatar of Lakshmi, the goddess of fortune. Shri Krishna married her after she sent him a letter to come and abduct her and save her relatives from a fight. When he was eloping with Rukmini,  Rukmini’s brother Rukmi came and fought, before being defeated by Shri Krishna. His other  16,100 wives were rescued from Narakasura. They had been forcibly kept in his palace and after Krishna had killed Narakasura he rescued these 16,100 women and freed them.

Tulabharam

Out of his wives, Satyabhama had some ego while Rukmini was fully devoted to Lord Krishna. There is a famous incident of Tulabharam, which has established the simplicity of Rukmini was better than the wealth of Satyabhama.

He had eighty sons

He had eighty sons from his eight queens (Ashtapatrani’s). From each of his queen, he had ten sons. Pradyumna was the son of Rukmini. Samba was the son from Jambavati, who was cursed by the sages which later became the reason of destruction of Yadu clan. Shri Krishna himself done penance of Lord Shiva to obtain a son like him. Incidentally, Lord also cursed Samba to be affected by leprosy. Courtesy of Sage Narada.

He advised Arjuna to abduct his sister Subhadra

Shri Krishna’s sister Subhadra was born to Vasudev and Rohini. She was born after Vasudeva was freed from the prison. Balrama wanted her to be married to Duryodhana, who was his favourite disciple. But Rohini and other did not want this. To overcome this situation, Shri Krishna advised Arjuna to abduct Subhadra. He also asked Subhadra to hold the rains of the chariot, so it was technically not an abduction. Balrama was pacified later on, and the marriage was performed at Indraprastha.

Radha’s existence?

There is no mention of Radha in scriptures. Neither Mahabharata, Nor Shrimad Bhagwat mention this. This fact is too important to missed by greats like Ved Vyasa. Probably, this was included by Jayadev and became famous from there.

His relation to Ekalavya

Ekalavya was actually Krishna’s cousin. He was the son of Devashrava (brother of Vasudeva) who got lost in the forest and was found by a Nishada Hiranyadhanu. Ekalavya died protecting his father during Rukmini Swayamvar. He was killed by Krishna. For his great sacrifice of Gurudakshina Krishna blessed Ekalavya that he would be soon reincarnated and take revenge on Drona. This person was Dhristadyumna (who kiled Drona).

He fought with Arjuna

He is arguably the most difficult character to understand. Once, he even started fighting with Arjuna. Lord Shiva got so perturbed that he descended to stop the fight. He asked what he was doing. Krishna’s simple reply was that Arjuna needed to fight in battle and hence he was testing Arjuna.

Who all heard Bhagvad Gita

The narration of the Bhagvad Gita by Lord was heard firsthand not only by Arjuna but also Hanuman and Sanjaya. Hanuman was perched on top of Arjuna’s chariot throughout the battle of Kurukshetra and Sanjaya was blessed by Ved Vyasa with divine vision in order to narrate the events of the battle to Dhritharashtra.

Killing of Sambarasura by his son Pradyumna

Pradyumna was  the son of Lord, was an incarnation of Kamadeva. Kamadeva was turned to ashes by Lord Shiva in the earlier life. In this life, he was abducted by Sambarasura and drowned in the ocean, but somehow survived and appeared in his kitchen. He was looked after by Mayavati, who was an incarnation of Rati. She told him that how Sambarasura has tried to kill him when he was ten days old, and asked him to kill Sambarasura.

Pradyumna immediately went before Sambara and challenged him to fight. Pradyumna began to address him in very strong language, so that his temper might be agitated and he would be moved to fight. Soon, a fight started and Pradyumna beat and killed Sambarasura.

Read - facts from Mahabharata

His relation to Pandavas

Pandavas were related to Shri Krishna from mother’s side. Their mother, Kunti, was the sister of Vasudev, father of Shri Krishna.

Sudarshan Chakra

Shri Krishna’s favourite weapon was Sudarshan Chakra. Its notable uses were in killing of Shishupala and more importantly, it was used to create the illusion of sunset which led to the killing of Jayadratha.

Killing of Kaalyavan

There was demon named Kaalyavan, who was summoned by Jarasandha to fight Shri Krishna. He realized that beating him would take some time, so he used a boon on Muchkund to neutralize Kaalyavan. Muchkund was sleeping in a cave and he had a boon that the first person he sees after waking up, will be turned to ashes. Lord entered the cave and hid behind a rock while Kaalyavan happened to wake up Muchkund, and soon, was left to ashes.

Krishna and Karna

Lord was the first person who told Karna about the secret of his birth. He was trying to persuade Karna while he was in Hastinapur, desperately trying to avert the war. Karna has politely refused his offer and requested him to not to divulge this secret to Pandavas.

Krishna and Gopis

During Raas Leela, Lord danced with gopikas. While dancing, all gopis thought that the Lord was dancing with them.

Durvasa curses Krishna

Durvasa did not spare Lord also from his curse. One day, Durvasa was eating kheer (a sweet dish made of rice and milk) in persence of Lord. Durvasa ordered Lord to apply the left over kheer on his body. He applied it on the full body but did not apply on his feet thinking of the kheer to be consecrated. Durvasa got angry at this and curses Krishna that since you did not obey my orders and did not apply the kheer on your legs,your legs will not remain impenetrable and unbroken. It is the famous story that he left this world because an arrow by a hunter hurt his toe.

Krishna’s Viratroopa

Duryodhana foolishly tried to imprison Lord when he came for negotiations. Shri Krishna shows all the kings his great form (Virat roopa) . Knowing this Dhritrashtra, also pleaded to allow him to see him once in this form which was granted. The poorer souls shut their eyes while the pious ones were benefited.

Questionnaire on Shri Krishna

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