Week 14 Reading Notes: Birth of Krishna
Kansa: Tyrant king of Mathura
Not even the Earth liked him, because he was so wicked. People could not stand him. Then, a prophecy began to spread. It entailed the slaying of the tyrant.
Kansa brought his sister Devaki, whom he loved very much, into marriage with Vasudeva, one of his noble soldiers. He cares for them so much, he actually drives their chariot home after the wedding.
Unfortunately, a voice from heaven calls out to him and says that their eighth child shall kill him when the boy is twelve years old.
Kansa loses all love for his sister and his friend. He imprisons them so that he can kill all of their children at birth to keep that prophecy from coming true. He keeps them in a dungeon in Mathura. It happened seven times, but Kansa thought he had killed eight. One boy, Bolarama, was carried away secretly and saved from Kansa’s raging fear.
Bolarama is to be the deliverer of His people. He is also Krishna, the Holy Child. The earth reacts to his birth: wind wailing, rain falling, the river Jumna rising as if in a flood.
Devaki has the bliss of the mother. She even forgets for a moment about the cruel fate that awaits her baby in the morning as she greets the newborn.
Light shines from the baby, and he also has four arms. One holds the shank or battle-trumpet, another the discus, the third a mace, and the forth have a lotus on its stem. His parents recognize these objects as a sign from Vishnu. They worship the baby, saying salutations, like Narayan, Savior of the World.
They exchange him with a girl-baby of Nanda, the chief of the cow-herds in order to save him. They are told to do this by voices. The girl baby, when found by an angry Kansa, turns into a goddess when he tries to kill her and she tells him the prophecy has already been set in motion.
Image from Hindu Jagruti
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