Aniruddha, Ushā and Bāṇāsura

This narrative tells how Ushā, the daughter of the thousand-armed asura king Bāṇāsura, fell in love with Aniruddha, the grandson of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, and how this led to war at Śoṇitapura. It is told in the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skandha, Chapters 62 and 63, and in the Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Pañcamāṃśa, Chapters 32 and 33. Ushā saw a handsome young man in a dream. Her friend Citralekhā found him and brought him to Śoṇitapura. Bāṇāsura caught Aniruddha with serpent ropes. Kṛshṇa then besieged the city with twelve akshauhiṇīs (very large armies). Bhagavān Śiva fought for Bāṇāsura. Kṛshṇa made Śiva drowsy with the Jṛmbhaṇāstra, defeated the defenders and cut off Bāṇāsura’s thousand arms. At Śiva’s request Kṛshṇa spared Bāṇāsura’s life, and Śiva sang a stotra to Kṛshṇa. Aniruddha and Ushā went back to Dvārakā.

Bāṇāsura, son of Bali

Bāṇāsura was the eldest of the hundred sons of Bali Cakravartī, the great emperor who gave the three worlds to Vāmana. Bāṇa was a devoted bhakta of Bhagavān Śiva. He was a brave and truthful king. He had pleased Śiva by playing music with his thousand arms while Śiva danced the tāṇḍava. Śiva gave him the vara (boon) of being the guardian of his city Śoṇitapura, and Śiva himself served as its protector. By the grace of Śiva the devas served Bāṇa like servants.

Yet Bāṇa was troubled by the restlessness of his thousand arms. He had even gone to the mountains of the eight digajas (the elephants of the directions) and asked for a fight, but they ran away in fear. Śiva, when pestered, told him: “When your flag falls, you will meet a warrior equal to yourself, and your pride will be brought low.” Bāṇa waited for that day with eager hope. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skandha, Chapter 62)

Ushā’s dream and Citralekhā’s portraits

Ushā, the daughter of Bāṇa, had a dream in which she fell in love with a handsome dark young man whom she had never seen or heard of. She woke from the dream crying out for him among her companions, overcome with longing and shame. Her closest friend was Citralekhā, the daughter of Kumbhāṇḍa, Bāṇa’s minister. Citralekhā had great gifts of art and magic.

Citralekhā asked Ushā to describe the man of her dream. Then she drew portraits. She went through the devas, gandharvas, siddhas, nāgas, rākshasas, vidyādharas and yakshas, and at last the great human families, the Yādavas. She drew Śūra, Vasudeva, Balarāma, Kṛshṇa and Pradyumna. When Ushā saw the portrait of Pradyumna, she blushed (she saw the family likeness). Then Citralekhā drew Aniruddha, the son of Pradyumna and the grandson of Kṛshṇa. Ushā lowered her head in glad recognition: “This is he, this is he.” (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skandha, Chapter 62)

Citralekhā brings Aniruddha

Citralekhā knew that Aniruddha was under Kṛshṇa’s care in Dvārakā. She travelled through the air and by the power of her māyā entered Dvārakā. She found Aniruddha asleep on a fine bed. She carried him through the air to Śoṇitapura and set him before Ushā.

Ushā welcomed her beloved with great joy. She gave him fine clothes, garlands, incense, lamps, betel, drinks and tasty foods, and served him with loving talk. The days passed in deep happiness and went unnoticed. In time the guards of the inner palace saw unmistakable signs that Ushā had lost her virginity. They told Bāṇa. He rushed to his daughter’s inner rooms. There he found a stranger sitting across from Ushā, playing dice. He was the most beautiful young man in the three worlds, dark-skinned, in a yellow cloth, lotus-eyed and broad-armed, and his chest bore the jasmine garland that marked their closeness.

Bāṇa’s soldiers surrounded him. Aniruddha took an iron club and fought them off like a boar scattering dogs, smashing limbs and breaking heads. Then Bāṇa himself held him down with nāga-pāśas (serpent ropes). Ushā wept. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skandha, Chapter 62)

Kṛshṇa’s campaign: the siege of Śoṇitapura

Four months passed, and Aniruddha’s family did not know where he was. Nārada brought the news of his capture and of his brave fight alone. Kṛshṇa raised twelve akshauhiṇīs of Yādava forces. With him came Balarāma, Pradyumna, Sātyaki, Gada, Sāmba, Nanda, Upananda, Bhadra and others. They besieged Śoṇitapura on all sides and broke down its gardens, outer walls and towers.

Bāṇa came out with an army as large. Śiva rode his bull Nandī and fought in person for Bāṇa, together with his son Kumārasvāmī (Skanda) and the Pramatha-gaṇas. A great battle followed in four parts:

Kṛshṇa against Śiva and the gaṇas
Pradyumna against Kumārasvāmī
Balarāma against Kumbhāṇḍa and Kūpakarṇa, Bāṇa’s two generals
Sātyaki against Bāṇa

(Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skandha, Chapter 63)

Śiva is overcome: the Jṛmbhaṇāstra

Śiva let fly many kinds of divine weapons: the Brahmāstra, the Vāyavyāstra, the Āgneyāstra and last the Pāśupatāstra. Kṛshṇa met each one exactly. He met the Brahmāstra with the Brahmāstra, the Vāyavya with the Pārvatāstra, the Āgneya with the Parjanyāstra, and the Pāśupata with his own Nārāyaṇāstra. Then he used the Jṛmbhaṇāstra on Śiva. The three-eyed deva yawned and fell into a drowsy stupor. With Śiva held still, Kṛshṇa destroyed Bāṇa’s army with sword, gadā and arrows. Pradyumna drove Skanda from the field, wounded and bleeding. Balarāma struck down Kumbhāṇḍa and Kūpakarṇa. The army scattered.

Bāṇa’s mother Koṭarā stood before Kṛshṇa without clothes and with loose hair, hoping to save her son. Kṛshṇa turned his face away from the improper sight, and in that moment Bāṇa went back into his city.

Then a three-headed fever, the Māheśvara-jvara sent by Śiva, rushed at Kṛshṇa, blazing in all directions. Kṛshṇa let loose his own Vaishṇava-jvara against it. The Māheśvara-jvara was overcome and took shelter at Kṛshṇa’s feet. It offered a deep stotra that called Bhagavān Kṛshṇa Pūrṇa Brahma. Kṛshṇa freed it from his own fever. He promised that whoever recites this exchange will be protected from fever. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skandha, Chapter 63)

Bāṇa’s defeat: his arms are cut off

Bāṇa came back to the battle with five hundred bows, with two arrows on each at once. Kṛshṇa broke all his bows, then killed his horses, his charioteer and his chariot. With the Sudarśana Cakra, as if trimming a great tree, Kṛshṇa cut off Bāṇa’s thousand arms one by one until only four were left. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skandha, Chapter 63)

Śiva asks for mercy and sings his stotra

Śiva woke from the stupor of the Jṛmbhaṇāstra. He came before Kṛshṇa and begged for Bāṇa’s life. He offered a stotra:

“The Śabda-Brahman of the Vedas speaks of the pure consciousness that is Pūrṇa Brahma as rahasyam (beyond word and mind). That Pūrṇa Brahma is you. For you, space is the navel, fire the mouth, water the seed, svarga (heaven) the head, the directions the ears, earth the feet, the moon the mind and the sun the sight. And I am your ahaṅkāra (sense of self).

You are Acyuta. In you there is no fall from your own nature. Your avatāra is for the protection of dharma and the good of the world. We who rule the seven worlds do so only by the power you have given us. You alone are the one self-shining consciousness. All the worlds exist by taking refuge in you.”

At Śiva’s request Kṛshṇa spared Bāṇa’s life. He said: “The one you protect is already protected by me. He is the son of Bali, who gave the three worlds to me, and so he shall have no fear of death. Four arms will stay with him. Let him be deathless.” (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skandha, Chapter 63)

Aniruddha and Ushā return to Dvārakā

Aniruddha was set free from the serpent ropes and came out with Ushā. They got into the great chariot. The Yādava army, shining with the glory of victory, took them home to Dvārakā. The people of Dvārakā welcomed them with flowers, music and processions of torches. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skandha, Chapter 63)

The Vishṇu Purāṇa account

The Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Pañcamāṃśa, Chapters 32 and 33, tells the same episode with some different details.

Citralekhā’s portraits (Chapter 32). The Vishṇu Purāṇa gives a lively account of how Citralekhā drew. Ushā described the man of her dream: dark skin, broad shoulders, lotus eyes and a matchless beauty. Citralekhā began to draw step by step. She drew portraits of divine beings (devas, gandharvas, yakshas, nāgas), then of human kings, going through the great families. She reached the Yādavas and drew Śūra, Vasudeva, Balarāma, Kṛshṇa and Pradyumna, and last Aniruddha. Ushā’s response was at once clear. She looked at the portrait and could not look away. She said, “This is he. This is he exactly.” Citralekhā had the powers of yoga. She travelled through the air to Dvārakā, found Aniruddha asleep in his palace, and carried him to Śoṇitapura by her yogic power.

The Jṛmbhakāstra against Śiva (Chapter 33). In the battle at Śoṇitapura, Śiva used all his divine weapons and the battle reached its crisis. Then Kṛshṇa used the Jṛmbhakāstra. This weapon makes its target yawn without control and fall into a drowsiness he cannot resist. Struck by it, Śiva began to yawn and his eyes grew heavy. The three-eyed one fell into a stupor and could not wake in time to protect Bāṇa.

Bāṇa’s thousand arms. The Vishṇu Purāṇa gives the same account as the Bhāgavata. Kṛshṇa, with the Sudarśana Cakra working as swiftly and exactly as a gardener trimming a tree, cut off Bāṇa’s thousand arms one by one until four were left.

Śiva speaks of Śiva and Vishṇu as one (Chapter 33). After Śiva pleaded for Bāṇa’s life and Kṛshṇa gave his vara, Śiva spoke these words: “There is no real difference between Vishṇu and Śiva. Those who see them as apart, who hold one as the highest and the other as lower, have not understood the truth. The consciousness that is Bhagavān Vishṇu and the consciousness that is Bhagavān Śiva are one reality, seen from different sides. My devotees and Vishṇu’s devotees are both my devotees, and both are Vishṇu’s devotees, because the devotee of either has reached the same highest reality.”

Sources

Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skandha, Chapters 62 to 63
Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Pañcamāṃśa, Chapters 32 to 33