Pauṇḍraka Vadha (Bhāgavata Purāṇa)

Pauṇḍraka Vadha is the killing of Pauṇḍraka, king of the Karūsha country, who wrongly believed that he was the true Vāsudeva. The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa tells it in the 10th Skanda, Chapter 66, and the Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa in the Pañcamāṃśa, Chapter 34. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa kills Pauṇḍraka and his ally, the king of Kāśī. Then the son of the king of Kāśī, Sudakshiṇa, makes a fire-being by an abhicāra rite (a rite to destroy an enemy) and sends it against Dvārakā. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa sends the Sudarśana Cakra, which destroys the fire-being and then burns Kāśī.

Pauṇḍraka’s pride

Balarāma was visiting Nanda’s Gokula at that time. Pauṇḍraka, the foolish king of the Karūsha country, sent a messenger to Bhagavān Kṛshṇa at Dvārakā. Foolish flatterers had convinced Pauṇḍraka that he was the true Vāsudeva, who had come down for the good of the world. He was like a child who is made to play king in a game and knows nothing of what a king is. Puffed up by this false belief, he sent his messenger to Dvārakā.

The messenger came into the royal assembly and gave Pauṇḍraka’s message:

“The true Vāsudeva who has come down for the good of all beings is I, and I alone. You carry my signs, the conch, the cakra and the rest, out of foolishness. Give them up and come to me for refuge, or get ready for battle.”

Ugrasena, Sātyaki and all the nobles in the assembly heard these boastful words and burst out laughing. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa then sent his answer through the messenger:

“Fool! Whatever weapons you say you will make me give up, I shall now throw at you. When I have killed you, you will lie on the battlefield with your foolish mouth open, surrounded by vultures, herons and jackals, and you will become food for dogs.”

The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 66, gives this account.

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa kills Pauṇḍraka and the king of Kāśī

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa mounted his chariot and went to Kāśī. When Pauṇḍraka heard that Kṛshṇa was coming, he marched out with two akshauhiṇīs (large armies) of troops.

Pauṇḍraka had dressed himself as a copy of Kṛshṇa. He had a conch, a false cakra, a sword, a false Śārṅga bow, a false Śrīvatsa mark, a false Kaustubha gem, a forest garland, a peacock feather, yellow silk clothes, and a false Garuḍa banner. All of it was a cheap imitation. When Kṛshṇa saw him, he knew him by these signs and laughed loudly at the sight of this copy, like an actor on a stage in borrowed clothes.

Pauṇḍraka’s allies and the king of Kāśī attacked from all sides with tridents (śūla), clubs (gadā), spears (śakti), lances, swords and arrows. Kṛshṇa went through their armies as the fire of pralaya (the end of the world) goes through living beings. He broke Pauṇḍraka’s chariot with arrows and left him without horses and without a chariot. Then, as Indra cuts the top off a mountain with his vajra, Kṛshṇa cut off Pauṇḍraka’s head with the Sudarśana Cakra. He then shot the head of the king of Kāśī with winged arrows. The head flew from the battlefield and fell inside the city of Kāśī itself, like a lotus blown off by the wind.

The people of Kāśī saw the adorned head fall at the city gate and were puzzled. They asked, “Whose head is this?” When they knew it was their king’s, his wives, sons, relatives and citizens cried out loudly in grief.

The Bhāgavata says that Pauṇḍraka had kept thinking of Kṛshṇa’s form, even though he did so in delusion. Because of this, all his bonds were destroyed. At death he took on Kṛshṇa’s own divine form and was absorbed into Bhagavān Kṛshṇa.

The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 66, gives this account.

Sudakshiṇa’s abhicāra and the burning of Kāśī

Sudakshiṇa, the son of the slain king of Kāśī, performed his father’s funeral rites and decided to take revenge. In the holy city of Kāśī he worshipped Mahādeva with deep focus. Bhagavān Śiva was pleased and gave him a vara (a boon). Sudakshiṇa asked for a way to kill his father’s killer. Bhagavān Śiva told him:

“Make an abhicāra offering to the southern fire together with brāhmaṇas, and a terrible fire-being will rise from the kuṇḍa (fire pit). If it is sent against one who is not devoted to brāhmaṇas, it will do what you want. But if it is sent against one who is devoted to them, it will turn back on those who made it.”

Sudakshiṇa performed the rite faithfully. From the fire pit rose a blazing, terrible being. Its hair, moustache and beard were like red-hot copper. Firebrands shot from its eyes. Its face was fierce with fangs, and its tongue licked its lips. It was naked and carried a trident. Its feet were as tall as palm trees. It shook the earth and raced toward Dvārakā, burning the directions as it came. The pramatha-gaṇas (attendants) of Bhagavān Śiva went before it.

The people of Dvārakā saw the blaze coming and scattered in fear, like animals running from a forest fire. At that moment Bhagavān Kṛshṇa was in the assembly hall, playing dice. The frightened people ran to him and cried, “Master of the three worlds, protect us! The city is burning!” Kṛshṇa heard their cry and saw their fear. He laughed heartily and said, “Do not be afraid. I will protect you.”

Kṛshṇa knew the fire-being to be the creation of Maheśvara’s abhicāra rite. He sent his Sudarśana Cakra, which blazes like a million suns and whose tejas (radiance) lights the sky, the directions and all three worlds, to destroy it. The Sudarśana Cakra struck the fire of the abhicāra, overpowered it and drove it back. The fire-being fled to Kāśī, and the Sudarśana Cakra followed it there and burned all of Kāśī. It burned the platforms, assembly halls, temples, markets, towers, turrets, storehouses, treasuries, elephants, horses, chariots and granaries, everything. Only after burning the whole city did the Sudarśana Cakra return to Kṛshṇa’s side.

The Bhāgavata says that an abhicāra rite sent against a devotee of brāhmaṇas turns back on those who made it, and that is exactly what happened.

Whoever hears or tells this account of Kṛshṇa’s glory with a focused mind has all his pāpa (sin) destroyed without remainder.

The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 66, gives this account.

The Vishṇu Purāṇa account

The Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Pañcamāṃśa, Chapter 34, tells the same episode and adds a detail at the start. Pauṇḍraka first came to the Dhanuśālā (the bow-hall). He had equipped himself with every sign of Kṛshṇa: a false conch, a false cakra, an imitation of the Kaustubha gem, the Śrīvatsa mark, a peacock feather, yellow clothes and a Garuḍa banner. He presented himself as the “true Vāsudeva” before people who knew the real one. The Vishṇu Purāṇa stresses Kṛshṇa’s answer, which was laughter, real amusement at the sight, before the battle began.

About the son of the king of Kāśī, the Vishṇu Purāṇa says that Sudakshiṇa performed an abhicāra rite (black magic) after his father’s death. A terrible kṛtyā (a fire-being made by such a rite) was created and sent toward Dvārakā. The Sudarśana Cakra met the kṛtyā and sent it back to Kāśī. It followed the being to the place it came from and burned the whole city. The Vishṇu Purāṇa presents this as the śāstra rule that a weapon turned against one who is innocent and follows dharma returns and destroys its maker. Sudakshiṇa’s abhicāra was sent against a devotee of brāhmaṇas, Kṛshṇa, who is himself the brāhmaṇa-devatā (the deva of brāhmaṇas), and this was the cause of the burning of Kāśī.

The Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Pañcamāṃśa, Chapter 34, gives this account.

Sources

• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 66
• Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Pañcamāṃśa, Chapter 34