Kaṃsa Vadha in the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa

This is the account in the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa of how Kaṃsa died. It begins with Kaṃsa’s terrifying dream and the Dhanuryāga he planned. It follows Bhagavān Kṛshṇa and Balarāma to Mathurā, where Kubja, the garland-maker and the washerman meet them. Then comes the breaking of Śiva’s bow, the death of Kaṃsa, and the freeing of Devakī and Vasudeva. It ends with Bhagavān Kṛshṇa’s teaching on the greatness of the mother.

Kaṃsa’s terrible dream

The night before Kṛshṇa came to Mathurā, Kaṃsa saw a series of fearful visions in his sleep. The next morning he told them to his court, in a voice shaking with fear.

He saw a woman with blood-red garlands, blood-red sandal paste and blood-red clothes, holding a sharp sword and a fearful skull. She was very old and black-bodied. She danced wildly in his city with her hair loose and her nose cut off, dressed as a widow, and she stretched out her arms to him in a dreadful embrace. A mleccha (a foreigner) gave him broken locks of hair as decoration. An angry devī-patnī (the wife of a deva) smashed a pūrṇakumbha (a full pot, a sign of good fortune) and spoke a śāpa (a curse) on him. A brāhmaṇa gave him withered garlands smeared with blood-red sandal and cursed him in fury. For a moment fire, ash and blood rained on his city. A monkey, a crow, a dog, a bear, a pig and a donkey all screamed at him in twisted forms.

A beautiful woman in yellow and white clothes, wearing sandal paste, jasmine garlands and jewels, and holding a lotus and sindūra (red powder), spoke a śāpa on him and walked out of his palace. Figures with nooses and loose hair entered his city from every side. A naked woman danced in every house. Another woman with a cut nose stood ready to give him an oil massage. Burning cremation grounds appeared, with naked, laughing men. A wedding was held in which everyone wore blood-red clothes and had blood-red hair. The Sun and the Moon were swallowed by Rāhu at the same time. Comets, meteors, earthquakes and storms tore through the sky. Trees spun in the air with broken branches, and mountains fell. A tall, naked man with no head danced in every house, wearing a muṇḍamāla (a garland of severed heads). All the āśramas of the land burned to ash.

Kaṃsa fell silent. His purohita Satyaka fainted when he heard these words. Kaṃsa’s parents, wives and relatives wept. The whole court was deeply shaken.

The Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa gives this in the Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 63.

The Dhanuryāga: Kaṃsa’s plan

Satyaka recovered. He advised Kaṃsa to perform a great Dhanuryāga, a bow-yajña, in honour of Maheśa (Bhagavān Śiva). It would have lavish annadāna (gifts of food) and high dakshiṇā (gifts to the priests). Its aim would be to drive away the bad omens and increase Kaṃsa’s aiśvarya (power and wealth).

Satyaka described the bow to be used at this yāga. Śiva had given it to Nandīśvara, Nandīśvara to Bāṇāsura, and Paraśurāma gave it to Kaṃsa. It was one thousand hastas (cubits) long, and ten hastas thick at its finest part, and it was made wholly by Śiva’s will. Brahmā lived at its base, Nārāyaṇa in its middle and Mahādeva at its tip. Even Ananta, Sūrya and Kārttikeya could not bend it. Only Nārāyaṇa himself could break it, and if he broke it, Satyaka said, the yajamāna (the one who had ordered the yāga) would be destroyed.

Kaṃsa understood at once. He would invite Kṛshṇa, the son of Nanda, who had killed Pūtanā and all his other killers, and who had lifted Govardhana and shamed Mahendra. The invitation would be for the yāga. When Kṛshṇa came to Mathurā, Kaṃsa would set the bow out to tempt him. If Kṛshṇa broke it, Kaṃsa could kill him as one who had destroyed the sacred object of the yajña, and so within the law. Akrūra was sent to Vṛndāvana to carry the invitation.

Kings who came to the Dhanuryāga: Jarāsandha, Dantavaktra, Dāmbhika, Draviḍādhipa, Śiśupāla, Bhīshmaka, Bhagadatta, Mudgala, Dhārtarāshṭra, Dhūmakeśa, Dhūmaketu, Śambara, Śalya, Satrājit, Śaṅku, Bhīshma, Droṇa, Kṛpācārya, Aśvatthāmā, Bhūriśravas, Śālva, Kaikaya and Kauśala.

Ṛshis who came: Pulaha, Pulastya, Bhṛgu, Kratu, Aṅgiras, Marīchi, Kaśyapa, Daksha, Atri, Cyavana, Bharadvāja, Vyāsa, Gautama, Parāśara, Pracetas, Vasishṭha, Saṃvarta, Bṛhaspati, Kātyāyana, Yājñavalkya, Uttaṅka, Saubhari, Parvata, Devala, Jaimini, Viśvāmitra, Sutapa, Pippalāda, Śākaṭāyana, Jābāli, Āstīka, Jaratkāru, Durvāsa, Vāmadeva, Ṛshyaśṛṅga, Vibhāṇḍaka, Kavi, Kaṇāda, Kauśika, Pāṇini, Kautsā, Aghamarshaṇa, Vālmīki, Lomaharshaṇa, Mārkaṇḍeya, Mṛkaṇḍu, Paraśurāma, Agastya, Sāñjāta, Sanatkumāra, Kapila, Āsuri, Paila, Sumantu, Sanātana and many others.

This is in the Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 64.

The departure from Nanda’s Vraja

Kṛshṇa spent a last night with Rādhā. Then he got ready to leave at an auspicious moment. The lagna (rising sign) was Saumya, all the gentle planets looked on it with favour, and no harmful planet looked on it. He stood in Nanda’s courtyard. On his left was a pūrṇakumbha with fruit and leaves. On his right were a fire and a brāhmaṇa. Before him stood a woman with her husband and son, with a lamp, a mirror, fresh dūrvā grass, white flowers and auspicious grain. He wore sandal paste and a garland of flowers. He took the blessings of the elders and the brāhmaṇas. He put his right foot forward first and breathed through the left nostril. Then he climbed into Akrūra’s chariot with Balarāma.

As Kṛshṇa left, his eternal qualities shone. His form is nityaṃ nūtana-rūpa (always fresh). He has nityaṃ nūtana-yauvana (youth that never ends), nityaṃ nūtana-vesha (always new dress) and nityaṃ nūtana-saṃbhāshaṇa (always new speech). His love is always new, and his friendship is always new. His words are sweet as amṛta (nectar). His food and his dwelling are always new.

This is in the Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapters 69–71.

Kṛshṇa in Mathurā: Kubja, the garland-maker and the washerman

Mathurā is described as finer even than Indra’s city. It was set with fine gems and built by Viśvakarmā. It had silver jewelled pinnacles, a hundred beautiful royal roads, streets paved with moonstone, three hundred crore flowering groves, strong forts with skilled guards, and three hundred crore palaces of many floors.

Kubja. On the streets of Mathurā Kṛshṇa saw a very old woman, bent double with age. She carried sandal paste sweet with musk and saffron. She put the sandal on Kṛshṇa with devotion. By the mere grace of Kṛshṇa’s glance and touch she was changed at once into a beautiful girl of twelve. She had lips like the bimba fruit, a golden body, a perfectly formed figure, jewelled anklets and jasmine-scented hair. This was Kubja. Kṛshṇa comforted her and went on. She went back to her house, which had itself turned into a lotus-palace with a jewelled bed, lit lamps, servants and all the comforts of a divine court. She prepared tāmbūla (betel), sandal and jasmine for Kṛshṇa and waited for him. Later that night Kṛshṇa came to her and woke her from sleep. He said to her: “You were Śūrpaṇakhā in the Rāma-avatāra. You did tapas for me in that life, and now you reach me in the Kṛshṇāvatāra.” He spent the night with her. At dawn she rose to Goloka in a divine chariot.

The garland-maker (Mālākāra). A garland-maker on the road saw Kṛshṇa and offered him all his garlands, with complete abandon and devotion. Kṛshṇa took all of them gladly. The garland-maker asked for one vara (a boon) only: dāsya, the place of eternal servant of Kṛshṇa. Kṛshṇa gave it. Kṛshṇa and his companions wore the garlands.

The washerman (Rajaka). A proud washerman of the royal household refused to give Kṛshṇa the royal clothes he asked for. He called him a mere cowherd and brushed him off with scorn. Kṛshṇa laughed, struck him dead with one slap, and took the royal clothes for himself and his companions. But the washerman’s ātmā (soul) rose to Goloka in a jewelled palanquin, since he had met death at Kṛshṇa’s hands, the most auspicious of all departures. He became a pārshada (an attendant) in Goloka, always remembering Kṛshṇa.

That evening Akrūra went home, and Kṛshṇa spent the night in the house of Kuvinda, a poor Vaishṇava, and gave him the vara of dāsya.

This is in the Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 70.

The breaking of Śiva’s bow and the death of Kaṃsa

Kṛshṇa and Balarāma entered the wrestling arena of Mathurā, to the amazement of everyone there. Each kind of person saw Kṛshṇa according to his own nature:

Yogīs: as the Paramātmā who sits in the lotus of the heart
Kings: as the great ruler who carries the rod of punishment
Devakī and Vasudeva: as the dear infant at the breast
The women of Mathurā: as the image of the beauty of a crore Manmathas
Kaṃsa: as Kālapurusha, the very form of Death
Kaṃsa’s relatives: as an enemy
The wrestlers: as the deva of death himself
The Yādavas: as dear as their own prāṇas (life-breaths)

Kṛshṇa went to Śiva’s great bow, the weapon of a thousand hastas that no one in the three worlds could bend. He lifted it with ease, drew it to its full length and broke it in the middle. The thunder of the snapping bow shook all of Mathurā. The earth trembled, and Kaṃsa’s heart sank into his chest.

Kṛshṇa then killed the Gaja-malla, the elephant-warrior stationed at the gate. The champion wrestlers Cāṇūra and Mushṭika were killed, Cāṇūra by Kṛshṇa and Mushṭika by Balarāma. Then Kṛshṇa leaped straight onto the royal platform, seized Kaṃsa by the hair, pulled him from his throne and killed him.

Kaṃsa’s liberation. At the moment of death Kaṃsa’s ātmā, itself a flash of divine tejas (radiance), entered Kṛshṇa’s feet and went to Vishṇupada in a divine body. Even Kaṃsa, who had fixed all his mind on Kṛshṇa as his deadly enemy, reached liberation through that deep focus.

This is in the Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 72.

The freeing of Devakī and Vasudeva

After Kaṃsa’s death Kṛshṇa gave gifts to all the brāhmaṇas present. He put Ugrasena back on the throne of Mathurā. Ugrasena was Kaṃsa’s righteous father, who had been removed, and he was the rightful king of the Candravaṃśa. Kṛshṇa then broke the iron chains of Devakī and Vasudeva with his own hands and gave them moksha from the cycle of birth and death.

Kṛshṇa and Balarāma bowed to their parents. Kṛshṇa spoke words of deep dharma teaching:

“One who does not honour the tāta (father), the mātā (mother), the vidyā-mantradātā (the teacher of knowledge and mantra) and the guru is unclean for life. Of all who deserve honour, the father comes first. The guru is above the father. But the mother is a hundred times above the guru, for she carries the child in her womb, feeds it and suffers for it. The mother is pṛthvī-rūpā, the form of the Earth. There is no greater well-wisher and no greater kinsman than the mother.”

Devakī and Vasudeva held Balarāma and Kṛshṇa in their arms with joy beyond measure. A great feast was held, and Ugrasena’s crowning was celebrated. The city of Mathurā breathed freely after Kaṃsa’s long cruel rule.