Bāṇāsura, Aniruddha and Ushā

Bāṇāsura was a king with a thousand arms, the son of Bali Chakravartī, and a devoted bhakta of Śiva. He ruled the city of Śoṇitapura under the protection of Bhagavān Śiva. His daughter Ushā dreamed of a handsome man and fell in love with him. Her friend Chitralekhā, an apsarā who could draw any form from memory, found that the man in the dream was Aniruddha, the grandson of Kṛshṇa, and brought him to Śoṇitapura in his sleep. When Bāṇāsura found Aniruddha in Ushā’s rooms, he bound him with nāgapāśa (snake-bonds). Kṛshṇa, Balarāma and Pradyumna marched on Śoṇitapura. In the battle Kṛshṇa stood against Bhagavān Śiva himself, who guarded Bāṇa. Kṛshṇa’s jṛmbhaṇāstra stilled Śiva’s forces, and then he cut off Bāṇa’s thousand arms but four with the Sudarśana Cakra. Bhagavān Śiva asked Kṛshṇa to spare Bāṇa, and Kṛshṇa did so. Aniruddha and Ushā went back to Dvārakā as husband and wife.

Bāṇāsura, the devotee of Śiva

Bāṇāsura was one of the most powerful kings in the world. He had a thousand arms and had used them all in devoted worship of Śiva. Śiva was pleased with his devotion and gave him a great protection: “I myself will be the guardian of your city.” So Bāṇāsura’s capital, Śoṇitapura, was guarded by Bhagavān Śiva and his gaṇas, and no one could easily take it.

Bāṇāsura had asked Śiva for an enemy worthy of his thousand arms, for he had grown restless with no battle to test them: “Give me a great war, O Śiva, or these arms have no purpose.” Śiva had warned him: “When your flag breaks, your war will come, and when it comes, it will humble you.”

Ushā’s dream and Chitralekhā

Bāṇāsura’s daughter Ushā was a young princess of great beauty. She dreamed of a man of striking looks, blue in colour, lotus-eyed and wearing divine ornaments. She fell deeply in love with him in the dream, though she did not know who he was.

Her friend was Chitralekhā, an apsarā of divine skill who could draw a perfect picture from a spoken description or from memory. Ushā told her about the man she had dreamed of. Chitralekhā began to draw. She went through the forms of devas, gandharvas and human kings, asking, “Is it him? Is it him?” At last Ushā blushed deeply and nodded at the picture of Aniruddha, son of Pradyumna and grandson of Kṛshṇa.

Chitralekhā used her powers to travel through the worlds and found Aniruddha asleep in his rooms in Dvārakā. By her siddhi (power) she carried him, still asleep, to Śoṇitapura and placed him in Ushā’s private rooms.

When Aniruddha woke and found himself in an unknown palace with a beautiful princess, the two knew each other as the one from the dream. They spent several months together in secret.

Bāṇāsura finds Aniruddha

Bāṇāsura’s servants told him that a young man was hidden in Ushā’s rooms. Bāṇāsura was furious. He went in with armed men. Aniruddha fought off hundreds of guards with an iron club. He fought bravely and showed the full strength of Kṛshṇa’s line. In the end the nāgapāśa, the snake-bonds that Bāṇāsura commanded, overcame him, and he was put in prison.

When news of Aniruddha’s disappearance reached Dvārakā, the truth later came out through Nārada, who always brings word of the great events of the worlds. Kṛshṇa, Balarāma and Pradyumna then marched on Śoṇitapura with a great army of the Yādavas.

The battle at Śoṇitapura

The siege of Śoṇitapura became one of the great battles told in the Mahābhārata. It is remembered above all because it set Kṛshṇa face to face with Śiva.

Bhagavān Śiva came on his bull Nandī with his whole army of gaṇas, including Kārttikeya, Nandī, Mahākāla and all the Śaiva forces, to guard Bāṇa’s city as he had promised. Kṛshṇa faced Śiva directly.

The fight between Kṛshṇa and Śiva was extraordinary. Śiva used the Pāśupatāstra, the weapon of total destruction. Kṛshṇa answered it with the Jṛmbhaṇāstra, a weapon that brings sleep over all and makes every opponent fall asleep. Śiva’s forces were stilled. Pradyumna drove Kārttikeya back.

Kṛshṇa then turned the Sudarśana Cakra on Bāṇāsura himself and cut off his arms, all thousand, one after another, until only four were left. As the Cakra moved to take the last four, Śiva came to Kṛshṇa with folded hands:

“Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, Bāṇa is my devotee and I promised him protection. I ask you to spare his life. He is one of the great bhaktas. Let him live.”

Kṛshṇa replied: “I have never killed those you hold dear, O Śiva, and I never will. I spared him for your sake. Bāṇa will live, but with these four arms and without his pride. He will carry the mark of having fought and been brought low by Nārāyaṇa, and that mark will itself be a kind of grace.”

Aniruddha and Ushā return

With Bāṇāsura humbled and the battle over, Aniruddha was freed from the nāgapāśa. The snake-bonds dissolved in Kṛshṇa’s presence. Aniruddha and Ushā were married in due form, and both went back to Dvārakā with Kṛshṇa’s party. Bāṇāsura had lost his pride but kept his life and Śiva’s protection, and he stayed on at Śoṇitapura.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Sabhā Parva, dākshiṇātya prati, sub-chapters 6–7 of Chapter 38