Balarāma and Kṛshṇa Avatāra in the Narasiṃha Purāṇa

The Narasiṃha Purāṇa tells the avatāras of Balarāma and Kṛshṇa together in Chapter 53. The earth was crushed under the weight of the armies of wicked kings. Bhūmī Devī went to Brahmā, and Brahmā led the devas to Bhagavān Vishṇu at Kshīrasāgara (the ocean of milk). Bhagavān Vishṇu then sent forth his two śaktis (powers), and Balarāma was born to Rohiṇī and Kṛshṇa to Devakī. The chapter sums up Kṛshṇa’s deeds, the war of the Mahābhārata, and the return of both brothers to Vaikuṇṭha.

Bhūmī Devī’s plea

Bhūmī Devī, the earth devī, came to Brahmā in great distress. The world was groaning under the weight of countless armies of unrighteous kings. They were proud and cruel rulers who broke every limit of dharma. They oppressed the brāhmaṇas and the people, and they made the earth herself suffer. Bhūmī asked Brahmā to do something to lift this unbearable burden.

Brahmā’s hymn and the list of avatāras

Brahmā led all the devas to Kshīrasāgara. There he composed a long stuti (hymn of praise) in Sanskrit to Bhagavān Vishṇu, asking him to come as Kṛshṇa. The hymn is known for listing all the earlier avatāras in Sanskrit verses. It praises Bhagavān Vishṇu as:

  • Matsya, who brought back the Vedas.
  • Kūrma, who held up the mountain used for churning.
  • Varāha, who lifted the earth.
  • Narasiṃha, who killed Hiraṇyakaśipu.
  • Vāmana, who bound Bali.
  • Paraśurāma, who cleansed the earth of unrighteous kshatriyas.
  • Rāma, who killed Rāvaṇa.

Each earlier avatāra is honoured and praised. The hymn ends with this prayer: “Now come as Kṛshṇa, the beloved of all, to lessen the earth’s burden and set dharma right again.” This hymn by Brahmā for the Kṛshṇa avatāra is one of the main Sanskrit compositions in the Narasiṃha Purāṇa.

Vishṇu’s two śaktis: Balarāma and Kṛshṇa

Bhagavān Vishṇu was moved by Brahmā’s prayer and by the earth’s pain. He sent forth two of his chief śaktis:

  • His white śakti (śveta śakti), linked with Ananta Śesha, entered the womb of Rohiṇī, one of the wives of Vasudeva. It was born as Balarāma, the elder of the two divine brothers.
  • His dark śakti (kṛshṇa śakti), the full avatāra of the supreme Bhagavān Vishṇu himself, entered the womb of Devakī. She was the wife of Vasudeva and at that time a prisoner of her brother Kaṃsa. It was born as Kṛshṇa.

Kṛshṇa’s childhood līlās

The Narasiṃha Purāṇa sums up the main events of Kṛshṇa’s childhood at Gokula and Vṛndāvana:

  • Pūtanā vadha. The rākshasī Pūtanā came in the form of a beautiful woman to feed the baby Kṛshṇa with poisoned milk. Kṛshṇa drank the life out of her. She fell dead and was given moksha.
  • Śakaṭāsura vadha. An asura had taken the form of a cart. The baby Kṛshṇa kicked it with his feet and destroyed it.
  • Yamalārjuna-bhaṅjana. Two Arjuna trees stood together, and Nalakūbara and Maṇigrīva, the two yaksha sons of Kubera, were held inside them. The baby Kṛshṇa pulled the trees up by the roots and freed the two.
  • Dhenukāsura vadha. The ass-asura Dhenuka terrified the Tālavana (palm forest). Balarāma killed him.
  • Kāliya dāmana. Kṛshṇa dived into the Yamunā, subdued the great serpent Kāliya, danced on his hoods, and sent him away to the ocean.
  • Govardhanoddhāraṇa. Indra sent terrible rains to punish Gokula because the people had not performed the Indra-yajña. Kṛshṇa lifted the whole Govardhana mountain on his little finger and held it like an umbrella for seven days. He kept all the people and cattle of Vraja safe.
  • Arishṭāsura vadha. The bull-asura was killed.
  • Keśī vadha. The horse-asura Keśī terrified Vṛndāvana. Kṛshṇa killed him by thrusting his arm down his throat.

From Mathurā to Dvārakā

Akrūra came from Kaṃsa’s court to bring Kṛshṇa and Balarāma to Mathurā. In Mathurā, Kṛshṇa killed the fearsome elephant Kuvalayāpīḍa at the entrance of the arena. He then entered the wrestling arena and killed Kaṃsa’s champion wrestlers Cāṇūra and Mushṭika. Last he killed Kaṃsa himself. He freed Vasudeva and Devakī and brought order back to Mathurā.

Kṛshṇa and Balarāma studied under the ācārya Sāndīpani at his gurukula (teacher’s school). As gurudakshiṇā (the teacher’s gift), Kṛshṇa brought back Sāndīpani’s dead son from the realm of Yama. The shell of the asura Pañcajana, who lived in the ocean, became the Pāñcajanya conch, Kṛshṇa’s divine instrument.

Kṛshṇa then founded the great city of Dvārakā, a divine city built in the western ocean, and brought the Yādava clan there to safety. From Dvārakā he carried out all his later deeds. The main events named are:

  • Rukmiṇī vivāha. Kṛshṇa carried off Rukmiṇī, who was about to be married to Śiśupāla, and wed her.
  • Naraka vadha. Kṛshṇa killed the asura Naraka (Bhauma) and freed the sixteen thousand women he had imprisoned.
  • Pārijāta haraṇa. Kṛshṇa took the Pārijāta tree from Indra’s Nandana garden.
  • Sāmba’s liberation. The episode of Kṛshṇa’s son Sāmba.
  • Bāṇāsura. The battle with the thousand-armed Bāṇāsura, a devotee of Bhagavān Śiva.
  • Dvivida vadha. Balarāma killed the ape Dvivida, who terrified the people.

The Mahābhārata war

The Narasiṃha Purāṇa sums up the war of the Mahābhārata as the high point of Kṛshṇa’s work of lifting the earth’s burden. At Kurukshetra, Kṛshṇa was Arjuna’s charioteer and spoke the Bhagavad Gītā. In that great war all the unrighteous kings who had weighed down the earth were killed. The Pāṇḍavas won, and dharma was set right on earth.

Return to Vaikuṇṭha

When their work on earth was done, both Balarāma and Kṛshṇa gave up their earthly forms and went back to their eternal home, Vaikuṇṭha. This is the world beyond all cycles of creation and dissolution. The Narasiṃha Purāṇa says this ended the divine mission. The earth’s burden was fully lifted, dharma was set up again, and the supreme avatāra went back to his own place.

Sources

  • Narasiṃha Purāṇa, Chapter 53