Padmāvatī, Gobhila and the Birth of Kaṃsa
The Bhūmi Khaṇḍa of the Padma Mahā Purāṇa tells, in Chapters 44 to 50, how Kaṃsa was born. Kaṃsa was the cruel king of Mathurā whom Bhagavān Kṛshṇa later killed. The Purāṇa says that a daitya named Gobhila, who was Kālanemi born again, took the form of King Ugrasena and came to Ugrasena’s wife Padmāvatī. Kaṃsa was born of this deed. He looked like the king’s son, but he had the nature of an asura. This explains why he was cruel although Ugrasena was a righteous king.
The setting: the Sūkala Charitra and Ikshvāku’s hunt
This account comes inside the larger frame of the Sūkala Charitra. During King Ikshvāku’s great hunt (Chapters 40 to 43), the Purāṇa describes the region and people of the Meru and Gaṅgā area, and various divine and half-divine beings linked to the hunt. This leads into the account of Gobhila’s crime and what followed from it. (Chapter 44)
Ugrasena and Padmāvatī
Ugrasena was a king of righteous conduct. His wife Padmāvatī was the daughter of King Satyaketu. She was a woman of great virtue who kept dharma. Their household was a model one for its time. (Chapter 44)
Gobhila’s deceit
The daitya Gobhila was a powerful asura. He was Kālanemi born again. He planned to ruin the line of the righteous Ugrasena. Using the daitya power of māyā (illusion) and the power to change his shape, Gobhila took the exact form of Ugrasena. He came to Padmāvatī as her husband.
Padmāvatī could not tell the disguised daitya from her real husband, and she accepted him. Gobhila wronged her. Only after the act did he show his true nature as a daitya. This broke Padmāvatī completely. She now knew what had been done to her. (Chapters 47 and 48)
Padmāvatī’s grief
Padmāvatī found that she was with child from this wrong. She was overcome with grief and shame. She did not wish to bear a child of an asura, and she tried to end the pregnancy. Several attempts were made, and all of them failed. The child within her was born of a being of great daitya power and could not be moved.
The Bhūmi Khaṇḍa tells of these failed attempts plainly. Padmāvatī was helpless. She was wronged through no fault of her own. She could not undo the pregnancy, and she had to bear a child she had not chosen. The Purāṇa shows compassion for Padmāvatī. She is the one who was wronged, not the wrongdoer. (Chapters 48 and 49)
The birth of Kaṃsa
Padmāvatī carried the child to term, and the child was Kaṃsa. In body he looked like an ordinary child born in Ugrasena’s household, the rightful king’s son. In nature he had the asura nature of Kālanemi, who was Gobhila.
Ugrasena was a righteous king. Yet from his childhood Kaṃsa showed cruelty, pride and adharma. The Bhūmi Khaṇḍa says that Kaṃsa was not Ugrasena’s son by birth at all, and that his nature was that of an asura of the highest rank who had been born again. (Chapters 49 and 50)
The end of Kaṃsa
The Bhūmi Khaṇḍa says briefly that Kaṃsa carried the asura nature of his true father, Kālanemi, who was Gobhila. He later did the deeds for which he is known. He shut Vasudeva and Devakī in prison and killed the children born to them. He finally met his end at the hands of Vāsudeva, Bhagavān Kṛshṇa.
The whole course followed karma. Kālanemi had been killed earlier. He was born again as Kaṃsa through Gobhila’s crime. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa once more ended his line. (Chapter 50)
Sources
- Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapters 44 to 50
- Chapter 44 (the Sūkala Charitra frame, Ugrasena and Padmāvatī)
- Chapters 47 and 48 (Gobhila’s deceit)
- Chapters 48 and 49 (Padmāvatī’s grief)
- Chapters 49 and 50 (the birth of Kaṃsa)
- Chapter 50 (the end of Kaṃsa)
- Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapters 40 to 43 (Ikshvāku’s hunt)