Kuvalayāpīḍa

Kuvalayāpīḍa was the great war elephant of King Kaṃsa. It stood at the gate of the wrestling arena (raṅgabhūmi) at Mathurā. Kaṃsa had told the elephant’s mahout (its driver) to use the animal to kill Kṛshṇa and Balarāma as they came into the arena for the wrestling contest, before they could even reach the wrestling ground.

Kṛshṇa dodged the elephant’s charge, seized its trunk and killed it by driving one of its own tusks through its skull. He then took the tusk and walked into the arena with it on his shoulder. In his great stuti (hymn of praise) at the Rājasūya, Bhīshma names the killing of Kuvalayāpīḍa among Kṛshṇa’s deeds.

The meeting at the arena gate

Kṛshṇa and Balarāma came to the wrestling arena at Mathurā for the contest that Kaṃsa had arranged as a trap. The first obstacle was Kuvalayāpīḍa, a huge bull elephant of terrible size, standing at the entrance. Its mahout had been told by Kaṃsa to make it charge and crush the two brothers at the gate before they could go in.

Kuvalayāpīḍa charged with all its force. Kṛshṇa dodged the charge and grabbed the elephant’s trunk. He was shaken loose. He moved around the animal’s legs, caught its tail and dragged the elephant backward. At last Kṛshṇa seized a tusk, drove it into the elephant’s skull and killed it. The mahout was killed in the same fight.

The tusk

After he killed Kuvalayāpīḍa, Kṛshṇa pulled out one of its great tusks. He carried it into the wrestling arena on his shoulder. He came in full view of the crowd, of Kaṃsa and of all the kings who were there. He had shown his power before a single bout had begun.

The crowd reacted at once. The gopas knew him as their beloved Kṛshṇa. The wrestlers saw a challenger they could not match. Kaṃsa knew that his death was drawing near.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Sabhā Parva, dākshiṇātya prati (southern recension), Chapter 38
• Bhīshma’s stuti of Kṛshṇa at the Rājasūya, Sabhā Parva