Mushṭika

Mushṭika was one of the two champion wrestlers of Kaṃsa at the wrestling arena of Mathurā. The other was Cāṇūra. Kaṃsa had set up the contest as a trap. Mushṭika was chosen to face Balarāma. He was a wrestler of great bodily strength. Balarāma killed him in direct combat.

The wrestling bout

At the arena of Mathurā, Bhagavān Kṛshṇa faced Cāṇūra, and Balarāma was matched against Mushṭika. Balarāma killed Mushṭika. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa and Balarāma thus killed the two wrestlers in the same contest. The failure of Kaṃsa’s trap showed that his own death was near.

Bhīshma’s praise of Kṛshṇa

In his stuti (praise) of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa at the Rājasūya, Bhīshma names the deaths of Cāṇūra and Mushṭika among the key events in the account of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa’s life. This is in the Mahābhārata, Sabhā Parva.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Sabhā Parva, dākshiṇātya prati (southern recension), Chapter 38