Kaṃsa Vadha in the Vishṇu Purāṇa

The Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa tells of the slaying of Kaṃsa in Chapters 15 to 21 of its Pañcamāmsa. The account begins with Nārada’s visit to Kaṃsa and Kaṃsa’s plan to call Kṛshṇa to Mathurā. It goes on through the journey of Akrūra, the arena battle, the death of Kaṃsa and of his brother Sunāma, the stotra of Devakī and Vasudeva, and the return of Ugrasena to the throne. It ends with the years at the āśrama (hermitage) of Sāndīpani, where Kṛshṇa won the Pāñcajanya conch and brought back Sāndīpani’s son from the realm of Yama.

Nārada tells Kaṃsa the truth

Nārada, the devarshi (deva-seer) who moves through all three worlds and watches events for the good of dharma, visited Kaṃsa. He told Kaṃsa what Kaṃsa had refused to believe: the eighth child of Devakī was alive and growing up in Gokula as the son of Nanda. Nārada described Kṛshṇa and Balarāma, how they looked, what they had done, and the growing list of asuras they had already killed.

Kaṃsa listened and began to plan with great care. He made the Dhanuryāga the occasion to bring Kṛshṇa to Mathurā, where he would hold every advantage. He placed the trained wrestlers Cāṇūra and Mushṭika in the arena, a trained war-elephant, Kuvalayāpīḍa, at the arena gate, and the whole military force of Mathurā around him.

This is in Chapter 15.

Akrūra is sent, and his journey

Kaṃsa chose Akrūra as his messenger. Akrūra was a respected elder of the Yādavas, and his name and standing would make the invitation believable. Inwardly Akrūra was a devoted bhakta of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, and he took up the task with joy that he kept hidden.

On the road from Mathurā to Gokula, Akrūra’s thoughts are kept in the Vishṇu Purāṇa as the Akrūra Gīta. In it he dwells on his great fortune in seeing Bhagavān Kṛshṇa face to face. Brahmā, Śiva and the greatest ṛshis had longed for this through ages of tapas (austerity), and it was now going to be given to him through Kaṃsa’s own scheme.

On the return journey, at the Yamunā, Akrūra went under the water for his ritual bath. In the depths of the Yamunā he saw Balarāma and Kṛshṇa in their shining four-armed divine forms. They were seated in splendour, and nāgas and siddhas were paying homage to them. He came up and saw Kṛshṇa and Balarāma sitting in the chariot as before. He went under again, and the vision appeared again.

This is in Chapters 17 and 18.

Akrūra’s mānasa pūjā

Before he entered Mathurā, Akrūra performed an elaborate mānasa pūjā (worship in the mind) of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa. In his mind he saw the whole sixteen-fold worship with all its offerings. He treated the journey and all his service as a sacred act of devotion. The Vishṇu Purāṇa describes this as an act of bhakti (devotion) that rose from love.

This is in Chapter 19.

The washerman and the garland-maker

As Kṛshṇa and Balarāma came into Mathurā with Akrūra, two things happened.

The washerman. Kṛshṇa and Balarāma asked the royal washerman, who was carrying Kaṃsa’s fine clothes to wash, to give them some garments. The washerman saw two village boys and did not know Bhagavān Kṛshṇa. He answered with proud contempt. Kṛshṇa struck him dead with one blow of his open hand. The fine garments were shared among the gopas.

The Mālākāra (garland-maker) Sudarśana. A garland-maker met them and at once fell down before Kṛshṇa and Balarāma in simple devotion. He offered them flowers from his stock without being asked. Kṛshṇa saw his true bhakti and gave him whatever varas (boons) he wished. The Mālākāra received divine gifts: sons, a beautiful wife, great wealth, and the promise of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa’s grace.

This is in Chapter 19.

Kubja is made straight

In the streets of Mathurā, Kṛshṇa and Balarāma met Kubja. Her body was bent in three places (trivakrā) from birth, and she was the royal bearer of sandal-paste. She saw Bhagavān Kṛshṇa with eyes full of devotion and offered him the finest sandal-paste she carried.

Kṛshṇa placed two fingers under her chin and a thumb at her feet and straightened her. By his grace her three humps went away. Her body became upright and beautiful, and she stood before the amazed crowd as a radiant woman.

This is in Chapter 20.

Kuvalayāpīḍa, Cāṇūra and Mushṭika

At the Dhanuryāga, Kṛshṇa and Balarāma went into the arena and found it set as a death-trap. The fights came in this order.

Kuvalayāpīḍa. The great war-elephant at the arena gate was trained and made mad. It charged at Kṛshṇa. Kṛshṇa seized it by the trunk, swung it round and threw it down dead. He then took one of its tusks as his weapon.

The wrestling. Inside the arena Kaṃsa had set Cāṇūra to fight Kṛshṇa and Mushṭika to fight Balarāma. They were not ordinary wrestlers. They were mahā-bala yogīs (yogīs of great strength) who had mastered every wrestling skill. The fight was fierce. Kṛshṇa and Cāṇūra fought for some time, and their blows shook the arena. In the end Kṛshṇa caught Cāṇūra by the legs, whirled him round in a circle and threw him dead to the ground. At the same time Balarāma struck Mushṭika on the head with his fist and killed him.

All the other wrestlers ran away from the arena.

This is in Chapter 20.

Kaṃsa is killed, and Sunāma is killed by Balarāma

Kaṃsa was enraged. He shouted orders to drive Kṛshṇa, Balarāma, Nanda and Vasudeva out of the arena and to seize them. He called his soldiers and told them to attack.

At that moment Kṛshṇa jumped from the arena floor to the royal gallery where Kaṃsa sat, crossing the arena in one leap. He seized Kaṃsa by the hair, threw him down from his seat to the arena floor, and came down upon him. Kaṃsa’s death fulfilled the ākāśavāṇī (the voice from the sky). The eighth child of Devakī, whom Kaṃsa had spent his life trying to stop, stood over his body.

Kaṃsa’s brother Sunāma saw his king fall and rushed to attack. Balarāma took hold of Sunāma with his bare hands and killed him too. The military strength of Kaṃsa’s rule was broken in a few moments.

This is in Chapter 20.

The stotra of Devakī and Vasudeva

After Kaṃsa’s death, Kṛshṇa freed his parents, Devakī and Vasudeva, from the prison where they had been held for years. Their meeting was overwhelming. For years they had watched child after child taken and killed by Kaṃsa, and they themselves had been chained and unable to help. Now they stood before Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, who was both their child and the master of all creation.

Devakī and Vasudeva offered a stotra (hymn of praise) of great depth. They spoke of Kṛshṇa as Parāt-para Brahman, the highest reality. They said that he chose to be born through them, not because he needed parents, but because he wished to honour the bond between parent and child as the way of vātsalya bhakti (devotion in the love of a parent). They said: “We could not nurse you, feed you or watch you grow, because we were in prison. Yet you are not made less. We were not made less. The bond between parent and child is itself the showing of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa in the family. It does not depend on being near each other.”

This is in Chapter 20.

Ugrasena is restored, and the Sudharmā Sabhā

Order now had to be brought back to Mathurā. Kṛshṇa brought Ugrasena before the gathered Yādavas. Ugrasena was Kaṃsa’s father, a righteous king whom Kaṃsa had put in prison and removed from the throne. Kṛshṇa gave him back the throne of Mathurā. Ugrasena, gentle and faithful to dharma, accepted the throne as Kṛshṇa’s gift.

At this time Kṛshṇa also obtained the Sudharmā Sabhā, the divine assembly hall, one of the great divine buildings of the cosmos. It was a fitting gift for the Yādava court.

This is in Chapter 21.

Study at Sāndīpani’s āśrama

Kṛshṇa and Balarāma then went to the āśrama of Sāndīpani Muni at Avantī (Ujjayinī) to study as brahmacārins (students). The Vishṇu Purāṇa records that they finished the whole course in sixty-four days, one subject each day, and learned each one on first hearing. The course was the four Vedas, all the Vedāṅgas, the Upanishads, dhanurveda, dharmaśāstra, rājanīti, and all sixty-four kalās (arts). Sāndīpani watched with wonder and gratitude.

This is in Chapter 21.

The guru-dakshiṇā: the Pāñcajanya and Sāndīpani’s son

For his guru-dakshiṇā (the gift to a teacher), Sāndīpani asked for the return of his son, who had drowned in the sea at Prabhāsa tīrtha. Kṛshṇa agreed. He went to Prabhāsa and dived into the ocean. He found that the boy had been taken by the asura Pañcajana, who lived in the depths of the ocean inside a shell. Kṛshṇa killed Pañcajana and found the shell where he had hidden. It was a great conch of rich sound. It became the Pāñcajanya, named after Pañcajana. It became the divine conch of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa himself and was sounded at every important moment of the Kṛshṇa avatāra.

The boy was not inside Pañcajana’s body. Kṛshṇa understood that Pañcajana had sent him to the realm of Yama. Kṛshṇa and Balarāma went to Saṃyamanī, the realm of Yamadeva, and Kṛshṇa sounded the Pāñcajanya. Yamadeva knew the call of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, came before him with full respect, and placed the boy, alive and unchanged, in Kṛshṇa’s hands.

Kṛshṇa returned the son to Sāndīpani. Sāndīpani received him in tears of gratitude and blessed both brothers fully.

This is in Chapter 21.

Sources

• Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Pañcamāmsa, Chapters 15–21
• Chapter 15: Nārada’s visit and Kaṃsa’s plan
• Chapters 17–18: Akrūra’s journey and his vision in the Yamunā
• Chapter 19: Akrūra’s mānasa pūjā; the washerman and the garland-maker
• Chapter 20: Kubja; Kuvalayāpīḍa, Cāṇūra and Mushṭika; the death of Kaṃsa and Sunāma; the stotra of Devakī and Vasudeva
• Chapter 21: Ugrasena and the Sudharmā Sabhā; study at Sāndīpani’s āśrama; the guru-dakshiṇā