Historical Krishna Part 4

As per the facts from Krishna’s life – When Devaki and Vasudeva were married by the efforts of none other than Kamsa himself who loved them both, they were being driven in a chariot by Kamsa. At that point it was only he who heard a divine oracle that the eighth child of Vasudeva and Devaki will be his nemesis. He flew into a rage and decided to kill Devaki then and there but Vasudeva persuaded him to spare her life and reasoned with him. He also pledged his child to Kamsa as soon as it would be born and kept his words. His honesty and sincerity temporarily turned Kamsa into a better person and he set them free with dignity and respect. But sage Narada’s advise and the unholy company of bad men and associated ill advises again made him a cruel ruthless tyrant and he imprisoned Vasudeva and Devaki. Their children were killed one after another and finally the seventh one was mysteriously transferred to Rohini, the other wife of Vasudeva and he was none other than Balarama or Samkarshana. It was possibly a case of miscarriage for Devaki and an almost simultaneous conception of Rohini. Whatever it may be, Rohini was safely entrusted with Nanda Gopa’s clan along with infant Balarama. Kamsa knew nothing about it. Finally the long wait was over and the eighth child was born – a beautiful and lovable new born baby. Now comes two mysterious parts – 1) The vision of Devaki and Vasudeva of God reincarnating on the earth with them as the parents 2) the escape of the new born was made possible by so many miraculous circumstances. Although secular writers and historians would debunk the vision, such visions are not extra ordinary, especially if we have no qualms in recognizing Krishna as a divine incarnation or for that matter an extra ordinary individual with special powers. Sri Ramakrishna’s father Khudiram Chattopadhyay for instance had a vision in Gaya that Lord Vishnu had assured him of a birth in his house. This is recorded in Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna by none other than Ramakrishna himself as well as in the Great Master by Swami Saradananda. Khudiram, who was so truthful that he renounced all his properties, risked the zamindar’s ire and left the village when the zamindar had asked him to tell a lie in court is unlikely to tell one here. If we consider this as hallucination we read that such so called hallucinations were experienced by the father of Sri Sarada Devi, father of Sri Chaitanya Jagannath Misra, Jesus’s mother who had a vision of angel Gabriel, Sankara’s parents etc. Even Lord Buddha’s mother had a mystic vision before his birth. So the vision experienced is neither unique nor extra ordinary. Such visions were experienced by many other pious souls to a greater or lesser degree and there is no reason to debunk the same. Now coming to the mystery around Sri Krishna’s escape from the prison. Vasudeva found his chains were opened and every guard was sleeping. The gates were wide open and it was a stormy night outside. Dhirendra Nath Paul had suspected that possibly there was a great conspiracy to save the child because he was the “chosen one” (Reminds one of Harry Potter? But Dhirendra Nath was older than Harry Potter by a century, he had no idea about the book). Everybody by now knew about Kamsa’s nemesis and Vasudeva’s predicament. And most of the Yadavas were hell bent in taking advantage of their one chance, of saving the “chosen one” who would in turn save them. So Paul suggests that prison guards were bribed and several prominent Yadavas of Kamsa’s court were involved in the intrigue. Bhagavata says that because it was raining and Yamuna was full to the brim, with no boats in site, Nanda surprisingly managed to cross it by simply walking over it. May be it was a divine play or may be a makeshift bridge was pre-arranged in the dark, we do not know. And here comes another twist. The Naga Ananta spread its hood for protecting baby Krishna from the rain. Paul conjectures that Nagas as a tribe were also involved in the conspiracy and Ananta was a very influential Naga (a district in Kashmir is named after him) who considering the gravity of the situation himself came to help and protect Vasudeva. So Vasudeva went to Gokula and swapped his child with that of a new born daughter of Yasoda. Again Bhagavatam claims that everybody in Nanda’s house was in deep sleep so nobody knew anything about the swap. But it is also likely that Nanda willingly sacrificed his daughter for the welfare of the people and it was he who made the swap possible. Vasudeva came back to the prison half hoping that Kamsa would not kill a baby girl, and everything became normal again. In the morning hearing the infant’s cry and being informed by his attendants Kamsa came to the prison and despite entreaties of Devaki, hurled the child on a stone with the intention of killing it. And here comes mystery number two. Kamsa had a chilling vision of Devi Durga or Yogamaya in the sky who half mockingly told him that his nemesis was safe and sound in Gokula and he would soon meet his end. One Pauranik version said that the girl child was safely taken to Vindhyachala where she lived to become a local goddess, a manifestation of Devi Durga. There is no mention in Bhagavatam about it and its not related to our story so we'll not deliberate on it.

Now began the real story of Sri Krishna in Gokula among cowherds. And now Kamsa’s reign of terror increased its intensity. Fear is the biggest driver behind ruthlessness. A tyrant is driven by fear for his own life and therefore takes the lives of others. A despot like Kamsa could not rest knowing that his enemy was safe. Also he was devoid of peace now coming to know of the court intrigue of dethroning him. Of course Vasudeva and Devaki bore the brunt of his ire, but we can also surmise that several other Yadavas were killed and the rest like Akrura, to save themselves and to patiently wait for the right time, became his confidante. Kamsa used his spies and assassins to kill all infants in and around Mathura. This reminds us of the life of Jesus Christ. Like Krishna, Jesus’s birth was divinely ordained and after his birth, the king Herod was in search of the divine child who would become the new king. Herod also killed many children and Joseph and Mary escaped to Egypt with Jesus. John the Baptist was killed by Herod.