Historical Krishna - Part 13 - The warefares

The conquest of Jarsandha had to be done in a way that would not get attention from his allies. They would not have time to react against the Pandavas and Krishna. They would be awestruck by the policy and the swiftness. Also it had to be a just battle so that it did not cause any censureship on Yudhisthira who was conducting his Rajasuya. Jarasandha was notorious for another reason. He was planning to conduct a great nara medha yagna or sacrifice of human beings to become invincible by begetting divine power. He captured eighty four kings and small chieftains and was waiting to capture sixteen more whom he would have sacrificed to Mahadeva to get a boon of invincibility. So he had to be stopped for saving the lives of his hapless victims through his foolishness and fundamentalism. There was no other person who was capable of fighting him, other than Bhima. Bhima was young and powerful. Moreover he had Krishna on his side and Arjuna to back him up. So the three went to Magadha disguised as snatakas or students and did a series of events that attracted the attention of the emperor himself. In the midnight Krishna revealed their identities and called Jarasandha for a duel. Predictably Jarasandha obliged and his pride led him to choose his nemesis - Bhima to wrestle with him. The battle lasted continuously for thirteen days and nights. In the end Bhima's youth prevailed over Jasarandha's age. The latter was tired and so could be killed by Bhima. Jarasandha's son Sahadeva was installed as the king and Pandavas and Krishna returned Indraprastha victorious. Now there were no further impediments in the path of Yudhisthira. Everybody now knew that Pandavas were invincible. Even Bhagadatta, the son of Naraka, who fought with Arjuna eventually gave in and paid tribute. Thus Sri Krishna's mission was fulfilled, but only temporarily. Shisupala was still there. By making an opportunity of Krishna's selection as the fittest one for receiving the arghya he abused Krishna and Bhisma relentlessly. He had to be killed in front of everybody. Shisupala's son Dhristaketu became a Pandava ally as Nakula married his sister Karenumati and Bhima possibly also married a Chedi princess.

There were still a few kings who remained to be conquered and Krishna himself took up the task. His conquests are all depicted in Bhagavatam and Harivamsa. Mahabharata is silent about the details except regarding the account of his battle with Sauvya king Salva. Krishna destroyed Paundraka Vasudeva who had crossed all limits of decency, chastised the ruler of Kashi who was Paundraka's friend, who later become a Pandava ally perhaps through matrimonial alliance. Krishna also killed Dantavakra. He brought Bhismaka under his sway by marrying Rukmini and Balarama defeated Rukmi convincingly. While he was with the Pandavas Salva, a friend of Vakra attacked Dwaravati. So he had to rush back to battle him. Therefore he missed the opportunity of preventing game of dice and subsequent humiliation of Pandavas and Draupadi. He had to battle many other chieftains hostile to him. Worse, he had to prevent his own clan and kinsmen from fighting with each other, e.g Satyaki and Kritavarma were sworn enemies of each other.

There is an interesting account of his battle with Salva in Mahabharata. He was narrating the incident to the Pandavas in vanaparva when he visited them. Salva was the king of Sauva, a flying city. He was demonic in origin and he had a score to settle with Krishna. He therefore attacked Dwaravati when Krishna was away in Rajasuya sacrifice. Krishna's son Pradyumna and others like Gada, Shambo and other Vrishni heroes fought admirably. But they were defeated. Just when the fall of Dwaravati seemed imminent Krishna arrived in the battle scene and despite some tense moments like when the demon king used his Maya power to bewitch Krishna with the illusion of his father's death, Krishna ultimately got rid of him and his flying city. This story has been debunked by some Krishna historians like Paul as pure myth and possibly a later addition to the main Mahabharata. However this story is interesting for two reasons. It explains why Krishna could not come to the Pandava's rescue when the latter were being sent to forest through intrigue, and also it adds a different dimension to the warfare strategy. Dwaravati, even though impregnable from land, was vulnerable from an attack from sky. So there may be some truth in this story even though it can also have some imaginative elements built in it.  Therefore Krishna's whole life was one of fighting with various hostile clans till the end of the Kurukshetra was when almost all the Kshatriyas were wiped out. We all know that Krishna played a very active role in the great war, even though he vowed not to take up weapons. He was a master strategist and his superior strategy won the day for the Pandavas. He perhaps knowingly sacrificed Abhimanyu because he knew that otherwise he would not be able to arouse Arjuna's anger esp. against his guru Dronacharya. He pretended to fight with Bhisma to rouse Arjuna who he knew was soft on the grand old man. He made Karna's only hope, the Ekpurushghatini, futile and thus removed all barriers from Arjuna's path. Karna's death in the hand of Arjuna was now a foregone conclusion. He engineered the killing of Jayadratha and Drona. He made Aswatthama's & Bhagadatta's weapons futile. The list is endless and suffice to say that Krishna did it all for his love for his staunch devotees, the Pandavas. His personal warefares were also fought with the same intention, of eradicating obstacles from the path of Pandavas as he confided to Arjuna during the war. He killed Ekalavya, Shishupala, Vakra, Salwa, Jarasandha, Paundraka and Naraka only to ensure that these sworn enemies of him did not side with Duryadhana against the Pandavas in the great battle. Therefore his relentless fights were entirely selfless.