KRISHNA CORIOLIS#5: Rage of Jarasandha Read online

  ‘Not so idyllic,’ Balarama reminded him. ‘There were always asuras around the corner, remember?’

  ‘Even so, I would fight all those asuras all over again just to be able to enjoy the pleasures of life in Vraj,’ Krishna said then stopped. ‘But I cannot. Already, Balarama and I been away from Mathura for three months. This was unavoidable as we had to acquire the full education we could not have gained in Vraj.’

  ‘And you did it in three months?’ Devaki exclaimed. ‘While others take their entire childhood and youth to acquire the same knowledge!’

  ‘Actually, it was sixty four days, mother,’ Balarama said proudly. ‘The rest of the time we spent fulfilling a favor for our Guru Sandipani.’

  ‘It was our Guru-dakshina to him,’ Krishna said. He did not explain further. To have done so, would have meant describing feats and things that no mortal beings could have accomplished. Being intelligent enough to master a full education in sixty four days was prodigious; being able to travel to the bottom of the ocean and to the land of the dead was divine.

  ‘And now,’ Vasudeva said. ‘You have many tasks to undertake. Your presence is sorely needed here in Mathura, Krishna. For one thing, Akrura is waiting to see you and his business is most urgent. But before that, I have a suggestion for how to appease your family in Vraj.’

  ‘We feel their pain of parting from you keenly,’ Devaki admitted. ‘We would not see them suffer as we did, barely knowing what you did or how you lived. Therefore we would suggest that you send an emissary on your behalf.’

  ‘An emissary?’ Krishna said.

  ‘A friend, rather,’ Vasudeva said. ‘You know him well already. His name is Uddhava.’

  ‘Uddhava!’ Krishna said, turning to Balarama who nodded, smiling. ‘Of course. He is a good friend and a good man.’

  They summoned Uddhava into the chamber and there was much exchange of warm greetings and clasping of hands and clapping of backs.

  ‘You continue with your talk,’ Vasudeva said. ‘Your mother and I must attend to other matters. We shall see you presently.’ And Devaki and he left the three young men together to talk of old times and new.

  8

  Uddhava conversed with Krishna and Balarama about numerous things for a while. Finally, Krishna looked at Uddhava and said, ‘My friend. I wish you to do me a great favor.’

  Uddhav smiled. ‘There are no favors between friends. Only gestures of love gladly given. Ask me to swim to the moon and I shall do it but not as a favor. And no thanking me for doing it either, understood?’

  Krishna smiled. ‘Understood. Very well then. Consider this something I would do if I could spare the time but since I cannot, it is done just as well by you. Go to Vraj and meet with everyone on my behalf.’

  ‘Everyone?’ Uddav asked, his eyes sparkling mischievously, ‘Or just someone?’

  ‘Her too,’ Krishna admitted as Balarama chuckled. ‘But when I say everyone, I do mean everyone. All you have to do is pass on a certain message to them.’

  Uddhav shrugged. ‘I shall do as you say, brother gopa, but it will not appease them. Their eyes long to see you, not me. Their ears await the sound of your flute not my nasal tones!’

  ‘Even so,’ Krishna said, ‘when you pass on this message I give you, their hearts will be appeased, their longing satisfied.’

  Uddhav frowned. ‘What message could do so much?’

  Balarama clapped Uddhav on the back. ‘A message from Krishna. It can make the world go round and swallows fly to the edge of the universe and back.’

  Uddhav shrugged. ‘If you say so, then I shall. But I have my doubts. For I know how much they cry for you in Vraj and how much your mother misses you. Why, even the cows have stopped yielding rich milk, and the cream…’

  Krishna leaned forward whispered a mantra into Uddhav’s ear. At once, Uddhav sat rigid, frozen still. Then, only a fraction of a second later, he continued moving and speaking as before, as if unaware of the brief stalling. ‘…the cream is only half as good as it used to be…’ He stopped short and looked around. A strange beatific smile came over his face, erasing every crease of concern. ‘But now they shall all be as before. Once I pass on your message, all care and anxiety and heartache shall be wiped from their hearts. They shall be joyful and energetic again. And never again will their longing for you cause them suffering or sadness. You are right, Balarama, a message from Krishna is enough to make the whole world break into song!’

  Balarama shrugged and made an expression that said, Told you so!

  Krishna smiled and clapped his friend on the back. ‘Thank you, fellow gopa. If there is anything else I can do for you in return, you have but to ask.’

  Uddhav paused, looked around, then glanced at Krishna. ‘Actually, there is this one small thing. A girl named Trivakra…’

  He let his voice trail off, looking down shyly.

  Krishna smiled. ‘You desire her?’

  Uddhav nodded.

  ‘Then what is the problem?’

  Uddhav sighed. ‘She desires you.’

  Balarama groaned. ‘Every woman desires Krishna. That does not mean they can have him.’

  Krishna replied seriously: ‘If their desire is genuine, then why should they not have me?’

  Uddhav spread his arms in a gesture of helplessness. ‘I am not jealous of you. Who can be jealous of Krishna? It would be like being jealous of the Sun or the Moon. But so long as she has eyes only for you, she will not even see me.’

  Krishna thought for a moment. ‘Then perhaps there is a way for her to get what she desires as well you to get what you desire.’

  Balarama rolled his eyes. ‘Another classic Krishna quote. What does that mean? How can both of them get what they want?’

  Krishna smiled. ‘By transferring her love for me into love for Uddhav.’

  Uddhav’s eyes grew big and round. ‘But how can this be done? Would it require some yagna or tantric ceremony? I am scared to dabble in supernatural matters. It does not seem right.’

  ‘Not to worry, good Uddhav,’ Krishna said warmly. ‘It is a simple matter. All I shall do is go to this woman Trivakra and persuade her that you are the better lover.’

  Balarama raised one eyebrow, then the other. ‘Now that is a solution. If anyone can persuade anyone else of anything, it’s Krishna.’

  Krishna clapped Balarama on his meaty shoulder. ‘Another classic Balarama quote.’

  9

  Akrura was the next person they met with and he was as happy to see them as they were to see him. ‘Boys, you look well,’ he said happily.

  ‘And you, uncle Akrura, are getting fat,’ Balarama said good-naturedly. Akrura was anything but fat but it was true that he no longer had the gaunt haunted look that he had sported for decades. His sunken cheeks had filled out a little, replacing the lupine look with a friendlier aspect. His garments too had changed from the nondescript vastras he had worn to blend in and avert attention. He now sported better clothes and brighter colors than they had seen him wear in their short lifetimes.

  He laughed at Balarama’s quip and patted his flat belly. ‘Well, it’s about time, your aunt would say. She’s tired of worrying each night whether I would come home alive or the door would be knocked down by Imperial Guards. Ever since the death of the Usurper and good king Ugrasena’s return to power she does nothing but cook and pray and try to spend every penny I possess on clothes and fine things.

  He gestured at his garments. ‘I told her if she kept making me dress up in these fashions, I would soon be mistaken for a noble at court. So you know what she says to me? She says, “You are a noble! A true Arya! That’s what ‘noble’ means after all.” What do you say to a woman like that?’

  ‘That she’s right,’ Krishna said. ‘You are a better man than all the aristocrats who rush to pay homage to the new king. Never mind that for 23 years when he was buried in the deepest dungeon, none of them even cared to ask whether he was alive or well. Now, everybody’s his well-wisher! But we know the
truth. Only a handful remained truly loyal. And you, good uncle Akrura, are the forefinger of that handful.’

  Akrura smiled and patted Krishna’s cheek affectionately. ‘You do me too much honor, son. It was you who slayed Kamsa. If not for you and Balarama here, good king Ugrasena would still be in that deepest dungeon and those nobles would still be standing in line daily to kiss Kamsa’s—’

  They laughed boisterously. The guards at the doorway and servants passing by smiled at the sound of their unbridled laughter. It had been a long time since such laughter had been heard in these hallways. It had been even longer since there had been anything worth laughing at here.

  Eventually, they came to the main meat of their conversation.

  ‘Hastinapura,’ said Krishna, steering talk to that topic. ‘Let us speak now of the city of elephants. How is my dear aunt Pritha and her family?’

  Akrura sighed. ‘She is known there as Kunti, of course. After her adoptive father’s name, Kuntibhoja, as you know already. And she was widowed when her husband Pandu died as a result of a curse from a forest hermit.’

  ‘Yes,’ Balarama said, munching on some figs as he listened. ‘We have heard of our aunt’s many travails and suffering in exile with her husband Pandurang and his other wife Madri. We know about the birth of their five sons in the forest and how they were raised there by the rishis and sadhus. And then, when the boys were aged 15 their mothers brought them home to the city of their father and ancestors to claim their inheritance and ascend the throne as Pandu’s lawful successors. Surely they must be ascended to the throne of Nagpur by now?’ Balarama referred to the capital city of the Purus by another one of its many illustrious names, for it was as well-known as the City of Snakes or Nagpur as it was known as Hastinapur or City of Elephants, and other names besides these two.

  ‘They ought to have been, it is true,’ Akrura admitted. ‘For they are rightful heirs to Pandu, attested by the rishis and Pandu’s wives. But the blind king Dritarashtra denied them their heritage and refused to grant them kingship over the kingdom of Purus.’

  Krishna listened intently as Akrura explained the complex politics of the Puru race and the numerous complications that had prevented Krishna’s and Balarama’s five cousins—known collectively as Pandavas after their father Pandurang—from claiming their inheritance and ascending the throne of the Puru race.

  ‘Some of these conflicts date back as far as the war of Dasarajna,’ Akrura said. ‘The fabled battle wherein Ten Kings battled against our ancestor Sudas.’

  Krishna nodded. ‘And for which Sudas and his descendants were branded Shudras and relegated to the lowest level of the four castes by the brahmins, instigated by Brahmarishi Vishwamitra. Yes, it is a long and tangled history of conflict. But what concerns me now is the plight of our paternal aunt and our five cousins. What is to become of them now? Is there no recourse under law for them to pursue?’

  Akrura shrugged. ‘To be honest, we were so preoccupied with our own crises here in Mathura, I have not kept pace with the latest news from that part of the civilized world. In fact, it has been a long while since I even traveled that way. And because the Purus are our blood kith and not antagonistic towards us, there was no cause to travel there on diplomatic grounds for some time now.’

  ‘Even so, you are well known as a diplomat and arbiter of disputes. It is my request that you travel to Hastinapura as soon as you are able and enquire with my aunt as to her condition and that of her sons. If there is trouble brewing and we can be of any help, bring word back to me at once.’

  Akrura chewed his lip thoughtfully for a moment. ‘The trip is one I would be happy to make. Gathering information on powerful ally kingdoms is an essential part of my life and it is no less important now that Mathura is free at last. But there are issues to be considered, Krishna.’

  ‘What issues?’ Balarama asked, crunching on an apple. ‘We are enquiring after the welfare of our aunt and cousins, what’s wrong with that?’

  Akrura grimaced. ‘It is a sensitive political situation. To side with the Pandavas may be seen as challenging the power of the reigning family.’

  Balarama glared at Akrura. ‘The reigning family is the Puru dynasty. And our cousins are the rightful heirs of that dynasty!’

  ‘Exactly my point. You regard your cousins as the rightful heirs. But King Dritarashtra sits on the Elephant Throne and he favors his own sons as the rightful heirs. In fact, he has proclaimed his eldest son Duryodhana king-in-waiting.’

  Krishna and Balarama exchanged a sharp glance. ‘All the more reason why you must go there and learn as much as you can,’ Krishna said. ‘We know you will handle your visit with impeccable diplomacy. As for us, we shall refrain from making any official statements or proclamations or even to send any official gifts with you. You shall go purely as an individual on general business. That should pose no challenge to anyone.’

  Akrura nodded slowly. ‘Yes, that would be wise.’ He looked at Krishna with renewed respect. ‘You are as wise as you are gifted, young Vasudeva.’

  He pronounced the name with a long ‘a’ instead of the short ‘a’ in Krishna’s father’s name. Vaasu-deva, which meant ‘son of Vuh-su-deva’ in Sanskrit.

  Krishna smiled. ‘I have wise teachers to learn from,’ he said.

  Akrura’s smile broadened. ‘I shall report to you as soon as I return from Gajavahya.’ He was using yet another name for Hastinapura. ‘I shall leave in the morning.’

  10

  dARUKA reined in his horse and dismounted. He knew this terrain well enough to recognize that the winding path up ahead continued for a few more yojanas before it joined the main raj-marg that led to Mathura City. That meant he was only about half a day’s steady riding from his destination. He stopped because he had glimpsed a grove of trees that indicated there was running water close by.

  He found the water quickly and easily and made sure to water his horse first. She was a strong roan mare that had served him well for many years and he made it a point to first tend to her needs before his own. He stroked her forehead and the soft downy fur between her eyes when she was done drinking, before offering her a small apple from a pouch on his side-saddle. She took the little red fruit between her foreteeth as elegantly as a lady picking up a savory and popped it in, crunching happily. She rolled her eyes at him in that way she had which showed her affection.

  ‘Yes, yes,’ he said tenderly, ‘I love you too, my faithful companion. We shall both eat when we reach Mathura.’

  She whinnied softly and stamped her foot once, not demanding, merely agreeing with him.

  ‘Yes, my work there is very important,’ he said. ‘I go to seek employment with a new master. Someone very special.’

  She raised and lowered her muzzle twice.

  ‘His name is Krishna,’ he said, stroking the side of her neck. ‘He is Lord of Mathura in all but name. Some say he is a deva in human form. It was he who slew the Usurper and Tyrant Kamsa and liberated the Yadavas from the reign of terror.’

  Sri listened with head lowered, her wide open eyes and upraised ears indicating her alertness at the sound of her master’s voice.

  ‘Yes, he is a great man. That is why I desire to work for him. I would serve him in any way he wishes. Just to be able to touch his feet and perform a service for him daily, any service, would be a blessing.’

  Sri dipped her muzzle once, snorting softly.

  ‘Yes. To serve one who does great work is the best dharma possible. Soon we shall reach Mathura and I shall seek him out and pray that he finds me worthy of his service.’

  Sri stamped her foot again, once, emphatically.

  ‘It is good of you to encourage me thus. I hope you are right and he hires me on the spot. I am very optimistic about this job.’

  He glanced back at the risen sun. ‘That is why we have ridden all night to get to Mathura. Even now, the sun is already above the horizon. We must ride swiftly so that I can see him today itself.’

  He mounted the
mare who tossed her head proudly once before setting off down the path. She set a steady strong pace without needing to be prodded once. Daruka prided himself on the fact that he had never needed or used a whip or spur or any device to urge an animal to obey him. His gift was the ability to talk beasts into action and obedience willingly. He had yet to find one who would not comply. Dogs, horses, bulls…all came to love and respect him in time, most within moments of meeting him. He did not know if this gift could serve the great Lord Krishna in any way, but if not, he was willing to do whatever the good Lord required.

  ‘So long as I can serve him,’ he prayed then bent his head to aid Sri in her journey.