Chapter 19 – Shishupala & other stories

After the Rajasuya yagna, Yudhishtra was crowned the King of Indraprastha. Then began the discussion of whom should  be given the first respect. Everyone unanimously decided that it should be Krishna. Everyone except Shishupala, King of Sedhi. 

Now wondering who is this new character? Let me give you a background.

Shishupala was born to Krishna’s cousin and  the King of Sedhi. He was born with 4 arms and 3 eyes. Immediately after his birth, a heavenly voice was heard “When the child meets his slayer, his additional organs will disappear”. All of the child’s uncles and aunts had come to bless him. When Krishna lifted the baby, his extra arms and his third eye fell off. Shishupala’s mother knew that the child will meet his end in the hands of Krishna and pleaded Krishna to forgive the child and let him live. Krishna said he will pardon 100 misdeeds of Shishupala. As years passed, Shishupala grew to be a strong person and with his strength, his enemity against Krishna also grew.

As Shishupala objected to Krishna being given the prime respect, Shishupala began speaking ill about Krishna. Krishna kept silent till he finished. But Shishupala did not stop. Krishna warned him but he paid no heed and went on to hurl abuses at Krishna. At the 101th time, Krishna called his ultimate weapon , the Sudarshan Chakra. The Chakra cut off the head of the King of Sedhi  and that was the end of Shishupala!

When in Indraprastha, Arjuna had once gone on a pilgrimage and reached Dwaraka, the city of Krishna and Balarama. He planned to stay in Dwaraka for some days and spend time with Krishna. During his stay, he happened to see Krishna’s sister Shubhadra and fell in love with her. He expressed his desire to marry her to Krishna. Krishna wanted Arjuna to win her and hinted him to abduct her and marry her. Arjuna, the following day abducted her , when she was returning back from the temple. The news soon reached the palace and Balarama was mad at Arjuna. He sent his soldiers to fight with Arjuna and bring back Shubhadra.

But Krishna told Balarama that Arjuna had kept up the Kshatriya laws. Balarama got convinced and asked his soldiers to keep peace with Arjuna and bring them back to the palace. Once they reached the palace, Balarama and Krishna married their sister to Arjuna. They had a son by name Abhimanyu. Abhimanyu turned out to be a great warrior trained by Arjuna and his uncle Krishna.

After the yagna, the Kauravas went to visit the beautiful town of Indraprastha. As the town was full of illusions, Duryodhana fell for everything. He fell into a pond which he thought was the floor, dashed into a wall thinking it was a door. Draupadi watching all these from the balcony laughed at him and said sarcastically that the son of a blind man was blind too.

Duryodhana felt insulted and was raging with the only thought of taking revenge on the Pandavas and their wife Draupadi.

The forthcoming chapters will showcase the crude enemity between the cousins. The war is not too far!

Previous Chapter 18 – The Rajasuya Yagna

Next Chapter 20 – The Game of Dice