SRI KRISHNA LEELAMRUTHAM (THE NECTARINE STORIES OF THE DEEDS OF LORD KRISHNA)

60. LORD KRISHNA AND NARAKASURA

Once there lived a demoniac King Narakasura, the son of Earth Goddess Bhudevi who ruled Pragjyoshitapur. Due to the association of demon Banasura, he became demoniac. He turned into a  powerful demon and kidnapped 16,100 princesses after defeating the respective kings. He forcibly took umbrella from the throne of Varuna dev. He stole earrings of Goddess Aditi and captivated a portion of the great mount Meru known as Mani Parvata. After knowing all these, Indra went to Dwaraka and complained about Narakasura. On hearing that, Lord Shri Krishna instantly started for the traveling for Pragjyoshitapur along with His consort Satyabhama and both of Them mounted on Garuda. One could not easily enter into the prajyoshitapur without crossing the four formidable forts in four directions which was very well shielded by military guards. The boundary was water canal surrounded by all over the city. The next boundary was enclosed with electric wires. The following boundary was full of gaseous substance, anila. The consecutive boundary was clustered with barbed electrical wiring construction.  Lord Krishna with His potent club, broke the forts into pieces as soon as He reached the place. The unbreakable force of His torrents of arrows made the military strength shattered hither and thither. He counterpoised the barbed electrical boundary through His powerful Sudharshana Chakra which made gaseous substance and water nullify. The mighty vibration of His conchshell threatened the hearts of the fighters. This thunderbolt like vibration awakened demon Mura and He witnessed what was happening outside. He came out with much temper and rushed to attack the Supreme Lord with his trident. It resembled a big snake counteracting Garuda and began to produce vibrant sound with his five heads similar to roaring of lions. 

  When the trident was approaching Garuda, Lord Krishna instantly take out His two arrows and attacked the trident. As soon as the trident was attacked, it broken into pieces. Lord Krishna pierced the mouth of demon Mura with many arrows. When Mura with his strong arms began to attack Lord Krishna, Krishna with His mighty arrows severed the heads of Mura. The demon fell on the water being attacked like a mountain falls on the ocean. The sons of Mura namely Tamra, Antarika, Sravaga, Vibhavasu, Vasu, Nabhasvan and Aruna were puffed up with anger and prepared themselves to fight against the Lord. They situated a demon named Pitha in the battlefield. When everyone began to attack the Lord with swords and other weapons, Krishna with His arrows severed the heads of the demons along with the commander in chief Pitha. 

  Hence the opponent demons died. Bhaumasura, aka Narakasura when witnessed the death of the fighters in the battlefiled, he became extremely anger. He came out with many intoxicated elephants and saw the charming Lord with His magnificent wife Sathyabhama blazing like a bright light of electricity. Narakasura released His powerful weapon known as Shataghni which had a capability to kill hundreds of warriors but when Lord Krishna counterpoised that weapon with His torrents of arrows, his powerful weapon destructed and the elephants, horses fell on the ground. Garuda was also helping the lord by defeating the elephants and horses with His sharp nails and beaks. When Narakasura was only remaining in the battlefield, he engaged in defeating Krishna. Nrakasura came to know that his tricks would not work upon Lord's mighty strength and hence he tried defeating for the last time. When he was about to release his trident, Lord Krishna cut off his head with His Sudharashana Chakra. On the victory, the Godly personalities from heaven showered upon the Lord with flowers and began to glorify Him. 

    Bhudevi descended and personified Lord Krishna presented a garland of vaijayanti jewels and gold and returned the sparkling earrings of Aditi and umbrella of Varuna. She began to offer Her prayers to Krishna, "O Krishna! You're unborn and personally descended this material world to restore equality and peace. You're ever merciful upon everyone and ever dearest to those who devote You! You're the Supreme of all living and non-living beings. O Lord! Please accept my humble prayers. Bhaumasura, the son of my son Bhagadatta who faced a tough situation after the death of His father. He then became perplexed out of fear. So I request You to offer Your blessings ever upon Him and kindly forgive the faults that he commited". When Lord Krishna heard the prayers offered by Bhudevi, he assured Bhagadatta to not be worried. He then entered into Narakasura's palace where the kidnapped 16,100 Princesses were present. As soon as the Lord entered the palace, the Princesses were awestruck with lord's unbeatable beauty. They decided to have Him as their husband in their minds. Each and everyone offered prayers to Krishna to accept them as their wives without any hesitation. As the Supreme Lord is so merciful, He could understand the situation of those princesses that they could never be married by any other due to their petty condition and thus accepted them as His wives.

    Here comes the significance of why do we celebrate Diwali festival by bursting colorful crackers. The slaying of demon Narakasura marks the greatest significance in celebrating Diwali. Once Narakasura asked a boon to Sathyabhama that  everybody should celebrate his death with colorful lights. This signifies Naraka Chaturdasi, the day celebrated before the occasion of Diwali. 

TO BE CONTINUED..