Once, mother Earth, was unable to bear the burden of sins
committed by evil kings and rulers, prayed
to God to free her,save her and protect her from the cruel tortures of
demons. God assured her that He would
soon be born on earth to annihilate tyrannical forces.
One such evil force was Kansa, the ruler of Mathura and his people were utterly terrified of him.
On the day Kansa's sister Devaki was married off to Vasudeva, an akashvani or
voice from the sky was heard prophesying that Devaki's eightth son would be the
destroyer of Kansa.
The frightened Kansa immediately unsheathed his sword to
kill his sister but Vasudeva, husband of Devaki, intervened and requested Kansa to spare his bride, and promised to
hand over every new born child to him. Kansa relented but imprisoned both
Devaki and her husband Vasudeva.
When Devaki gave birth to her first child, Kansa came to the
prison and cruely killed the newborn.
Devaki and Vasudev cried a lot. But heartless Kansa could not understand their
pains. On the birth of each child Kansa came to the prison and killed them. In
this way, he killed the six newborns of Devaki. Even before their eighth child
was born, Devaki and Vasudeva started lamenting its fate and theirs.
On the Shravan vad ashtami right at midnight, the prison was
filled with a divine light! A small blue
compexioned baby with so much curly hair and contagious smile on face, appeared
and started crawling in front of Devaki and Vasudev. Both of them embraced Him
and started pampering Him in many ways. But simultaneously they thought of
Kansa and started shivering with fear.
Then suddenly Lord Vishnu appeared before them and said, God Himself
has come to rescue them and the people of Mathura. He asked Vasudeva to carry
the Divine child to the home of his friend, the cowherd chief Nanda in Gokula,
where Nanda's wife Yashoda had given birth to a daughter. He was to exchange
his boy and bring Yashoda's baby daughter back to the prison. Lord Vishnu
assured them that "nothing shall bar your path".
Now Vasudev and Devaki had to act according to this divine
order.They could not spend enough time with their own divine child! Keeping the divine instructions, in a small basket
they spread a cloth and put the Baby gently into it. Vasudeva clasped the child
to his bosom and started for Gokula, but found that his legs were in chains. He
jerked his legs and was unfettered! The massive iron-barred doors got unlocked
and opened up. The soldiers who were keeping a watch outside the prison went
off into a deep sleep!
Outside the prison the scene was not that simple. That was a
dark night with torrential rain. Lightings were sparking with deep thunders!
Vasudev reached to the shore of river Yamuna. He prayed to Yamuna Devi. Yamuna
came to know that His Lord has appeared and she gave a way in between the
water, so that Vasudev could move ahead easily. But Yamunaji could not resist
to touch the Lotus-feet of her Lord and the level of water started coming up. It reached to the neck of
Vasudev. Now Baby Krishna took out His one foot out of the basket. Yamuna
touched the foot and got overwhelmed. Baby Krishna told Yamuna that with so
much of water His father is facing problems . So decrease the water level.
Yamuna started flowing on very low level.
While crossing river Yamuna, Vasudeva held his Baby high
over his head. The rain fell in torrents. Vasudev thought that “I am covered
with basket and the basket is working as an umbrella, but what about my child?
He is right under the sky and facing the straight strokes of rain. He saw that
for his satisfaction a malty-mouthed snake was following him from behind and
providing shelter over the Baby!
When Vasudeva reached Gokula, he found the door of Nanda's
home opened! He exchanged the Babies and hurried back to the prison of Kansa
with the Baby girl. Vasudeva came back to Mathura and as he entered, the
soldiers awoke themselves,the doors of the prison closed themselves, the iron
chains locked his legs again!!
When Kansa came to know about the birth, he rushed inside the
prison and tried to kill the Baby but this time it skipped from his hand and flew
skywards. She was transformed into the Goddess Yogamaya, who told Kansa:
"O foolish! What will you get by killing me? Your nemesis is already born
somewhere else."
Early in the morning, all the people at Gokula rejoiced the
birth of Nanda and Yashoda’s beautiful male child!
Nanda Gher Anand Bhayo, Jay Kanaiya Laal Ki!!
Haathi Ghoda Paalakhi, Jay Kanaiya Laal Ki !!
