Shri Krishna had killed the tyrant Kansa and given the throne of Mathura back to the deposed king, Urgrasena. The population of the kingdom was happy. But Kansa’s two widows, Asti and Prapti, were sorely unhappy at the loss of their husband. The two queens were daughters of Jarasandh, the powerful emperor of Maghdha. A furious Jarasandh marched on Mathura at the head of a vast army of 23 akshauhini (one akshauhini comprised 5 lakh warriors and thousands of elephants, horses and chariots besides).
Shri Krishna and Balram aarmoured themselves and came out to face the invaders. Theirs was a band of warriors, pitifully small in number, yet lacking neither in valour nor commitment. Shri Krishna’s chariot, driven by his personal charioteer Daruk, was in the forefront. WhenShri Krishna blew his famous conch Panchjanya in declaration of war, Jarasandh pronounced imperiouslythat it was beneath him to fight a nobody who had killed his own mama – mother’s brother. If, he said, Balarama had the courage to engage him in a man to man combat, he was ready to smash the fellow with his blows. Jarasandh’s army had already surrounded the puny force of Mathura.
But soon enough, the twang of Shri Krishna’s bow Sharang, Balrama’s ploughshare and a tough stance of their warriors routed the invading army. Balarama caught Jarasandh in his stranglehold and would have throttled him to death had not Shri Krishna told him to let their foe live to fight another day. Badly mauled and humiliated, Jarasandh retreated to his capital. To avenge his shameful defeat, he attacked Mathura for seventeen times with huge armies and was trounced every time.
On the impending eighteenth attack, Shri Krishna decided to evacuate to a place far from Jarasandh’s reach and entrusted Mathura to the care of Balarama. For this purpose Vishwakarma was employed to build a splendid capital city on the sea coast. This city came to be known as Dwarka, the gateway to Shri Krishna’s domain.
Could Jarasandh’s ten million strong, well-equipped army have been trounced by a handful of warriors led by bowstring-twanging Shri Krishna and his ploughshare-wielding brother Balrama – not once but seventeen times over? The might of the Maghdha Empire and the importance of ancient city of Mathura as a centre of trade are historical facts.The rest is a matter of faith that renders all reasoning unnecessary. A myth should be seen as the narration of a dream, a dream not of one person but of a people as a whole. And what else is a dream if not snippets of real life intermingled with dormant desires, hopes and fears appearing in an arabesque?
The myth has two inter-related elements. One is Shri Krishna-Jarasandh long drawn out battle and the other is Shri Krishna’s decision to shift from Mathura to Dwarka. Was it the increasing rivalry of the contemporary powers in the Madhya Desa that compelled Shri Krishna to move westwards, or the lure of maritime trade with the rest of the world that the port of Dwarka promised? Shri Krishna achieved both the objectives. If there are superlatives and hyperboles in the majestic tale, so what! Was not Shri Krishna omnipotent Narayana incarnate? Nearer our times, MrNarendra Modi promised to put 15 lakh rupees into the pockets of each and every Indian and a host of our countrymen believed in the miraculous powers of an all-powerful Prime Minister.
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