Jarāsandha

Jarāsandha's father, King Brihadratha, was married to the twin daughters of the King of Kāshī, and though he loved both his wives equally, he had no sons. One day the sage Chandakaushika, pleased with the king's devotion, granted him a boon in the form of a divine mango, which the king divided equally between his two queens. In time both conceived, but each gave birth to only one half of a human body. Horrified at the two lifeless halves, Brihadratha ordered them discarded in the forest.

There a demoness named Jara came upon them and, curious, took one half in each hand; as she brought her palms together the halves fused into a whole and living child, who cried out so loudly that the startled demoness could not bring herself to harm him. She carried him to the king and told him all that had happened, and the overjoyed Brihadratha named his son Jarāsandha, after the demoness who had joined him. The sage Chandakaushika later prophesied that the boy would be a mighty ruler and a great devotee of Lord Shiva.

Seeking to strengthen his alliances, Jarāsandha married his daughters Asti and Prapti to Kaṃsa. But when Krishna slew Kaṃsa and made his daughters widows, Jarāsandha swore vengeance and launched a relentless campaign against Krishna, attacking Mathurā and the Yadavas seventeen times. Though his forces included the Panchalas, the Kurus, and other powerful kingdoms, he was defeated each time.

To spare his people the endless loss of life, Krishna at last made the strategic decision to relocate the Yādava capital to Dwārakā, an island fortress that could not be invaded.

A new threat then arose in Kalyavana, a ruthless warrior from the western regions who had allied with Jarāsandha and received from Lord Shiva a boon of invincibility against any Yādava. As he marched upon Mathurā with a vast army, Krishna, knowing direct battle would be futile, devised a plan to rid the world of him without bloodshed. Appearing before Kalyavana unarmed and unarmored, Krishna calmly walked away, and the demon king, eager to capture Him, gave chase deep into the mountains, away from his army.

Krishna led him into a dark cave where the sage-king Muchukunda lay in a divinely granted slumber — one who, if disturbed, would reduce the disturber to ash with his gaze. Mistaking the sleeping king for Krishna, Kalyavana kicked him awake, and Muchukunda's eyes opened and burned him to ashes in an instant. Thus the threat was ended without Krishna lifting a weapon, and He then revealed Himself to Muchukunda and blessed him for his years of devotion.

Determined to weaken Jarāsandha, Krishna systematically eliminated his powerful allies one by one — Kalyavana, Narakāsura, Hansha, and Dimbaka. Still Jarāsandha remained formidable, though he was humiliated at Draupadī's swayamvara when he failed even to lift the bow. His ambition undimmed, he planned a grand yagna to Lord Shiva in which he intended to sacrifice a hundred captured kings to gain invincible power. He had already imprisoned ninety-five, and the desperate kings secretly sent a plea to Krishna to rescue them.

Unwilling to wage an all-out war against Magadha, Krishna devised a subtler approach. At that time Yudhi-shṭhira, eldest of the Pāṇḍavas, was preparing to perform the Rajasuya Yajña to establish himself as emperor, and Krishna convinced him that Jarāsandha was the one obstacle standing in his way. Disguised as brahmins, Krishna, Arjuna, and Bhīma came to Magadha, for Jarāsandha, an ardent devotee of Shiva, was in the habit of granting any request made of him after his daily worship.

When they asked not for alms but for a duel, Jarāsandha, recognizing them as warriors, chose to wrestle Bhīma. For fourteen days the two fought, their strength equally matched, for Jarāsandha's endurance seemed inexhaustible — no matter how often he was thrown down, he rose again unscathed.

By the fourteenth day, exhaustion crept into Bhīma's limbs, and he turned to Krishna for guidance. Krishna, who knew the secret of Jarāsandha's unnatural resilience — that his body, once joined from two halves, would rejoin whenever torn — took a blade of grass, tore it in two, and cast the halves in opposite directions. Bhīma understood the sign. Seizing Jarāsandha by the legs, he tore his body down the middle; when the two halves crept back toward each other to rejoin, Bhīma hurled them far apart, and this time they could not reunite.

With a final cry the mighty king of Magadha fell, and his reign of terror ended. Krishna and the Pāṇḍavas freed the ninety-five imprisoned kings and restored their thrones, and crowned Jarāsandha's son Sahadeva as the new ruler of Magadha, clearing at last Yudhi-shṭhira's path to the Rajasuya Yajña.