#302 Narakasura and 16000+ wives of Bhagavan Sri Krishna
Naraka Chaturdashi is celebrated on the 2nd day of the 5 day Deepavali festival. One of the associated legends is that Sri Krishna defeated Narakasura. Who was he?
What were the circumstances that prompted Sri Krishna to marry 16000 women? Let’s listen to this excerpt from Bhagavatam, one of the 18 MahaPuranas.
Narakasura like other asuras across the ages had made living conditions horrible for people.
He conquered the three worlds: the heavens, the earth, and the underworld. In heaven, he stole the earrings of Adit, mother of Indra – the king of the devas and heaven. In the underworld, he seized the imperial umbrella of Varuna, the god of the waters. The mountain Meru which was the favourite resort of Indra was now Naraka’s.
On earth, he captured 16,000 princesses of defeated kingdoms from the earth and even from the world of the Gods. He had made them captives at Audaka on the top of a mountain in his fabulous city by name Pragjyotisha.
The harassment across the worlds became so much that the devas could no longer put up with it. Indra came to Krishna and asked him to help him: the devas were terrified of him desperate. Krishna agreed to do so and he took his wife Satyabhama with him.
Krishna found that Pragjyotisha was very well fortified. It was surrounded on all sides by hills which were very difficult to scale. The city was guarded by an army made up of asuras carrying dreadful weapons. The weapons themselves formed a formidable barrier. After that, water, fire and air were all made to serve the purpose of defending the city.
Tens of thousands of ‘Pashas’ had been given him to an asura named Mura for further strengthening the city. Krishna approached the city of Pragjyotisha. He took up his gada and with it he broke open the first obstacle which was the range of mountains. With his arrows he broke through the defence made up of weapons. His discus, sudarshana chakra destroyed the defence made up of water and air: with his sword he snapped the Pashas laid there by Mura. Krishna blew triumphantly on his conch, and the notes filled the minds of the people with terror. Krishna took up his gada again and split the fortress with it.
When he heard the loud notes from Panchajanya, the asura by name Mura woke up from his sleep. He was lying inside the water sleeping. From under the waters emerged Mura with his five heads which would strike terror into the hearts of all his enemies. His form was glowing like the sun and Agni at the end of the yuga. With his trident lifted high in the air he rushed towards Krishna. His five heads and ten arms looked like they were going to swallow up Krishna. Krishna had come to the fight riding on his Garuda.
Mura hurled his trident at Krishna’s vahana, Garuda and shouted with all his five throats. He thought that he had achieved his desire. The very air in all the three worlds quivered with the echo of his shouting. Krishna sent three arrows and broke the trident which had been hurled at Garuda. And, with his arrows Krishna hurt Mura in his faces.
Mura was furious with anger and pain and he hurled his gada at Krishna. Krishna raised his own gada and the gada of the enemy was split into fragments. Mura now rushed towards Krishna with uplifted arms. Krishna used his chakra to cut off all the five heads of Mura who fell into the water like a huge mountain whose wings had been cut off by Indra’s Vajra. Hence Sri Krishna is also referred to as Murari, the one inimical to Mura.
Mura had seven sons who were very sad at the thought that their father had been vanquished so easily by this mere man. Their sorrow turned into anger and they came out of the city to fight with Krishna. They were led by Pita, the commander-in-chief who had been sent by Narakasura. In a matter of a few moments Krishna destroyed all of them.
Narakasura, the son of Bhumi, mother earth, was amazed at the fact that all of them had been killed by Krishna. He emerged out of the city and with him came an army of elephants: noble beasts which belonged to the clan of Airavata. They were also born of the ocean of milk and the air was filled with the sweet scent of the rut flowing from their heads. It was a magnificent sight, this army made up of elephants.
Naraka came out and stood firm. He looked around and saw Krishna seated on the Garuda and with him was his wife Bhama. Krishna looked like a rain-bearing cloud with a streak of lightning across illuminating it. Naraka sent an astra by name Shataghni. The army which was attacking Krishna and Garuda was destroyed by Krishna’s arrows and the elephants were almost all killed or wounded by Garuda and Krishna.
Naraka was very angry since his astra became futile against Krishna. He fought with great ferocity and yet he could not upset Garuda even one bit. The bird stood firm as a small mountain. Naraka now used his Shakti and tried to hurt the bird. This also proved ineffective. Naraka decided that he would try to kill Krishna and so he took up his trident. Even before he could hurl it Krishna threw his chakra and severed the head of Narakasura from his body.
There was great jubilation in the heavens when they saw the head of Naraka fallen on the ground. Bhumi, the mother of Naraka, came to Krishna, and placed at his feet the glorious kundalas (earrings) of Aditi: the umbrella which was the insignia of Varuna and finally she gave Krishna Mandara, the jewelled peak of the mountain Meru.
She stood with folded palms in front of Krishna and praised him and then said: “My lord! ages back, when I had been taken to nether world by Hiranyaksha you took the form of a boar and lifted me out of the sea. Because of the thrill of your embrace this son Naraka was born to me. You gave him to me and now you have yourself taken him away from me. Please have mercy and spare this son of Naraka and let him live.”
Krishna raised up the son of Naraka whom she had placed at his feet. Holding his hand Krishna entered the city called Pragjyotisha. Sri Krishna visited the Mount Mani where beautiful princesses and maidens were captivated by Naraka.
He saw on the mount Mani, gates, summits of sapphire decorated with flags and doors. At that time adorned with rows of palaces painted in golden colours, the entire mount Mani shone like a cloud adorned with lightings. Madhusudana saw there the pure, gold-coloured and plump-hipped daughters of the Gandharvas whom Naraka had carried away by force and confined there.
Those divine damsels, desiring to beget Madhusudana as their husband, proceeded towards Keshava and narrated how they were foretold of their fortunes by Narada Muni and Wind God.
Long ago, a king who was the father of 16000 daughters ruled over a country. Mahavishnu had come there as a hermit. All the daughters gathered around the hermit. Their father got angry and cursed them. His daughters became sad and pleaded with their father for liberation from the curse. He then gave them a boon that in the next birth they would become wives of Mahavishnu.
And so when these 16000 captive women saw the moon-like countenance of the large-armed Krishna, those beautiful damsels were all worked up with desire and wished to select him as their husband. And they with joyous hearts said:-
“What the celestial saint Nārada, knowing the hearts of all creatures, and the Wind-god had said to us before, is all true. They said that Lord Nārāyaṇa, the holder of conch, discus and club, slaying Bhumi’s son Naraka, would in no time become our husband.
We behold now our beloved lord, the slayer of his enemies of whom we have been hearing for ever. Oh! we have been blessed to-day by seeing this high-souled deity”.
Reference: Mahabharata, Harivamsa Parva, Vishnu Parva, Chapter 121
So, these 16000 princesses wanted to marry Lord Krishna and it was not Lord Krishna wanting to marry them, as has been naughtily portrayed by people misunderstanding Sri Krishna.
He was not an ordinary human but the great progenitor of the entire creation and had come down to earth as an Avataara.
Upon seeing the Lord, the Friend of the Distressed, all the princesses there who were kidnapped by the demon immediately stood prepared joyfully to accept Him, with eager glances shyly closing Him in their hearts, [as their husband].
Although they resided in different apartments, He, in proper regulation, through His internal potency accepted the hands of all women simultaneously with an equal number of suitable forms. Desiring to expand Himself, He with each and every one of them begot ten children who all were like Him in every respect.
Reference: Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 3, chapter 3
Here is what one of those queens had stated to Devi Draupadi when she visited Dvarka. The other queens said [as expressed by Rohinî]: ‘After He in battle had killed the demon Bhauma and his followers, He discovered that we, the daughters of the kings that the demon defeated during his conquest of the earth, had been imprisoned by him. Because we constantly had remembered His lotus feet as the source of liberation from a material existence He, the One All of whose Wishes are Fulfilled, married us after our release.
Oh saintly lady, we do not desire rulership over the earth, a heavenly kingdom, unlimited pleasures or mystic power. Nor do we strive for the supreme divinity, to achieve immortality or the abode of Hari. We [just] want to carry on our heads the dust of the divine feet of the Wielder of the Club that is enriched with the fragrance of the kunkuma from the bosom of S’rî. We desire the same as what the Pulinda women [the gopîs] desire, as what the grass and the plants and the grazing cows and gopas of Vraja desire: to be touched by the feet of Bhagavan. ‘
Reference: Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 10, chapter 83
Thus, Sri Krishna married them in order grant those women the fruits of their constant devotion towards Him.
He sent them all to Dwaraka. He also sent sixty-four white elephants which were the pride of Naraka to his city. Krishna returns to Dvaraka and marries the rescued women, making them his junior wives, saving them from destitution and infamy.
Each of the junior wives was given a home, with hundreds of maid-servants. Sri Krishna divides himself into several forms, one for each wife, and spends the night with each wife simultaneously. In the morning, all his forms unite into one body of Krishna when Krishna works as the king of Dvaraka.
In another story narrated in the Bhagavatam, Narada Vishnu’s devotee and wandering sage, was curious to find out how Krishna was managing to live with all his wives and came to Dvaraka to check. Krishna welcomed Narada with all the honors due to him being a sage.
Narada then visited every one of the houses of Krishna’s 16000 plus wives and was surprised to see Krishna present in every house with his wife in an atmosphere of total domesticity, laughing and joking with his wife and taking care of his children, and helping his wife in household chores.
Watching this phenomenon, Narada was convinced that it was divinity in the form of Krishna, a complete and manifold manifestation who had enjoyed the company of his 16,108 consorts at the same time. He also became certain that Krishna was a divine supreme being. Having satisfied himself of the divine powers of the deity himself, Narada embarked on his usual voyages around the world singing the praise of Krishna.
Some people these days try to justify their immoral behaviour by loose talk of ‘If Sri Krishna could have so many wives’, why can’t I flirt with a few?, totally forgetting that Sri Krishna was not an ordinary person but an Avataara, a divine incarnation of Vishnu who came to earth to re-establish Dharma.
We cannot judge Sri Krishna’s actions on the basis of our framework of judgement for human beings as it just does not apply. However, we can appreciate how fortunate indeed were these women that they not only lived in the time of Sri Krishna but were actually married to the Lord himself. How sweet was their love. How fulfilling their lives turned out to be!
The greatness of Sanatana Dharma is that one is free to relate to Bhagavan in any form that takes you closer to him. Some of the ways of relating are –
Dasya Bhakti, relating to Bhagavan as his/her servant. Lord Hanuman and Tulsidas ji are examples of this.
Vatsalya bhakti – relating to Bhagavan as your child such as bhakti between Yashoda and Sri Krishna as a child or looking upon Bhagavan as your parent.
Sakha bhakti – relating to Bhagavan as a friend like the bhakti between Sri Krishna and Sudama, or Sri Krishna and Arjuna.
Madhurya or Shringaar bhakti – relating to Bhagavan as your husband or lover. It consists of all other bhavas because one can consider the husband as one’s king, one’s friend, one’s and even one’s parent.
Shree Krishnaaya namah
