Krishna's Lineage

by Simon Brodbeck

91 Those were the words of the great seers, the companies of perfected saints, and the celestial singers. Keshava heard them all around him as he rose into the sky on his way into battle.

  110. Fights with Fires, Fiends, and Fever

  1–2 Vaishampāyana said:

  While Hari was being acclaimed there by the playing of musical instruments, and by great blasts on conch shells, and by all the thousands of bards, praise-singers, and storytellers, and by people raising their faces and cheering for victory, he looked just like the moon, and the sun, and Shakra. 3 And the magnificent sight of Vinatā’s son taking off was enhanced and augmented, if you please, by Hari’s splendour.

  4 Lotus-eyed Krishna could now be seen clearly with eight arms, looking like a mountain, thirsting for Bāna the Arrow’s destruction, 5 with his sword, discus, mace, and arrows there on the right-hand side, and his shield, Shārnga bow, and conch there on the left. 6 If the Shārnga bowman actually constituted a thousand heads, then the thousand bodies were being brought along by Sankarshana, 7 Rāma the invincible, he of the bright weapons, looking like Mount Kailāsa with its peaks, sitting on Garuda like the rising moon. 8 And there was the great Pradyumna, looking strong-armed and ever-youthful as he advanced boldly towards battle.

  9 As the powerful bird picked up speed, the force of his flapping wings made numerous mountains shudder and hindered the passage of the wind. 10 Then Garuda rose beyond the path of the wind, and reached the bright path of the companies of perfected saints and celestial singers.

  11 After a while, Rāma said to Krishna peerless in battle:

  Krishna, for what unprecedented reason have we been deprived of our own individual complexions? 12 No doubt about it, we’ve all started to look a golden colour. What’s happening? Tell us the truth. Have we come to the slopes of Mount Meru?

  13 The lord said:

  We’ve been struck by the light of the fire into which ritual oblations are offered. That’s what’s caused this change in our colour, Halāyudha.

  14 Rāma said:

  If we’ve lost our usual appearance because we’re close to it, then use your own judgement to decide what’s best for us now.

  15 The lord said:

  Son of Vinatā, do what needs doing for us next, and when you’ve done the necessary, I’ll do what’s next after that.

  16 When he heard great Keshava’s words, Vinatā’s powerful son quickly went to the River Gangā, 17 took the water out of it, and used it to douse the offertorial fire, which went out.

  18 Three men, in my opinion,* are a match for the three worlds: Krishna, Sankarshana, and mighty Pradyumna.

  19 After the fire had been put out, the king of birds continued on the journey, making a fearsome great racket with the flapping of his own strong wings.

  20 The fires that attend upon Rudra saw them there and thought: These various men riding on Garuda must be bringing trouble. Who are these three people, and why have they come here?

  21 The fires of the mountain range couldn’t agree on the answer, and they initiated hostilities against the three Yādavas.

  22 As it happened, an attendant of Bāna’s, who could travel at the speed of thought, was commanded by Bāna to observe the whole business and report back. Once he’d been briefed, he bowed hurriedly 23 and voiced his agreement, and then he came and watched as the fighting took place in the great battle between Vāsudeva and the combined fires.

  24 All the fires took part. The five famous fires suitable for the offerings made to the ancestors with the call of svadhā were there, namely the Khasrima Fire, Kalmāsha the Black-Speckled Fire, Dahana the Fire that Burns, Shoshana the Fire that Withers, and powerful Tapana the Fire that Scorches. 25 Other momentous fires also stood ready, each with their own armies. The five fires that receive the offerings made to the gods with the call of svāhā fought as well, namely Patara the Fire that’s Piled Up, Pataga the Fire that Flies Up, Svarna the Golden Fire, Agādha the Fathomless Fire, and Bhrāja the Shining Fire. 26 Also fighting were the two great and brilliant fires that receive the offerings made at soma rites with the call of vashat. And in between those two fires, the great seer Lord Angiras was visible.

  27 Krishna the supreme person saw Angiras mounted on a swift chariot, and chuckling softly again and again he called out: 28 Stand and fight, you fires! This is the trouble that’s ordained for you: scorched by the ferocity of my missiles, you’ll flee wounded in all directions.

  29 Angiras attacked with a glittering trident. The fight was fierce, and in his fury he almost killed Krishna, 30 but Krishna cut down his glittering trident in battle with superb sharp arrows that had half-moon tips and were like Yama the destroyer, 31 and then Krishna the great celebrity wounded him in the chest with a glittering pillar-barbed arrow that was like Yama the destroyer. Krishna roared. 32 Angiras flickered around like a fire, his limbs bathed in streams of blood, then his limbs suddenly stiffened and he fell onto the face of the earth.

  33 At that point all the rest of the fires left there in a hurry, heading for Bāna’s town, and so did our four sons of Brahmā.*34 Lotus-eyed Krishna lifted his conch shell to his mouth and blew it with the force of the wind, like a cloud breathing out the moon. 35 And after he’d inspired terror by sounding his conch, bold Krishna descended upon the town of Bāna the wonderworker.

  36 To the sounding of conches and the great booming of kettledrums, Bāna’s forces quickly armed themselves all over, 37 and then his enormous army of many tens of millions of servant monsters went off into battle with weapons glinting. 38 Incalculable, immeasurable, and indestructible, when gathered as a unit the army was like a huge solid stormcloud, or a pile of black kohl.

  39 Daityas, Dānavas, and monsters, with shining weapons and led by gangs of tormentor fiends, clashed with Krishna and fought. 40 These demons were like fires bright with flames all around, and with their blazing mouths they drank the blood of our four in battle.

  41 Then strong-armed Rāma said to Keshava: Krishna, strong-armed Krishna. Cause them severe distress.

  42 When wise Baladeva provoked him like this, Krishna, supreme person and supreme missile expert, took up a fire missile that was like Yama the destroyer, and tried to kill them with it. 43 He dispersed the flesh-eating demon hordes with the power of his missile, and then he quickly advanced until they could see the rest of the army.

  44 The army there on the earth consisted mostly of gangs of tormentor fiends armed with spears, pikes, lances, swords, staffs, and iron clubs. 45 All the warriors stood there in their multitudes, with fearsome vehicles of various kinds that looked like clouds or mountains—like clouds tossed around by the wind, or like mountains scattered around.

  46 Rāma, riding on the son of Vinatā, saw them and said to Krishna: Krishna, strong-armed Krishna. Since this army is still in evidence, supreme person, I myself would like to fight with them in battle.

  47 Krishna said to him: That same thought had also occurred to me. They’re crazy for battle, and I’d like to fight with them. 48 As I fight facing forwards, the eagle must be sure to stay in front of me, Pradyumna must stay on my left-hand side, and you must stay on my right. 49 We must protect each other in this great and fiendish battle.

  When they agreed this between themselves they were still riding on the supreme bird, 50 but soon there was the fearsome sight of Rohinī ’s son looking like Death trying to burn all beings at the end of the age, Rohinī ’s son fighting in battle with his mace, club, and plough, weapons that looked like mountain peaks. 51 Hugely strong, and wise in the ways of war, as the battle raged he dragged enemies towards himself with the tip of his plough, then crushed them with his club. 52 As they fought on in their thousands, Pradyumna the man-tiger held the Dānavas back with webs of arrows on all sides. 53 Janārdana, bearing his conch, discus, and mace and looking like a pile of glossy black kohl, gave a series of blasts on his conch, then carried on fighting. 54 And Vinatā’s glorious son bashed his enemies in battle with blows from his wings, and wounded them with his claws and
the tip of his beak.

  55 As the battle continued and those fearsomely bold warriors hammered away at the army of Daityas, the army was damaged by the downpours of arrows and became divided, 56 and when the troops became divided, Fever arrived, seeking to protect them. He had three legs and three heads, and he was hard to beat in battle. 57 Armed with hot coals and as terrible as Yama or as Death the destroyer, he was roaring with a racket like that of a thousand-cloud thunderstorm. 58 In a fury he tauntingly said to Halāyudha:

  Why are you drunk on your own strength like this? Can’t you see that I’m on the battlefield? Stand and fight! Stand and fight! At the battlefront you won’t get away from me alive.

  59 After he’d said that, he burst out laughing and charged at Halāyudha, inspiring terror with two of his horrendous fists, each of which looked like the fire at the end of the age.

  60 As Rohinī ’s son moved swiftly around the battlefield in thousands of circles, Fever couldn’t make out his exact position. 61 Then the peerlessly powerful Fever threw his hot coals fast enough to hit the target, Rāma’s mountainous body. 62 Some hot coals rebounded off his chest and fell onto a crest of Mount Meru, and after they’d landed they exploded and blew the mountain peak into smithereens.

  63 The hot coals made Krishna’s elder brother blaze up with anger, but then suddenly his body was suffused with weariness and he found himself sighing and yawning. 64 His vision was distorting, and he was suddenly tottering with his body-hairs stiffening and his eyes aching with exhaustion, wheezing as if his mind was closing down. 65 Maddened, his mind reeling, the plough-bearer said to Krishna:

  Krishna, strong-armed Krishna, bringer of safety. I’m aflame, my boy. I’m being burned all over! How can I be rid of it?

  66 When Halāyudha said this Krishna hugged him with great affection, and then the burning heat left him.

  67 Now Vāsudeva got really angry and said to Fever: Come here! Come here, Fever, and fight! Whatever powers you have in pitched battle, sage of war, show them off on me in battle.

  68 When Fever the great illness heard this, he used his two right arms to throw hot flame-charged coals at him. 69 Mighty Krishna was aflame for a moment, but when it came to fighting back he was the best, and the fire went out again. 70 Then Fever bashed Krishna on the back of the neck with three arms that were like snakes, and thumped him on the chest with one fist.

  71 The fight was long and noisy between those two man-lions, Fever and the great Krishna. It sounded like lightning-bolts striking mountains. 72 Krishna and Fever, two great masters, fought viciously with life and limb, and they fought against each other for a good while. They could be heard there, saying: You don’t attack like that, you do it like this!

  73 Fever flew through the air decked in wonderful gold,

  but the lord of the world, in battle in bodily form,

  used the bracelet on his arm to crush him in the heat of battle

  and send him towards Yama’s domain.

  111. Fever Departs

  1 Vaishampāyana said:

  Thinking that Fever was dead, Krishna the ruin of his foes, using all the strength of his two arms, threw him down onto the face of the earth. 2 But just before those two arms let go of him he entered into Krishna’s body, and he wouldn’t let go of peerlessly powerful Krishna’s body. 3 Krishna, suffused by the peerlessly powerful Fever, suddenly stumbled and nearly fell to the ground. 4 Krishna yawned, and stumbled again badly. The hairs on his body stiffened and quivered, and he was overcome by drowsiness.

  5 The supreme person understood that his body had been possessed by Fever, so he produced another Fever to destroy the first Fever. 6 But then, when peerlessly powerful Krishna was just about to destroy Fever, an incorporeal voice in the sky spoke to him and said: 7 Krishna, strong-armed Krishna, the Yadus’ impeccable pride and joy. Whatever you do, don’t kill this Fever. You must protect him.

  As soon as those words were spoken, Hari released him voluntarily.

  8 Fever had something else to say to him. He said: But I am the only Fever on earth. Brilliant fighter, as a favour from you, may there be no other Fever.

  9 The lord said:

  You shall be the one and only Fever in the world, just as you wish. I’ll reabsorb the other Fever I produced.*

  10 Fever said:

  I’m fortunate and I’m favoured, since you’ve granted my wish. But what is your wish, discus-wielding warrior? Name it and I’ll grant it.

  11 The lord said:

  If anyone bows to me and tells with a focused mind

  of the courage we two have shown in this great duel

  with the strength of our arms as our only weapons,

  may they surely be freed of their fever, Fever.

  12 After the great man Krishna had said this to him in person, Fever bowed his head to Krishna in agreement, and then strode away from the battlefield.

  112. The Battle against Bāna

  1 Vaishampāyana said:

  Then, all together, the three of them mounted onto the son of Vinatā and carried on fighting, like three fires in battle. 2 Those powerful men were even more powerful when they were mounted on the son of Vinatā, and they wounded all of Bāna’s troops with downpours of arrows in battle, roaring as they did so. 3 Damaged by the downpours of arrows and by blows from the discus and plough, the huge army of illustrious Dānavas flared up with rage. 4 Like a fire in the undergrowth blazing up when it finds some dry kindling, the fire caused by Krishna’s arrows took hold and grew, 5 and as it burned up thousands of Dānavas at the battlefront it looked like the brilliant fire at the end of the age.

  6 When he found that his great army was being broken apart despite the zeal of its various weapons, Bāna made a speech to keep it in check. He said:

  7 Why would warriors born in the Daitya lineage be overcome with such fear as soon as they come up against some skill? Run away into the great battle! 8 Why are you all leaving your armour behind, leaving your daggers, clubs, harpoons, swords, shields, and axes behind, and heading off into the sky? 9 Think of your own birth and standing, and our alliance with Hara, and don’t leave. I, for one, am staying.

  10 When these words were spoken, all the Dānavas heard them, but they ignored them and ran away, stricken with terror. 11 Nonetheless, residual gangs of tormentor fiends remained in the army’s vanguard after it had broken up, and they made up their minds to fight once more.

  12 Bāna’s heroic friend and minister—namely, Kumbhānda—surveyed the broken army and made a speech. He said: 13 Bāna here is resolute in battle, and so are Shankara and Guha. So why would you abandon the battle, befuddled by fear?

  14 Then bold Rudra mounted a chariot prepared by Lord Nandin, and with his lips bitten together he rushed off towards where Hari was. 15 The chariot was harnessed to lions, made a huge racket, and seemed to guzzle up the intervening space. It looked like the moon breaking free of the clouds on full-moon night.

  16 Hari came towards him on the son of Vinatā, firing away, but as he did so Hara the champion became irritated and injured him with a hundred iron arrows. 17 When enemy-destroying Hara hurt him with arrows, Hari, irritated in turn, took up his superb downpour missile, 18 and then hundreds and thousands of smooth-jointed arrows came flying down upon Hara’s body from all directions.

  19 Now Rudra, the supreme missile expert, was angry, and he launched a fearsome fire missile. It was like a miracle. 20 As the fire burned the four of them their bodies were scorched all over, but they were hidden behind the arrows and couldn’t be seen.

  21 When Hari was hidden behind the fire weapon, each and every one of the main demons roared like a lion, thinking he’d been killed. 22 But glorious Vāsudeva, the supreme missile expert, endured that weapon in battle, and then selected his water missile. 23 And when wise Vāsudeva launched the water missile, its oceanic power extinguished the fire weapon.

  24 Now Bhava fired four missiles, each one of them like the fire at the end of the age: the devil missile, the monster missile,
the missile of Rudra, and the missile of Angiras. 25 To resist those missiles, Vāsudeva fired the wind missile, the sun missile, the missile of the Vasus, and the missile of confusion. 26 After using his own four missiles to resist his opponent’s four, Keshava selected the missile of Vishnu, which was like Death with his mouth gaping, 27 and when he fired the missile of Vishnu each and every one of the main demons ran away. They all ran in all directions, their eyes stupefied by fear.

  28 The world was plunged into darkness. Nandin couldn’t be seen, and nor could the chariot, or Rudra. Then Tryambaka burst into flames. 29 With his body blazing in two different ways—blazing with fury and blazing from the power of Keshava’s weapon—four-faced Rudra picked up the arrow that had destroyed the triple city.*30 As three-eyed Rudra drew his bow the great Vāsudeva read his mind and knew he intended to launch it, 31 and so the supreme and mighty person acted quickly, selected a missile called the yawn-maker, and made Hara yawn. 32 As the Shārnga bow twanged and the Pānchajanya conch sounded, all creatures watched the god yawning and were afraid.

  33 Then, on a chariot with horses driven by Kumbhānda, Guha charged at Krishna, Bala, and Pradyumna. 34 Guha rammed their bodies with masses of arrows, but the three of them, their bodies soaked in masses of blood, fought back against him like three fires. 35 Blazing with glory and wise in the ways of war, those three hit him with three supreme missiles: a wind missile, a fire missile, and a downpour missile. 36 The great god Guha wielded a blazing bow and fired masses of blazing arrows, but they swallowed up his masses of arrows with their magic missiles.

  37 As the battle raged, Guha, his lips bitten together, then picked out a dangerous and deadly missile called the Brahmashiras missile. 38 The vicious Brahmashiras is as brilliant as the thousand-rayed sun. It can destroy the world, it’s supremely difficult to counteract, and when it was fired 39 and all the great elements were running away everywhere in panic, brave Keshava the killer of Keshin took hold of his discus. 40 His discus is famous across the world for resisting and destroying the power of every other missile. The great man’s discus is irresistible, 41 and its power took away the brilliance of the Brahmashiras missile, like clouds obscuring the sun’s great orb at the beginning of the monsoon.