Novella of Indian Mythology

Why Krishna killed his own Nephew?

Krishna , the enchanter had killed his own nephew; if I would say this to anyone none is going to believe me.Do you remember the story of Jaya and Vijaya that I talked in the post titled “ Truth About Ravana and KumbhaKaran”. One of their Incarnation was Shisupal and DantVakra. Shisuapal  and DantVakra were nephews of Krishna born to the sister of his father, Vasudeva.Shisupal was born with four limbs and three eyes.His father and mother wanted to kill this child then suddenly a celestial voice proclaimed that  this son of yours would be very powerful  and strong and the man, on whose lap when placed, and the child would lose his superfluous members, would be the one who would ultimately slay him.

Shisuapal  father called many kings and priests and placed his son in their lap but nothing happened. One day Krishna and BalaRama visited his aunt place and when Shisuapal was placed in the lap of Krishna ,his superfluous  limbs disappeared and he also lost his third eye.The mother rejoiced but then he remembered the wordings of the celestial voice and began weeping before Krishna and told him the whole story.Krishna could see the weeping mother promised him  that he would let go the 100 mistakes of Shisuapal and thereafter destiny would take its due course.

Shisuapal later became the king of chedi and was to be married to Rukmini, the sister of his best friend Rukmi.But Rukmini loved Krishna and when Krishna eloped with Rukmini , Shisuapal was infuriated  and his hatred grew manifold for Krishna.One day when Yudhishtira organized Rajasoovya Yajna ;  he invited many kings including Shisuapal The Rajsooya Yajna was nearing its completion. The last part  was to confer honors upon the kings who had participated in the Yajna.

Before starting the last part, it was customary to worship the best person in the gathering according to the religious scriptures. Yudhisthir consulted  all the participants present there. Sahadeva, ruler of Magadha, proposed the name of Krishna , as he was personally obliged to Krishna for his coronation. Most of the kings and the Brahmans seconded the proposal though a number of kings opposed it . The opposition consisted of the supporters of Shishupal, who had an old grudge against Krishna because of Rukmini.

Shishupala opposed the worship of Krishna as the best participant using objectionable and disgraceful words for him. He suggested that either Bhishma or Drona should be the candidates for worship.  But these two worthy stalwarts had already supported Krishna’s candidature.

Shishupala cried, “Have all the kings in this hall lost their senses?  Why have everyone accepted a cowboy to be the guardian deity when there are many great warriors in this hall?  Why should noble Kshatriyas like us devote our prayers to a cowherd who has no noble family, is dark skinned and is a virtueless person.he who has an illegitimate relationship with Draupadi.Krishna pretends to be the friend of Draupadi but has ill will towards her.”

These wordings from the mouth of Shisupala infuriated Krishna and Shisuapal while using these derogatory remarks forget the count of his mistakes the Krishna promised to let go.He crossed the number 100 and Krishna immediately called his Sudarshana and directed towards Shisuapal and in a flash the Shisuapal was severed and his body was lying on the floor. 

Thus Lord Krishna gave the moksha  to Jaya as Shisuapal from  this worldly cycle of birth and death.