Krishna Slays Kansa

Krishna Slays Kansa

You all have heard of the story of how Krishna easily defeated Kansa. Krishna came out as the strong hero and Kansa as the weakling who did not put up a fight at all. Well, according to a source of ours, it was not that easy of a win. I guess Krishna did not want us to know that he struggled fighting Kansa. I mean a win is a win. You do not have to keep stuff from us, Krishna. We will always love you; we just want the truth, that is all. It is a good thing you have us, the Insider, to tell you the truth. Let’s start from the beginning, since apparently Krishna left that out. 

Before Krishna could get to Kansa, he had to fight off an elephant. You heard us right – an elephant. You all probably think that this was an easy win but this elephant was not like any ordinary elephant. It was Kubaliya. Kubaliya was known to be a mad elephant of Kansa. His sole purpose was to protect Kansa. Krishna probably left this small detail out because of the fact that he nearly lost to the elephant. I mean it makes sense why he would. No one wants that an elephant nearly best them on their record. 

After the elephant knocked him down and dragged him around, Krishna FINALLY managed to get up and slay the elephant. Next was Kansa. 

Now when Krishna tells the story of how he defeated Kansa, he said that the two had a sword fight. A sword fight that did not last long because, according to Krishna, he was the superior swordsman and easily defeated Kansa. Our source, who asserts that he witnessed the fight, says differently.

Apparently, it was Kansa who made the first blows and he made them with a two- handed sword.  Kansa was a wild fighter, making him unpredictable. This made him difficult to fight with for Krishna. Krishna may be a God and all  but that must have hurt! Both Krishna and Kansa struggled. Their battle was so great it went up to the heavens. Both gods and men held their breath as they watched. 

After a while, Krishna grabbed Kansa’s hair and bashed him into the ground. I do not know about you but hair-grabbing is kind of a cheap shot -- in my opinion. Maybe that is why Krishna did not go into great detail about the fight. Hair-grabbing does not necessarily shout out heroic battle.

Okay, so, back to the story. Where did we leave off again? Oh yeah, Krishna bashed Kansa into the ground. This instantly killed Kansa. And the gods and men rejoiced and blah blah. Krishna comes out as the hero – as usual. 

I do not really know why Krishna  did not just tell us the whole story in the first place. He still came out of the story as the winner and hero. I guess he did not want us common folk to know that even he struggles sometimes. He does not want us to see him in the same playing field as us. Hmm, it kind of sounds like Krishna has some insecurities. 

Well, you are a god, Krishna, so you do not need to worry about us thinking you anything lower than that. Next time give us all the details, please and thank you. 

(Krishna slays Kansa)

Author’s Note

My story is based on the story “How Krishna Slew Kansa and Performed His Funeral Rites” from Tales of Ancient India: Krishna and the Gods. I kept the main ideas but left out some small details. I kept the main ideas that Krishna had to face an elephant before facing Kansa. I left out that Krishna did not defeat the elephant alone and that the elephant had a rider. I also kind of exaggerated the fight between Krishna and the elephant. I made it seem more like the elephant put up a fight. I also left out the fact that after Krishna defeated Kansa, Kansa’s eight brothers came after him. Krishna defeated them as well. I left this out because I felt like it unnecessary in my specific story. I also left out that Krishna held a funeral for Kansa. The queens of Kansa came and wept for Kansa. Krishna comforted them. These did not relate to the theme of my story so I left it out. I just wanted to focus on the battles that Krishna fought between the elephant and Kansa. I chose the image above because it depicts the hair-grabbing that I mentioned earlier. It emphasizes the idea that it was a cheap shot. 

 “How Krishna Slew Kansa and Performed His Funeral Rites” from Tales of Ancient Indian by Edmund Charles Cox (1887). Web Source: Public Domain.