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.
