Source
Texts:
Lord
Krishna Fights with Bânâsura
Text
1
S'rî
S'uka said: 'Then, o son of Bharata, did Aniruddha's relatives,
thus not seeing Him, in lamentation pass the four months of the
rainy season.
S'ukadeva
Gosvâmî said: O descendant of Bharata, the
relatives of Aniruddha, not seeing Him return, continued to
lament as the four rainy months passed.
Text
2
Hearing
from Nârada the news of what He had done and that He had
been captured, went the Vrishnis, who had Krishna as their
worshipable deity, to S'onitapura.
After
hearing from Nârada the news of Aniruddha's deeds and
His capture, the Vrishnis, who worshiped Lord Krishna as
their personal Deity, went to S'onitapura.
Text
3-4:
The
best of the Sâtvata's knowing Pradyumna, Yuyudhâna
[Sâtyaki], Gada, Sâmba, and Sârana;
Nanda, Upananda, Bhadra and others, following Râma and
Krishna assembled with twelve akshauhinîs and besieged on
all sides the entirety of Bâna's city.
With
Lord Balarâma and Lord Krishna in the lead, the chiefs
of the Sâtvata clan - Pradyumna, Sâtyaki, Gada,
Sâmba, Sârana, Nanda, Upananda, Bhadra and
others - converged with an army of twelve divisions and laid
siege to Bânasura's capital, completely surrounding
the city on all sides.
Text
5
Seeing
the city gardens, the city walls and watchtowers ravaged came
he, filled with anger, out for them with an army just as
big.
Bânâsura
became filled with anger upon seeing them destroy his city's
suburban gardens, ramparts, watchtowers and gateways, and
thus he went out to confront them with an army of equal
size.
Text
6
Bhagavân
S'iva rode out on Nandi, his bull, together with his son
[Kârtikeya, his general] and was accompanied by
the Pramathas [his different mystic attendants] to
fight with Râma and Krishna for Bâna's
sake.
Lord
Rudra, accompanied by his son Kârtikeya and the
Pramathas, came riding on Nandi, his bull carrier, to fight
Balarâma and Krishna on Bâna's behalf.
Text
7
What took
place, o King, was a tumultuous, astonishing and hair-raising
fight of Krishna against S'ankara and Pradyumna against
Kârtikeya.
A
most astonishing, tumultuous and hair-raising battle then
commenced, with Lord Krishna matched against Lord S'ankara,
and Pradyumna against Kârtikeya.
Text
8
Kumbhânda
and Kûpakarna had a fight with Balarâma,
Sâmba with the son of Bâna and Satyâki with
Bâna himself.
Lord
Balarâma fought with Kumbhânda and
Kûpakarna, Sâmba with Bâna's son, and
Sâtyaki with Bâna.
Text
9
Headed
by Lord Brahmâ came to witness in their celestial
vehicles the leaders of the godly, the sages, the perfected and
the venerable; the singers and dancing girls of heaven as well
as the spirits.
Brahmâ
and the other ruling demigods, along with Siddhas,
Câranas and great sages, as well as Gandharvas,
Apsarâs and Yakshas, all came in their celestial
airplanes to watch.
Text
10-11:
Discharging
sharp-pointed arrows from His bow, the S'arnga, drove S'auri
[Krishna] away the Bhûtas [spirits of the
dead], the Pramathas [mystic spirits], the Guhyakas
[the wealth-keepers of Kuvera], the Dâkinîs
[female imps of Kâli], the Yâtudhânas
[practicioners of black magic], Vetâlas
[vampires], the Vinâyakas [demons of
education, distracters, humiliaters], the Pretas
[ghosts, hobgoblins], the Mâtâs
[demoniac mothers], the Pis'âcas
[child-demons], the Kushmândas
[meditation-disturbers, diseasing demons] and the
Brahma-râkshasas [fallen brahmins as in
9.9:
25]
who
followed S'ankara.
With
sharp-pointed arrows discharged from His bow S'ârnga,
Lord Krishna drove away the various followers of Lord S'iva
- Bhûtas, Pramathas, Guhyakas, Dâkinîs,
Yâtudhânas, Vetâlas, Vinâyakas,
Pretas, Mâtâs, Pis'âcas, Kushmândas
and Brahma-râkshasas.
Text
12
The
holder of the trident [Pinâkî or S'iva]
using different types of weapons against The Wielder of S'arnga
saw them neutralized with counterweapons; they couldn't daunt
the Carrier of S'arnga.
Lord
S'iva, wielder of the trident, shot various weapons at Lord
Krishna, wielder of S'ârnga. But Lord Krishna was not
in the least perplexed: He neutralized all these weapons
with appropriate counterweapons.
Text
13
He
used a brahmâstra
against a brahmâstra, a mountain-weapon against a
windweapon, a rain-weapon against a fire-weapon and His
nârâyanâstra [His personal weapon]
against S'iva's [personal] pâs'upatâstra
[the 'beaststrap'-weapon].
Lord
Krishna counteracted a brahmâstra with another
brahmâstra, a wind weapon with a mountain weapon, a
fire weapon with a rain weapon, and Lord S'iva's personal
pâs'upatâstra weapon with His own personal
weapon, the nârâyanâstra.
Text
14
Then
bewildering lord S'iva making him yawn with a yawning weapon,
struck S'auri Bâna's army with His sword, club and
arrows.
After
bewildering Lord S'iva by making him yawn with a yawning
weapon, Lord Krishna proceeded to strike down
Bânâsura's army with His sword, club and
arrows.
Text
15
Kârtikeya
distressed of Pradyumna's arrows raining from all sides, fled
on his peakcock-carrier from the battlefield, exuding blood
from his limbs.
Lord
Kârtikeya was distressed by the flood of Pradyumna's
arrows raining down from all sides, and thus he fled the
battlefield on his peacock as blood poured from his
limbs.
Text
16
Kumbhânda
and Kûpakarna tormented by the club came to fall and
their armies, whose leaders were killed, fled in all
directions.
Kumbhânda
and Kûpakarna, tormented by Lord Balarâma's
club, fell down dead. When the soldiers of these two demons
saw that their leaders had been killed, they scattered in
all directions.
Text
17
Bâna
seeing his troops torn apart, left Sâtyaki whom he was
fighting aside, crossed with his chariot the battlefield and
most furiously attacked Krishna.
Bânâsura
was furious to see his entire military force being torn
apart. Leaving his fight with Sâtyaki, he charged
across the battlefield on his chariot and attacked Lord
Krishna.
Text
18
Bâna in a
frenzy of the fighting fixing two arrows on each,
simultaneously bent the complete of his fivehundred bows.
Excited
to a frenzy by the fighting, Bâna simultaneously
pulled taut all the strings of his five hundred bows and
fixed two arrows on each string.
Text
19
These bows were
by Bhagavân all at once split and after hitting the
chariot, the horses and the charioteer, blew He His
conchshell.
Lord
S'rî Hari split every one of Bânâsura's
bows simultaneously, and also struck down his chariot
driver, chariot and horses. The Lord then sounded His
conchshell.
Text
20
[then]
Hoping to save her son's life, positioned his mother, named
Kotharâ, herself naked, with her hair loosened, in front
of Krishna.
Just
then Bânâsura's mother, Kotharâ, desiring
to save her son's life, appeared before Lord Krishna naked
and with her hair undone.
Text
21
When
Lord Gadâgraja
then turned His face away not to look at the naked woman, took
Bâna without his chariot and with his bow broken, the
opportunity to escape into the city.
Lord
Gadâgraja turned His face away to avoid seeing the
naked woman, and Bânâsura - deprived of his
chariot, his bow shattered - took the opportunity to flee
into his city.
Text
22
But with
S'iva's followers driven away rushed Jvara, the
[personification of S'iva's hot] fever with three heads
and three feet, forward to the descendant of Dâs'arha
like setting fire to the ten directions
[see
*].
After
Lord S'iva's followers had been driven away, the
S'iva-jvara, who had three heads and three feet, pressed
forward to attack Lord Krishna. As the S'iva-jvara
approached, he seemed to burn everything in the ten
directions.
Text
23
Lord
Nârâyana, seeing him, thereupon released His fever
[of extreme cold instead] so that the two Jvaras of
Mâhes'vara and Vishnu came to fight each
other.
Seeing
this personified weapon approach, Lord Nârâyana
then released His own personified fever weapon, the
Vishnu-jvara. The S'iva-jvara and Vishnu- jvara thus battled
each other.
Text
24
The
one of Mâhes'vara cried it out tormented by the force of
the one of Vishnu and not finding a safe refuge anywhere
started Mâhes'vara's Jvara thirsting for protection
devout to praise Hrishîkes'a with folded
hands.
The
S'iva-jvara, overwhelmed by the strength of the
Vishnu-jvara, cried out in pain. But finding no refuge, the
frightened S'iva-jvara approached Lord Krishna, the master
of the senses, hoping to attain His shelter. Thus with
joined palms he began to praise the Lord.
Text
25
The Jvara said:
'I bow down to You, the Supreme Lord Unlimited in His
Potencies, the Soul of All of Pure Conciousness, the Cause to
the totality of the universe it's creation, dissolution and
maintenance; You the Absolute Truth of Perfect Peace to whom
the Vedas indirectly refer.
The
S'iva-jvara said: I bow down to You of unlimited potencies,
the Supreme Lord, the Supersoul of all beings. You possess
pure and complete consciousness and are the cause of cosmic
creation, maintenance and dissolution. Perfectly peaceful,
You are the Absolute Truth to whom the Vedas indirectly
refer.
Text
26
You as the
negation of this mâyâ of Time, fate, the workload
of karma, the propensities to it, the subtle
elements, the
field that is the body, the life-air, the sense of I, the
transformations [the eleven
senses]
and the aggregate of all of this [as the subtle body, the
linga],
that is there in a constant flow of seed and sprout, I do
approach.
Time;
fate; karma; the jîva and his propensities; the subtle
material elements; the material body; the life air; false
ego; the various senses; and the totality of these as
reflected in the living being's subtle body - all this
constitutes your material illusory energy, mâyâ,
an endless cycle like that of seed and plant. I take shelter
of You, the negation of this mâyâ.
Text
27
You with
various intentions indeed are there to take up missions of
divine engagement [lîlâs] to maintain the
godly, the sages, and the codes of conduct in the world and put
to death the ones that left the path and live by violence; Your
incarnating like this is there to relieve the earth of its
burden [see also B.G.
9: 29 and
4:
8].
With
various intentions, You perform pastimes to maintain the
demigods, the saintly persons and the codes of religion for
this world. By these pastimes You also kill those who stray
from the right path and live by violence. Indeed, your
present incarnation is meant to relieve the earth's
burden.
Text
28
By
Your power that unbearably cold yet is burning, am I for long
tormented with this most terrible fever, for indeed as long as
the embodied souls do not serve the soles of Your feet must
they suffer, continually being bound in
desires.'
I
am tortured by the fierce power of Your terrible fever
weapon, which is cold yet burning. All embodied souls must
suffer as long as they remain bound to material ambitions
and thus averse to serving Your feet.
Text
29
The
Supreme Lord said: 'O three-headed one, I am satisfied with
You, may your fear raised by My fever leave you; anyone who
remembers our conversation will have no reason to fear
you.'
The
Supreme Lord said: O three-headed one, I am pleased with
you. May your fear of My fever weapon be dispelled, and may
whoever remembers our conversation here have no reason to
fear you.
Text
30
Thus
addressed bowed the Mâhes'vara's Jvara down to Acyuta and
went away, but Bâna, riding his chariot, came forward
with the intent to fight Janârdana.
Thus
addressed, the Mâhes'vara-jvara bowed down to the
infallible Lord and went away. But Bânâsura then
appeared, riding forth on his chariot to fight Lord
Krishna.
Text
31
Thereupon,
o King, with his thousand arms carrying numerous weapons,
released the demon, fuming of anger, arrows at Him Whose Weapon
was the Cakra.
Carrying
numerous weapons in his thousand hands, O King, the terribly
infuriated demon shot many arrows at Lord Krishna, the
carrier of the disc weapon.
Text
32
Of
him, over and over hurling weapons, cut the Supreme Lord with
the razor-sharp edge of His disc the arms as if they were the
branches of a tree.
As
Bâna continued hurling weapons at Him, the Supreme
Lord began using His razor-sharp cakra to cut off
Bânâsura's arms as if they were tree
branches.
Text
33
As
Bâna's arms were being severed, approached the great lord
Bhava [- of existence, S'iva] out of compassion for his
devotee and spoke he to the Wielder of the Disc.
Lord
S'iva felt compassion for his devotee Bânâsura,
whose arms were being cut off, and thus he approached Lord
Cakrâyudha [Krishna] and spoke to Him as
follows.
Text
34
S'rî
Rudra said: 'You alone are the Absolute Truth, the Light of the
Supreme that lies hidden in the language expressed of the
Absolute [of the Veda]; they whose hearts are spotless
see You, pure as the blue sky.
S'rî
Rudra said: You alone are the Absolute Truth, the supreme
light, the mystery hidden within the verbal manifestation of
the Absolute. Those whose hearts are spotless can see You,
for You are uncontaminated, like the sky.
Text
35-36
You with the
atmosphere as Your navel, fire as Your face, water as Your
semen, heaven as Your head, the directions as Your sense of
hearing, the earth as Your foot, the moon as Your mind; Whose
sight is the sun, Whose awareness of self I am, with the ocean
as Your abdomen and Indra as Your arm; You with the plants as
the hair on Your body, the clouds as the hair on Your head,
with Viriñca
as Your intelligence, with the prajâpati
as Your genitals, Whose heart is the religion; Your good self
indeed art the Purusha
from whom all the worlds originated.
The
sky is Your navel, fire Your face, water Your semen, and
heaven Your head. The cardinal directions are Your sense of
hearing, herbal plants the hairs on Your body, and
water-bearing clouds the hair on Your head. The earth is
Your foot, the moon Your mind, and the sun Your vision,
while I am Your ego. The ocean is Your abdomen, Indra Your
arm, Lord Brahmâ Your intelligence, the progenitor of
mankind Your genitals, and religion Your heart. You are
indeed the original purusha, creator of the worlds.
Text
37
You
of an unbounded glory are in this decent there to defend the
dharma to the benefit of the Complete of the Living Being and
we all manifest and develop enlightened by You the seven worlds
[see
dvîpa].
Your
current descent into the material realm, O Lord of
unrestricted power, is meant for upholding the principles of
justice and benefiting the entire universe. We demigods,
each depending on Your grace and authority, develop the
seven planetary systems.
Text
38
You
are the Original Supreme Person without a second, the
Transcendental Self-manifesting Cause without a prior cause,
the Ruler; yet are You, for the sake of the full manifestation
of Your qualities, just as well perceived in the various
transformations [of the different lifeforms, gods and
avatâras] of Your illusory potency.
You
are the original person, one without a second,
transcendental and self- manifesting. Uncaused, you are the
cause of all, and You are the ultimate controller. You are
nonetheless perceived in terms of the transformations of
matter effected by Your illusory energy - transformations
You sanction so that the various material qualities can
fully manifest.
Text
39
Just
as the sun in its own shade hidden from sight illumines the
forms visible, do You, o All-mighty One, similarly
self-luminous, illumine the qualities of the covering modes of
matter for the beings with these qualities.
O
almighty one, just as the sun, though hidden by a cloud,
illuminates the cloud and all other visible forms as well,
so You, although hidden by the material qualities, remain
self-luminous and thus reveal all those qualities, along
with the living entities who possess them.
Text
40
Those
who, fully entangled in respect of their children, wife, a home
and so on, in their intelligence are bewildered by
mâyâ do in the ocean of misery
[alternately] rise to the surface and sink [again,
see B.G. 9:
21].
Their
intelligence bewildered by Your mâyâ, fully
attached to children, wife, home and so on, persons immersed
in the ocean of material misery sometimes rise to the
surface and sometimes sink down.
Text
41
By
the grace of God attaining this human world is he, who
uncontrolled in his senses is not willing to honor Your feet,
lamentable indeed someone who fools himself.
One
who has attained this human form of life as a gift from God,
yet who fails to control his senses and honor Your feet, is
surely to be pitied, for he is only cheating himself.
Text
42
The
mortal who in opposition for the sake of the sense-objects
rejects You, his True Self and dearmost Guide, eats the poison
and avoids the nectar.
That
mortal who rejects You - his true Self, dearmost friend, and
Lord - for the sake of sense objects, whose nature is just
the opposite, refuses nectar and instead consumes
poison.
Text
43
I,
Brahmâ as well as the demigods and the sages have a
consciousness pure wholeheartedly being surrendered to You, the
Master, the dearmost Self.
I,
Lord Brahmâ, the other demigods and the pure-minded
sages have all surrendered wholeheartedly unto You, our
dearmost Self and Lord.
Text
44
Let
us be of worship for the Godhead of You, the cause of the rise,
the maintenance and the demise of the Living Being that is the
Universe; He who perfectly at peace equipoised is the unique,
unequalled Friend, True Self and worshipable Lord of all the
worlds and all the souls, the shelter for the completion of a
material life.
Let
us worship You, the Supreme Lord, to be freed from material
life. You are the maintainer of the universe and the cause
of its creation and demise. Equipoised and perfectly at
peace, You are the true friend, Self and worshipable Lord.
You are one without a second, the shelter of all the worlds
and all souls.
Text
45
This
one [Bâna] is my favored and most dear follower,
by me awarded with fearlessness, o Lord, please grant him Your
grace therefore, the way You were also of mercy with the master
of the daityas [Prahlâda].'
This
Bânâsura is my dear and faithful follower, and I
have awarded him freedom from fear. Therefore, my Lord,
please grant him Your mercy, just as You showed mercy to
Prahlâda, the lord of the demons.
Text
46
The
Supreme Lord said: 'What you've told us, o great lord, We'll
do, I fully concur with that what you determined to be your
pleasure.
The
Supreme Lord said: My dear lord, for your pleasure We must
certainly do what you have requested of Us. I fully agree
with your conclusion.
Text
47
He,
this son of Virocana [Bali], will indeed be spared by
Me, as I gave Prahlâda the benediction: 'Your descendants
will not be killed by Me' [see 7.10:
21].
I
will not kill this demonic son of Vairocani, for I gave
Prahlâda Mahârâja the benediction that I
would not kill any of his descendants.
Text
48
To
subdue his pride were his arms severed by Me and was the huge
military force slain which had become a burden to the
earth.
It
was to subdue Bânâsura's false pride that I
severed his arms. And I slew his mighty army because it had
become a burden upon the earth.
Text
49
The
asura keeping four of his arms, will, not aging and immortal,
of you be a principal associate who has nothing to fear on any
account.'
This
demon, who still has four arms, will be immune to old age
and death, and he will serve as one of your principal
attendants. Thus he will have nothing to fear on any
account.
Text
50
Thus
attaining freedom from fear did the asura bow his head down to
Krishna, placed he the son of Pradyumna with His wife on His
chariot and led he them forward.
Thus
attaining freedom from fear, Bânâsura offered
obeisances to Lord Krishna by touching his head to the
ground. Bâna then seated Aniruddha and His bride on
their chariot and brought them before the Lord.
Text
51
He
[Krishna] putting Him and His wife, ornamented and with
fine clothes, in front, then with the permission of S'iva left,
surrounded by an aksauhinî.
At
the front of the party Lord Krishna then placed Aniruddha
and His bride, both beautifully adorned with fine clothes
and ornaments, and surrounded them with a full military
division. Thus Lord Krishna took His leave of Lord S'iva and
departed.
Text
52
Entering
His capital fully decorated with flags, arches of victory and
with the streets and crossroads sprinkled, was He respectfully
with the resounding of conchshells, side drums and kettledrums
welcomed by the people of the city, His relatives and the
twiceborn.
The
Lord then entered His capital. The city was lavishly
decorated with flags and victory arches, and its avenues and
crossways were all sprinkled with water. As conchshells,
ânakas and dundubhi drums resounded, the Lord's
relatives, the brâhmanas and the general populace all
came forward to greet Him respectfully.
Text
53
For
the one who, rising at dawn, remembers thus the victory of
Krishna in the battle with S'ankara, will there be no
defeat.
Whoever
rises early in the morning and remembers Lord Krishna's
victory in His battle with Lord S'iva will never experience
defeat.
*
Here S'rîla Vis'vanâtha Cakravartî
Thâkura quotes the following description of the
S'iva-jvara:
"The
terrible S'iva-jvara had three legs, three heads, six arms and
nine eyes. Showering ashes, he resembled Yamarâja at the
time of universal annihilation."
