In the previous episode, we had witnessed an interesting accord from Bhagawan Krishna about the birth of Jaraasandha. We’ve witnessed how Jaraasandha was born as two “half pieces” as a baby for the two wives of King Brihadrata. Horrified by the “half-babies” that were born, Brihadrata’s wives threw both the halves out of their window, thinking that the baby was dead. However, a Raakshasi by name Jaraa came by and upon seeing these two halves of a human baby, she thought of consuming them as her food for the day. However, when she happened to join the two halves together, the baby came to life! In turn, Jaraa became horrified and she left from that place. Thus, since the two halves were joined together (Aasandhi) by Raakshasi Jaraa, he obtained the name “Jaraasandha”.
However, before leaving that place, Raakshasi Jaraa took the newly formed baby to the king and handed it over to him. As King Brihadrata saw this baby, it resembled him in many ways and with this, he concluded that this baby was none other than his own son, whom his wives had delivered. As King Brihadrata asks, Raakshasi Jaraa explains the whole story as to how she saw this baby as two halves and she happened to join both of them and thus, this baby came to life. Upon hearing this, King Brihadrata was happy and thanked Jaraa for this great help. Thus, as Jaraa was leaving, she also wanted to do something good for King Brihadrata and the Magada Desha. She proposes thus, “Oh Brihadrata! Right now I’m a Raakshasi by name Jaraa. However, I was not a Raakshasi before. I’m actually a “Devata” who gives immense good to people who have some idols and dolls hanging in front of their houses. Bhagawan Brahma had given the name as “Griha-Devi”. Thus, from today, if anybody in your kingdom has my portrait or idol in front of their houses, I shall ensure that they will live in prosperity throughout their lives! Meanwhile, you accept this baby as your son and raise him up!”
Thus, as time passes by, Jaraasandha is growing up fast and after many years, Sage Chanda-Kaushika again comes to visit King Brihadrata. It should be remembered that Sage Chanda-Kaushika was the person who was solely responsible for the birth of Jaraasandha and upon seeing the boy growing up fast, he was very happy. Also, Sage Kaushika was happy that King Brihadrata had accepted Jaraasandha as his son, even though the child had a troubled past. Upon seeing Jaraasandha, Sage Kaushika wanted to provide his divine “Anugraha” in the form of eight different boons. Sage Kaushika declares thus, “Oh King Brihadrata! I’m very happy that Jaraasandha is being well taken care of. I would like to bless him with the following boons: He would have infinite power and strength to take on any enemy in this world with ease. He would be totally invincible and there would be no better king than Jaraasandha. However, there is a small twist here – There would be someone in the future who would be that only person knowing about Jaraasandha’s secrets. It is only that person who would be able to defeat him!”
As Jaraasandha obtained all these boons from the Sage, he obtained enormous powers within himself. King Brihadrata too paved the way for Jaraasandha to succeed him as the next king of Magada Desha, and with this, Jaraasandha’s atrocities began. King after king fell into Jaraasandha’s trap, and nobody was able to win over him. He started abducting all the wives of all the kings who get defeated under his hands, and with this, Jaraasandha was establishing himself as someone who can never be won over. All the people feared his “Gadhaa”, bow and arrows! Eventually, Jaraasandha had two daughters, who were married to King Kamsa of Mathura. Now Bhagawan Krishna explains thus, “Oh Arjuna and Co. Now that I’ve killed his son-in-law, his two daughters are completely powerless. This is the right time for us to go and win over him! Till a few years back, King Jaraasandha was ably supported by Kamsa in all the wars that he undertook. Now that Kamsa is no more, Jaraasandha is left all alone to defend himself! We shall make the best use of this opportunity to corner Jaraasandha and kill him!”
Thus, as Bhagawan Krishna narrates the entire birth history of King Jaraasandha, the Paandavas also understand how to corner him and kill him. It was decided that Bhagawan Krishna, along with Arjuna and Bheemasena would go to the Magadha Desha and to fight Jaraasandha. Thus, the trio commenced their journey from Indraprastha to Magadha Desha, and they had to travel through many other small kingdoms to reach there. So for today, let us understand up to this point, and we shall witness what happened at the Magada Desha in the next episode! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 