After things
became normal on Vasudeva's return to jail, the guards awoke
on hearing a baby's cries. They rushed to inform their King
Kamsa. He immediately rushed to the jail to kill the baby.
His sister Devaki pleaded with him to spare the female child
as it was the prophecy that her eighth male child will only
kill him. Kamsa being demoniac in nature was not willing to
listen. He tried to take the baby in his hands and dash her
to the wall as he had done to earlier babies. However, the
baby flew out and appeared as Goddess Durga with all her
paraphernalia of eight arms and weapons in her hand. She
said to Kamsa, "You fool, how can you kill me ? The
person who is to kill you has been already born elsewhere.
Stop being cruel to your sister and her husband". After
saying this, she disappeared in the sky. She is worshipped
all over India and grants all material boons and gains. In
Vedic literature she is also the sister of Lord Krishna.
Kamsa felt a
sense of remorse for all his cruel actions. He personally
repented to his sister and her husband. He personally
unshackled their chains and released them. He also asked for
their forgiveness. The next day when he was in his council,
he narrated all the incidents to his advisers, who were also
demons. They were disappointed and started to misguide him.
They said it was the conspiracy of the gods and that he
should kill all male babies born within 10 days of the
incident all over the kingdom. They also advised him to kill
all the Cows and Brahmins so that no prayers would be
rendered to gods. In Vedic beliefs, the Cow is a sacred
animal, as it gives milk which in turn gives clarified
butter used in Vedic rituals. Brahmins are priests. It is
forbidden to kill either a Cow or a Brahmin. By killing
both, they advised him that all activities that pleases the
gods would have stopped.
Kamsa accepted
their advice and ordered that all babies, cows and Brahmins
be killed. He did not know that he was adding on his sins
and accelerating his death. In Vedas, we say, Vinasha Kale,
Vipareetha Buddhi. This means that when you are heading for
extinction, your mind works dangerously.
End of
Chapter 3
Written
by Madhavan T Gopalachary
