Krishna - The Dark Lord of Dwaraka

Chapter 7 - Kalayavana and Muchukunda

During Jarasandha's eighteenth attack, Krishna and Balarama discussed what had to be done .

Balarama spoke, "Krishna, this is very bad  Both the armies have surrounded our kingdom. We cannot fight both the armies at the same time." Besides most of the people were sent to Dwaravathi. There were very few soldiers left over in the city of Mathura.

"What should we do now?" Balarama asked Krishna. "We just cannot attack Kalayavana. He cannot be defeated by us. Can we call the help of our own friends?"

Krishna smiled, shaking his head, "No brother, we do not need to run to our friends. I think this problem we can take care ourselves."

Balarama looked enquiringly at Krishna. Krishna smiled and was about to explain, when their own army man came forward, "Why can we not destroy Kalayavana? He is also a normal man. We have defeated Jarasandha seventeen times  Do you think we cannot do it the eighteenth time?"

Krishna smiled, "You speak like this, because you don't know Kalayavana's story."

The army man looked curiously at Krishna. The thought of defeat had not really occurred to him. With the Dark Lord, that was really not an option. "What is Kalyavana's story?" He asked.

Krishna smiled.

"There were two great rishis Shyala, who was our family priest - the family priest of the Yadavas and Sage Ganga. When they were debating about a point, there broke out a quarrel between them. Ganga was so angry with Shyala, that he walked away with anger from the debate."

The army man nodded wondering what the fight between two rishis would have to do with them. But he listened to the story attentively.

"Ganga walked away from the place and prayed to Lord Shiva. He prayed for twelve years and then Lord Shiva appeared before him.

Though 12 years had passed, Ganga's anger with the Yadavas had not reduced. In fact he was more angry than ever. Ganga with angry eyes looked at Lord Shiva, "The Yadavas! I want to destroy them."

Lord Shiva looked at Gargya with sad eyes. Such a good man had performed such a powerful penance and all he asked for was destruction.

Lord Shiva took a deep breath and looked at Gargya and said, 'What boon do you seek, great rishi?'

Gargya did not understand the sadness within Lord Shiva because he was angry. He said angrily, "I wish for a son - a son whom all the Yadavas would be afraid of!"

Krishna's army man slowly nodded his head. But then he did not understand, how the son of this rishi came into their problem

He listened as the Dark Lord spoke.

"The son of that great rishi was black in complexion, black as a beetle. Because of this he was named Kalayavana."

The army man looked surprised as Krishna continued, 'Yes my man! The great rishi gave his son in adoption to King Yavasena, who did not have any children of his own!'

The army man nodded his head unhappily. Yavasena was the previous king of his kingdom. Now Kalayavana was the king and he had a boon that could not be defeated by any Yadava. That meant even the Dark Lord could not defeat him.

The army man looked at Krishna wondering what the Dark Lord was going to do about this.

Krishna smiled, 'As I was telling my elder brother Don't worry, I have a plan."

Krishna looked at his army man and nearly laughed to himself. "We run!"

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The next morning, Kalayavana's armies surrounded the city of Mathura. They saw the gates of the city and were in for a surprise.