A battle of equals?

Our folk bard gives a new twist to the famous fight between Bhima and Jarasandha.

Once when Jarasandha had gone hunting in a forest, his lusty eyes fell on Malinidevi, the daughter of sage Parandhama. Jarasandha stood blocking her way and pulled her sari when she passed him by. She called out to Krishna and the Lord, appearing instantly, saved her honour. When he attacked Jarasandha with his chakra, the chakra returned, ineffective. When hit with a mace, Jarasandha would fall dead, but another Jarasandha would be ready to fight. The battle went on all day, but Krishna wasn’t able to kill Jarasandha. So, he managed to escape by hiding the sun with his chakra, thereby turning the day into night.

After this, Jarasandha attacked the city of Madhura 18 times and was driven back every time by Balarama. So, he sneaked in one night and set fire to the city of Madhura. Lord Krishna used his miraculous powers to create the city of Dwaraka in the middle of the ocean and took everyone there. Jarasandha called out to Mother Jarasandhini and asked her for the power to kill Krishna and Balarama. ‘You’ll have to meditate on Bethaleshwara’ she said, but gave him a boon: ‘No one can kill you on this earth’. After seven months of penance, Bethaleshwara appeared to him. ‘If you want the powers to achieve this feat, you’ll have to offer me the sacrifice of 101 princes,’ demanded Bethaleshwara. He laid siege to Dwaraka 95 times and captured 95 princes.

Meanwhile, in Indraprastha, Narada advised the Pandavas to perform the Rajasuyayaga. When they appealed to Lord Krishna for help, he said, ‘Demons will try to ruin the Yaga, Jarasandha being the worst of the lot. Bhima is the only one who can kill him’. After some persuasion, Dharma agreed to send young Bhima with Krishna on this mission.

Krishna brought Bhima to Mageda city in the thick of the night. They entered the bedroom where Jarasandha lay like a mountain. Advising him not to attack a sleeping man, Krishna woke Jarasandha up. Jarasandha sat up in bed blinking. ‘You killed Kamsa and widowed my sister. I am going to chop you up into pieces, play ball with your head and bathe in your blood’ roared Jarasandha rising from bed. ‘Stop boasting and come to battle with Bhima’ challenged Krishna heading out and drawing Jarasandha into a huge field. Letting out a thunderous roar and carrying a massive mace, Jarasandha charged towards Krishna and Bhima with the intention of smashing them.

They started fighting with the mace. When their maces were shattered to pieces, they decided on wrestling. Being equally good, they took turns to win. The battle went on with no end in sight. Bhima kept pounding Jarasandha until he was reduced to a ball of flesh. Then, another Jarasandha rose to fight Bhima. By the time he had finished with this one, the other Jarasandha would recover and come roaring to fight.

Lord Krishna then summoned the god of wind, Vayu, and said, ‘You have to help your son’. He told Bhima to kick the ball of flesh up into the sky. Vayu caught the ball and stopped it from falling to the ground. When the other Jarasandha came up, Bhima smashed him up until he too was reduced to a ball of flesh and kicked him up. When this body was flying up, Vayu let go of the other body. The two clashed against each other mid-way with a loud explosion, like a thousand thunderbolts striking together, and were burnt to ashes. When Paramatma saw the ashes coming down, realising Jarasandha would come alive again if the ashes touched the earth, he signalled to Vayu, who carried the ashes away, and dropped them into the sea. Each particle of ash turned into a giant fish which came to be known as ‘Jarasandha fish’ or ‘Jargal fish’. Thus, Jarasandha mingled with the sea in the form of a thousand Jargal fish.

The author, a retired professor of English, is a well-known theatre and television artiste and an award-winning translator.

Folktales from the Mahabharata is a monthly column that features lesser-known episodes from ‘Janapada Mahabharata’ sung by eminent folk-artiste Bettada Beedu Siddhashetty and published by Dr P K Rajashekara.