The Eighth Day Of Krishna In Nepal

Siddhi B. Ranjitkar

On the eighth day of the dark fortnight (usually of Sravana but this year because of an additional month in the lunar calendar) of Bhadra (Aug-Sept) in the Nepalese calendar, Nepalese Hindus celebrate the birthday of Lord Krishna believed to be the eighth incarnation of Lord Vishnu that has taken the life of a human to finish off the corrupt people of the royalties families of the Hastinapur, and some evil kings including his own maternal uncle called Kamsa of Mathura. This day is called Krishna Astami means the Eighth Day of Lord Krishna. This day is also the end of the eight-day festival called Gaijatra: Display of Tragedy and Comedy in Nepal.

On this day, Nepalese Hindus visit the temples to Lord Krishna across the country in celebration of the birthday of Lord Krishna. They make offerings to the lord. Some people dance to the tune of the hymns the whole day revering the lord. Most of the people make offerings to the idol of baby Krishna on this day.

In the Kathmandu Valley, Nepalis visit the temple called ‘Krishna mandir’ dedicated to Lord Krishna in Lalitpur from the early morning until midnight. You will find a long serpentine line of devotees lining up to reach the lord in the most famous and artistic temple made of only stones in Lalitpur. You will find the major events occurred in the epic called Mahabharat carved in the stones. The Head of State makes a visit to the Lord at one time of this day and receives the blessings from the lord.

At the night, some people take out the idol of Lord Krishna with his spouses Radha and Rukmani. This ends the religious activities of Nepalese Hindus celebrating the birthday of Lord Krishna. Some people fasting for the whole day for revering the lord break the fast in the night. Some people continue to dance and sing the whole night believing Lord Krishna was born in the midnight.

After taking power by force from his father and putting him in jail, King Kamsa of Mathura marries his most beloved sister Devaki with Vasudeva:  most handsome prince of Gokul. Celebrating the joy of the wedding, King Kamsa himself takes the newly married couple in a carriage on the streets of Mathura for a joy ride.

Standing in the way, an ascetic man called Sadhu stops the carriage driven by Kamsa and predicts that the eighth son of the couple will kill Kansa. Sadhu says, “Kamsa, you are so happy with the wedding of your sister Devaki with Vasudeva but the eighth son of this couple will be the cause of your death.”

Kamsa wants to kill the ascetic man right then and there but stops short of doing so and begins thinking. If the Sadhu is really telling the truth, killing the Sadhu will not save me from the eighth son of my sister. So, he turns the carriage back to his palace and attempts to kill both his sister and her husband but repeated pleading of Devaki softens the heart of the cruel Kamsa. He chains them and puts them in jail under surveillance by his military guards for twenty fours a day.

Only an eighth son of Devaki and Vasudeva is supposed to be the life threatening to Kamsa but he does not want to see any of the children born to the couple alive. So, he has strictly ordered his military guards as soon as a child is born to the couple to inform him about it no mater whether it is midnight or midday.

Kamsa has killed one child after another no matter whether the child is a boy or a girl. He has been anticipating the eighth male child but the military guards have informed him the child is a girl at the midnight. He is surprised at the girl child but he does not want to let her live. So, he immediately goes to the jail. He snatches the baby from the breast of the mother and holding her in his right hand, spins her over his head to slam on the walls of the gloomy jail. She slips from his hand and flies away from the jail saying, “O! Cruel Kamsa, you cannot kill me but a baby has born in Gokul to kill you in the days to come.”

In fact, the male baby has born to Devaki and Vasudeva in the jail. On that night, the divine spirit talks to Vasudeva and tells him to take the baby to Gokul and swap with the baby girl born there. Vasudeva says, “How can I do when we have been locked in the seventh cell and guarded by the military guards for twenty hours a day?” The divine spirit says, “you just have the courage to do so, I will take care of the rest.”

Following the instructions of the divine spirit, as soon as the eighth son is born, Vasudeva takes the baby in his arms and spontaneously comes out of the jail while the military guards have slept in a deep sleep.

Vasudeva crosses the forest route, and comes to the Jamuna River that has been flooding due to the monsoon rains. He crosses the river even though the river water reaches his neck. He quietly gets in and swaps the baby boy with the baby girl sleeping with her mother Yasoda just born then, and immediately slips out of the back door and comes back to Mathura. Thereafter, Vasudeva loses the memory of what has happened on that night. Thus, baby Krishna becomes the son of Yasoda and Nanda in Gokul.

Not knowing what to do with the baby boy born to Yasoda in Gokul, Kamsa gets upset very much. Next day, he calls the assembly of his ministers and royalties to discuss what to do with the baby born in Gokul. Kamsa feels that his life has been at risk despite the fact that the infant cannot harm anybody not to mention taking the life of Kamsa.

The assembly has discussed various ways and means of eliminating the baby boy that has been the life threatening to Kamsa. The assembly has not come to the conclusive decision on this matter. Ultimately, one of the ministers proposes a plan on killing all babies up to the age of two years in Gokul to ensure the death of the infant boy that has been threatening to Kamsa.

Much to his relief, Kamsa finds the plan on killing all babies of the age of up to two years is a solution to his deep anxiety of getting killed by a baby boy born in Gokul. He immediately orders to put the plan into action.

The military personnel of Kamsa have enforced the plan in such a way that none of the babies born in Gokul during the last two years has any chance of survival. Citizens of Gokul have panicked to see their babies have been dying en mass. However, they cannot reach the baby they are supposed to kill but they believe that the baby has been in the mass killing.

In the belief that his army personnel have killed the baby that has been his life-taking, Kamsa has decorated the personnel with various medals, and awarded some of them with cash and so on for doing the good job of killing so many infants in Gokul. Feeling safe, Kamsa is happy.

However, happiness of Kamsa has not lasted for a long time. A message has come from Gokul that the boy the army men have apparently killed is alive and in good health. Now, again Kamsa has started feeling insecure and has been worrying about how to get rid of that boy that has been growing in Gokul.

Following the advice of his assembly of ministers and royalties, Kamsa sends one mercenary after another to eliminate the baby boy. However, none of the mercenaries has been successful the mission rather all of them get killed by the boy. Thus, even as a boy, Lord Krishna has started eliminating evil-mined people of his time.

Kamsa has continued to be worrying about his life. He has been spending sleepless nights and restless days. He has not lost the hope of killing that boy even when the boy has grown to be a teenager.

Again with the advice of his assembly of ministers and royalties, he designs to get his nephew killed by wrestlers. He sends one of his most trusted persons to invite Krishna to Gokul so that Krishna will not decline the invitation to his maternal kingdom. He is Akur also related to Krishna.

On the way to Mathura from Gokul, Krishna accompanied by his elder brother called Balaram has demonstrated certain things to Akur convincing him of Krishna is really an extraordinary human.

Apparently, Kamsa has invited his nephew Krishna to his kingdom with love but he has something different on his mind. So, he welcomes Krishna ostensibly with love. However, he wants his nephew Krishna wrestle with the famous wrestlers of that time in the arena Kamsa has especially prepared for taking the life of Krishna.

Akur opposes the fighting between Krishna and the strong wrestlers saying Krishna is still a teenager and Krishna wrestling with the well-trained wrestlers is not justifiable and not logical. So, he wants to stop any fighting between Krishna and wrestlers. Kamsa does not listen to Akur and orders to start off the game.

Krishna wrestles with one wrestler after another and kills them one by one. Ultimately, Kamsa descends to wrestle with Krishna. That ‘s the end of Kamsa.

After the death of Kamsa, Krishna releases his maternal grandfather from the prison and returns him his kingdom forcibly taken by Kamsa. Then he goes to his biological parents: Devaki and Vasudeva and frees them from the prison. Thus, he completes one of his missions to eliminate the evil-minded Kamsa.

Krishna is so charming that women have been following him wherever he goes. In Mathura too, wherever he goes, women including married ones have followed him. In Gokul he has played with thousands of women called ‘gopis’ means wives of cowherds. Some of the husbands have complained to the state officials about their women following Krishna. His nature of favoring women for anything they ask has attracted women in general to him.

Krishna’s next mission is to complete the battle of Kuruchhetra. Pandavas have been suffering from the tricks and traps policy of their fraudulent cousin called Duryodhana and his blind father King Dhrittarastra doing everything Duryodhana wants to do.

Pandavas have lost not only their kingdom to Duryodhana in the game unscrupulously played by his maternal uncle Sakuni but also don’t receive it after meeting the condition they have set before playing the game. Even after spending twelve years of forest dwelling and one year in hiding as the conditions they have to meet after losing the game, Duryodhana does not return the kingdom to Pandavas but rather wants to send them back to the forest for anther twelve years and one year in hiding as a punishment of apparently breaching the condition of one year in hiding accusing them of appearing a day before actually the end of one year in hiding. Pandavas have no other alternative to declaring a war with Duryodhana.

Pandavas and Kauravas armies have fought the war in the area called Kuruchhetra. Krishna is on the side of Pandavas. Duryodhana and his one hundred brothers together are called Kauravas. During the 18-day war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas, Krishna has to play some tricks on the Kauravas to win the war for the Pandavas.
Krishna tells Arjuna one of the Pandava brothers what he needs to do in the battle field when Arjuna seeing the relatives including his grandfather Bhisma equipped with bow and arrows ready to shoot at each other, refuses to kill any one of them for any prizes. Narrating a long discourse, Krishna convinces Arjuna of the need for fighting. That discourse becomes ‘Gita’: one of the famous Hindu scriptures. After the war, and Pandavas have settled down peacefully, Krishna again narrates another peacetime discourse at the request of Arjuna and it becomes another discourse called ‘Anugita’.

Krishna’s mission completes after finishing off all the unscrupulous royalties. His wisdom and his thinking have made him a demigod. Hindus believe that he is in fact the eighth incarnation of Lord Vishnu. So, Hindus celebrate the birthday of Lord Krishna all over the world.

September 1, 2010.

This year the birthday of Lord Krishna is on the September 1, 2010.