Week 11 Story: The Prophecy of King Kansa

There was a man named Kansa, who was this cruel king of Mathura. He had a beloved sister named Devaki. Even though he was this tough king, he loved his sister very dearly. She was to marry one of the king’s noble named Vasudeva. The two were in love and King Kansa couldn’t be more happy than he was for the couple. He threw a huge wedding for the couple and they celebrated to a new beginning.

However, after the celebration, the King heard a strange voice in the wind. The mysterious voice said, “The couple you adore so much their eighth child will be the reason for your death.” This gave King Kansa the chills and immediately he became so paranoid. After hearing this, the king commanded the guard to imprison his sister and her husband to the dungeons of the castle. As the guards were taking the couple to the prison, Devaki yelled out to her brother, “Oh dear beloved brother, how could you do this to us? I am your sister, please I beg of you.” King Kansa did not even look once towards his sister when she was asking for sympathy.

As years went along, King Kansa ordered to have the any child born by the couple to be killed soon after its birth. The couple had lost seven children and each one they begged Kansa to not kill it, but the King showed no mercy. However, there was one child named Bolarama that was taken away, and the King didn’t know about it.

The time came where the eighth child was about to be born. Devaki was saddened by the faith of the child, but also filled with joy of welcoming another baby boy. She held the baby in her arms and cried because he was so beautiful. The parents knew right away that their baby was special because he manifest signs of Lord Vishnu. As Vasudeva holds his child, this voice tells him to take his baby boy to the village of Gokool and then switch the child with a baby girl. Without hesitation, Vasudeva hides the baby under his robe and tries to sneak out of the dungeon. The guard was fast asleep, so Vasudeva was able to sneak out. He ran quickly to the village in the middle of the night.

When he got to the village, he had to do the hardest thing. He went to the head farmer of the village, and he grabbed his baby girl to switch the two children. Vasudeva couldn’t bring himself to anything, so left with the girl and went back to the castle. He gave the baby girl to his wife Devaki, who cradle this new child.

It was morning now when the guard discovered Vasudeva and Devaki had another child. He immediately went to go tell King Kansa, who filled with rage upon hearing the news. The King went to the dungeon to go see the child and to his surprise he did not expect a girl. He thought to himself, “How could this child slay me in the future? She’s just a girl!” However, the King didn’t want to take any risks. As the king was about to grab the girl to kill her, She took the form of a goddess and mentions to him how the boy that is to kill him is safe in village. After relying that message, she just disappears in the air.

King Kansa in middle is seen about to kill the baby girl, but she's actually a goddess.
(Source: Wikipedia)

King Kansa was just full of shock after hearing the real child was alive and that the prophecy might come true now. He couldn’t believe he failed to kill the eighth child. From this point on, King Kansa was still devoted into killing the child who is known as Krishna before he kills him.

Author’s Note: In this story, the overall plot of Krishna’s birth was kept the same. I just changed it to where it was simple and easy to read, while including some small details. In the original story, King Kansa imprisoned his sister and her husband because he heard this prophecy of how he would be killed in the future. The eighth child from his sister would kill him. The child is known as Krishna. This prediction terrified him, so he decided to kill any children from the couple. There was one child the couple managed to get out of the prison, and it was told to the King that the child was killed already. When the eighth child came, it was informed to Vasudeva to switch the child with a baby girl in the village of Gokool with the King of Cowherds. The village was very happy to learn the next morning that the baby was a boy. Unfortunately, King Kansa was still not happy about the eighth child being born even after finding it was a girl. When the baby girl took the form of a goddess, she revealed to the King the actually child of the couple was still alive. This angered the King greatly.

Bibliography: Cradle Tales of Hinduism- “The Birth of Krishna” by Sister Nivedita.