yadhavabhyudhaya-chapter20

August 30, 2007

Chapter20- Defeat of Bana and the marriage of Usha and Aniruddha

Usha, the daughter of Banasura, saw Aniruddha in her dream and asked Chitralekha her friend who possessed of magical powers to find him and bring him . Chitralekha did so and Usha and Aniruddha were married secretly. Bana coming to know of this imprisoned Aniruddha. Being informed of this by Narada Krishna decided to march against Bana and bring Aniruddha back.

Krishna started for SoNithapura, he capital of BANa. The army was so huge that the weight of it converged in one place made Adhisesha who bore the earth bow down with it with his hoods lowered. But the earth bore it patiently knowing that her burden would be lessened shortly. The dust that rose above looked like the earth itself ascending to tell the good news that her burden is going to be less, to Brahma.

Krishna reached SoNithpura very quickly that it seemed that the direction, ASA, itself advanced in front with desire, ASA, to welcome Krishna. The flag of the city shook with the speed of the wings of Garuda carrying Krishna.

The bhoothas of Siva who guarded the city ran away in fear seeing the force of Balarama. The yadhavas attacked the city with all their force and Bana himself came out with anger.

The following sloka shows how the vedanthacharya sees the philosophical meaning even in fighting.

asrkcchatAsAravaSAth DhvajinyAh

rajassamethe thamasi praSAnthe

satthvAnuroopam vidhaDhe pramodham

samAn miThah sammukhayan prakASah

The darkness, thamas, created by the dust, rajas, was removed by the flow of blood, the light showed the fight between warriors of equal strength, satthvAnuroopam, creating mutual joy. The use of the words sattva, rajas and thamas, implies that when the gunas rajas and thamas are removed due to hatred towards samsara, the satthva guna enables the meeting of like-minded and creates joy.

The word `samAn' means people of equal wisdom, as said in the gita , `pandithAh samadharsinah,' with the view `sarvam khalu idham brahma,' that is, they see everything as equal because they are endowed with the wisdom that all this is Brahman. They meet each other to the mutual delight as Gitacharya says, `bodhayanthah parasparam kaThayanthah cha mAm nithyam thushyanthi cha ramanthi cha.' They talk to each other about the glory of the Lord and revel in it.-(Utthamur swamin )

Then Rudra who was guarding the fortress of Bana came to fight with Krishna. ( Bana did penance on Siva and acquired him as his guard and protector)

Rudra was described as `sithAchalemerum iva jvalantham,' shining like a Meru on Himalayas due to his golden colour and mounted on the white bull. The shakthyayaudha of Skandha was quelled by Prdhyumna and the jvara ( a missile ) of Siva was overpowered by Krishna with his Vaishnava jvara. Then Krishna sent JrmbhaNAsthra which induced sleep to Rudra

Bana then fought with his thousand arms but all his missiles were deactivated by the wind from the wings of Garuda. The shower of arrows that came from the bow Sarnga of Krishna was intolerable for the asuras. Here the kavithaarkika kesari compares it to the situation when the ignorant do not tolerate the meaningful words coming out of a kavi who has infallible eloquence.

Those who were killed in the battle, says Desika , gave their life which is worthless as an interest and received great fame like a large amount of money. Finally Krishna took his chakra on hand to stop the havoc created by Bana with his thousand arms in the army of yadhavas and cut off the extra arms of Bana in front of Rudra who gave him the boon. Desika says, `kim va viDhou vairiNi kena rakshyam. When the Lord Himself becomes the enemy who can save the offender?'

But Bana was not to be stopped and went on fighting with his rest of the arms and when it looked as though Krishna may kill him Rudra intervened and reminded Krishna that Bana was the son of Mahabali and should be protected by him (as he had promised Prahladha earlier that he will not kill the descendents of his devotee)

Rudra praised Krishna as the Brahman who is the creator, protector and annihilator and Garuda is the embodiment of the Vedas. Having him as the vehicle the Lord is the essence of the vedas. Brahma and Rudra are appointed by him to do their work and all the devas are like SAkhaikadheSeshu SakunthkalpAh, like birds on the branches of the Vedas. Rudra said that Krishna has incarnated to lessen the burden of the earth and is known for his mercy and patience which are like his two consorts Lakshmi and Bhoomi and requested him to pardon Bana who has sinned against him due to arrogance.

Krishna pardoned Bana and told Rudra that since Bana was a devotee of Rudra he has become the devotee of Krishna as well and granted him the boon that he will live to play his mrdhangam to please Rudra.

Bana repenting, agreed to give his daughter Usha to Aniruddha in marriage and prayed to be considered as a servant. Here Appayyadhikshitha quotes Raghuvamsa of Kalidasa where he says the clan of the bride becomes the servant of the bridegroom. Janaka says in Raghuvamsa , `bhrthyabhAvi dhuhithuh parigrahAth veekshyathAm kula idham nimerithi.' (RV-11.89) But in actuality this may mean that Bana gave up his hatred and became the servant of the Lord.

Aniruddha became suited to his name, being released from imprisonment and returned to Dvaraka with Usha and lived happily.