KRISHNA STORY 7

 

The Crushed Wheel

by J.K. Sivan

 

Krishna is growing fast. Now it is almost  3 or  4 months  since he is born at Gokulam in Nandagopan’s  palace.  His movements  are now fast and he is able to use his hands and feet .

Yasodha  and Nandagopan are  from now on planning to celebrate his fist birth day many months ahead!  Meantime everyday seemed to be a birth day celebration in their house because ther was continuous feast for the entire village ever since Krishna was born in their house.  Everyone partook in the celebrations. 

The streets  are filled with people distributing sweets, buttermilk and jiggery pieces to all passers by.  In groups they  conducted  one act plays, singing in chorus, and games for children.

There was a magician also performing his tricks in one corner of the street, with all the children attracted by his tricks enjoying the show. Women of the village decorated the front yards of their houses with varieties of rangoli. And many gopas spent a lot of time in washing the cows, calves and painting their horns colorfully and decorating them with flowers and clothes.

Some were  playing instruments like pipes, flutes and violin  etc., with a few admirers surrounding them. It  appears there is a big feast today in the palace.  Krishna has been dressed with new baby clothes and someone has fitted a small crown on his head made of flowers. He looked very pretty and beautiful with his ornaments and new dress.

In a big hall, rows of banana leaves are spread and batches of people partaking food are occupying their seats and being served.  Yasodha and Rohini are busy serving them personally to their heart’s content.

As usual presents are pouring in and almost every Gopi takes Krishna from the cradle, embrace him and hug him which makes him look tired.  When he was found sleepy Yasodha  decided to put him to sleep in a separate room free from noise.  In that room there was a big cart used for taking their milk pots, curd pots, and other products in the streets for distribution. It was a four wheeler.  An old wooden cart was it not used for a long time.  Hence it was used to store the spares and other unused items.

Yasodha  as usual  cleaned the area underneath the cart and spread the mat and cloth and laid the sleeping Krishna to rest a while until the group feeding was over.  If he is in this room, she can have a look at him every time she crosses the room to and from kitchen was her idea.

It  so coincided that not only Yasodha selected the space under the cart for Krishna to rest, but someone else also  had selected the same spot!!!!  He  was a demon dispatched by the King Kamsan to destroy Krishna.  The demon was named Chakatasuran – The wheel demon.  He invisibly  visited the house and was hiding in the spare room where now Krishna was sleeping under the cart.  The demon was very happy that Krishna was now alone and conveniently he was in between the four  wooden wheels of a cart.  This opportunity came his way to make his task easy to crush Krishna under the wheels.  Being the demon of wheels  he entered the old wooden wheels and slowly started moving.

At least one wheel is enough to kill Krishna the child is not it?  His entire strength was therefore given to one of the rear wheels which was closer to Krishna’s  head and he was waiting for the right time to move the wheel over Krishna’s head.

Unfortunately for him,  Krishna  woke up from his sleep and looked at the wheel close to him making slight movements. He smiled and watched its movements.  He now moves so he turned his legs towards the wheel which was close to his head and watched it.

When everyone was busy in the hall feasting the wheel demon commenced his operation. He moved with a force towards Krishna who had by this time turned to opposite direction and his legs were close to the approaching wheel.  The moment the wheel came near him he gave a powerful kick to the wheel  which was broken from the cart and lifted up and crashed against the stone wall in a corner.

The old wooden wheel crashed against the strong  granite stone of the wall and was broken to pieces.  The wheel demon never faced in his life such a powerful kick that he broke his ribs and vertebra and a loud cry of anguish and pain emanated from him.  The sudden noise which sounded like a thunder made every one rush to the spare room from where the noise arose.   Krishna  was lying under the upturned cart with milk and curd spilled from the pots which were kept on the cart all over him and was tasting the milk and curd happily. 

Everyone  was shocked to find a huge demon crying in pain,  amidst  the broken pieces of the old wooden cart wheel, unmoving with all his bones broken, in a corner of the room, in a pool of blood.   

Before they could recover from this sudden shock, the demon breathed his last and was dead.

Krishna  was calm and happy just keeping himself  enjoying the taste of butter, curd and milk all mixed which were dripping into his mouth from the spilled pots on top of the cart which itself was looking toppled.  Probably he was wondering who is going to be the next to combat him??

 


The writer can be reached at: jksivan@gmail.com