Reading Notes: Sri Krishna of Dwarka Part A

Kincaid’s Krishna story surprised me. For some reason I did not realize that Krishna was an incarnation of Vishnu. This was a very welcome surprise. Reading the Ramayana really made me enjoy the presence of Vishnu in the story (as an incarnation). When I was reading the Mahabharata, I never realized that Krishna was an incarnation of Vishnu. I most likely missed it in the text. I understood that Krishna was a divine being, but I just never realized that it was Vishnu. 

Anyway, this story opens with the birth of Krishna, which results from Vishnu causing the pregnancy of an imprisoned woman named Devaki. His birth is a bad sign for a king named Kansa because Kansa has been told by a sage that he is going to be killed by Krishna. What I did not understand about this part is that the text describes Kansa as demonic, and it mentions that Vishnu’s goal is to destroy demons. In my mind this meant that Vishnu had been reincarnated once again to rid the world of demons like he had in the Ramayana. This may be a misinterpretation of what transpired, but it is still a cool premise for the start of the story. 

Kansa attempts to kill Krishna, but he is thwarted when Krishna gets moved out of the city before Kansa can kill him. Because Kansa is unable to kill Krishna, and because he does not know what he looks like, Kansa decides that killing all of the male children within the borders of his kingdom is a good idea. He then decides that he has not killed Krishna, how he knows this is a mystery to me, and no he needs to kill all of the boys in the world. This is such a crazy idea that it boggles the mind. 

 
Vasudeva Saving Krishna. Source 

Bibliography 
Shri Krishna of Dwarka and Other Stories. CA Kincaid. Source


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