In the south of India, the victory of Lord Krishna over the demon king, Narakasura, is celebrated with great enthusiasm and fervour. The story of Narakasura Vadha is often narrated at temples and religious gatherings, just as the story of the victory of Ram over Ravana is. In fact, in Goa, Diwali is celebrated as Narakasura Chaturdashi, and an effigy of the asura is burned on the eve of Diwali.
Narakasura was the son of Vishnu in his Varaha (wild boar) avatar and Bhoomi Devi. He terrorised all three worlds and took over them as king, and he ruled from his capital kingdom, Pragjyotisha. He abducted women from every land or kingdom that he invaded and took over, collecting as many as 16,100 women. Finally, he invaded Amaravati, the abode of Lord Indra and invading his stables, took away all his elephants as Indra watched on helplessly. Furthermore, he snatched away the extremely precious earrings of Aditi, the mother of the devas, as well as the umbrella of Lord Varuna.
Not knowing whom else to turn to, Indra appealed to Lord Krishna to help all those suffering under Narakasura’s tyranny. Krishna and his wife Satyabhama, riding together on Garuda – Krishna’s eagle mount – headed to Pragjyotisha to do battle with Narakasura.
It was, however, not a straightforward or simple approach to get inside Pragjyotisha. Krishna and Satyabhama faced mountains made of impenetrable rock, showers of weapons including maces, swords and arrows, an enormous deluge of water that swept up everything in its way, a huge blaze of fire with long, leaping flames, and then a wild gale that threatened to blow them away with its force.
Lord Krishna, however, managed to counter each one of Narakasura’s defences, neutralising them and swiftly approaching the demon king’s palace, at the gates of which was the five-headed asura guard, Mura.
Mura awoke at the sound of Krishna’s conch being blown and proceeded to face Krishna in battle. However, Krishna, using his arrows, easily overpowered and destroyed the asura. Next to face Krishna in battle were Narakasura’s seven sons, all of whom Krishna destroyed. And thus remained, Narakasura himself.
The asura was arrogant and evil and could not see divinity when he faced it, and he went out to battle with Krishna. Using his Sudarshana Chakra, Krishna sliced of Narakasura’s head, finally ridding the three worlds of the tyrant’s evil and wrongdoing.
Bhoomi Devi then returned Aditi’s earrings and Varuna’s umbrella to Krishna, and Krishna himself crowned Bhagadatta, Narakasura’s son, as the king of Pragjyotisha. Krishna further returned all the wealth and precious items that Narakasura had stolen or taken by force, back to their rightful owners.
Finally, the 16,100 maidens who had been held captive by Narakasura, appealed to Krishna to give them the respectable life they all deserved. And so, Krishna took all 16,100 of them as his wives, having them escorted to Dwarka with rightful respect. This is the story of how Krishna defeated the evil Narakasura and found himself 16,100 brides.
