By trendsetter Lord Shri Krishna’s animated duel with Kaal Yavan is one of the lesser known chapters of Krishna Lila.
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Who was Kaal Yavan?
In the ancient times, Bharat or undivided India’s boundaries extended to regions beyond today’s Afghanistan. Kaal Yavan was a ruler of the desert regions beyond Afghanistan. He was the son of a sage named Sheshirayan.
Sheshirayan was a devotee of Lord Shiva. He performed extreme penance to please him. Pleased with the sage’s devotion, Lord Shiva appeared in front of him. With folded hands, the sage requested Lord Shiva to grant him a wish. Sheshirayan wanted a son who was undefeatable & was immune to all the weapons of this planet.
Lord Shiva granted him his wish saying, “No warrior in this world will be able to defeat your son. All weapons used on him will have absolutely no effect. Neither a Suryavanshi nor a Chandravanshi clan’s warrior will be able to defeat or kill your son”.
At that time the Suryavanshis & Chandravanshis were considered as warriors of unmatched strength, courage & capabilities. With his (to be born)son now having been elevated to the status of invincibility as a result of Lord Shiva’s boon, the sage Sheshirayan left that place & moved on.
The sage & the celestial nymph Rambha
After some time, Sheshirayan saw the semi goddess or celestial nymph- Rambha playfully bathing in a nearby river. In the ancient times, the semi goddesses would intensely adore men & sages who undertook great penance. Sheshirayan was smitten by Rambha’s beauty & Rambha developed profound feelings for Sheshirayan.
They were blessed with a son. they named him Kaal Yavan. As Rambha’s time on earth was nearing completion, she handed over her son to Sheshirayan & sought his blessings to leave for her heavenly abode.
There was a wicked king named Kaal Jung who ruled over a region named Maleech. The King was very sad & depressed as he did not have a son who would take over the reigns of his kingdom. However a minister advised Kaal Jung to go to sage Sheshirayan to seek his blessings, narrate his ordeal & seek his permission to adopt the sage’s son Kaal Yavan.
Observing the plight of the distressed king Kaal Jung, Sheshirayan was moved with sympathy. He gave his son Kaal Yavan to the king & moved on to continue with his penance for spiritual progress. thus Kaal Yavan became the king of Maleech region.
Kaal Yavan was extraordinarily brave & strong as a result of Lord Shiva’s boon. Forget about defeating, no it was difficult for experienced warriors to even face him. His reputation kept growing. Once he asked the sage Narad, “Who could be my worthy opponent? Whom should I challenge for a war?” The Narayan devotee, sage Narad, replied that he should challenge the king of Mathura, Lord Krishna.
Jarasandh, Shri Krishna & Kaal Yavan – the hostile connection.
King Jarasandh was a powerful king of his era. He had annexed the kingdoms of a lot of kings after defeating them in wars and/or duels. Jarasandh had married his two daughters Asti & Prapti to Kansa, the ruler of Mathura. However when Shri Krishna killed Kansa, both of Jarasandh’s daughters were widowed. Jarasandh wanted to take revenge as both his daughters were forced to live as a widow for the rest of their lives.
Jarasandh attacks Krishna’s Mathura
Despite Jarasandh attacking Mathura a few times & repeatedly challenging Shri Krishna for a war and/or a duel, Shri Krishna refused to be drawn into a war with him. He deemed the entire exercise of going for an all out war with Kansa futile.
He thought the loss of time, resources & lives while engaging in a war with Jarasandh was not worth it. Thus he kept avoiding a direct war with Jarasandh for a long time.
Krishna – the common enemy!
Kaal Yavan had challenged Shri Krishna. Jarasandh wanted to avenge his son-in-law Kansa’s death. Till this time there was practically no connection between Jarasandh & Kaal Yavan. But to seek his revenge from Shri Krishna, Jarasandh decided to take the help of Kaal Yavan. He became friends with Kaal Yavan & offered his entire army & country’s resources for use in the war with Krishna.
Lord Krishna vs Kaal Yavan in Vishnu Puran
The face off between Kaal Yavan & Shri Krishna is mentioned in 23rd chapter of the 5th part of Vishnu Puran. Kaal Yavan surrounded entire Mathura with his army & sent a message to Krishna saying he had one days time to prepare for war.
Krishna responded to the message saying that he would not want the soldiers of either side to be wounded & killed in a war which he deemed futile. Instead, Kaal Yavan could also get his perceived outcome of the conflict via a personal duel in a man to man combat. Kaal Yavan readily agreed to Shri Krishna’s proposal as he knew he was invincible, thanks to Mahadev(Lord Shiva’s) boon.
Balram, Akroor advise Shri Krishna to refrain.
Balram & Akroor were aware of the boon granted by Lord Shiva to Sheshinarayan- Kaal Yavan’s father. They advised Shri Krishna against engaging in a man to man duel as Kaal Yavan was practically undefeatable. But Shri Krishna told them to relax. He assured them that Kaal Yavan was destined to be killed soon & hence there was no need to worry.
Muchkund’s boon & Kaal Yavan’s fate.
During the times of Treta Yuga, there was a great king named Shri Mandhata. He had three sons. Muchkund was one of them. He was very intelligent & capable of devising invincible war strategies. Thus Indra dev, the ruler of the heavens, appointed him as the chief commander of the army of all the heavenly gods in their war against the demons.
After a prolonged, exhausting but victorious battle against the demons, Muchkund longed for a long peaceful sleep. The heavenly gods pleased as a result of reclaiming the heavens after the victorious battle, blessed him to go instantly into a state of deep sleep. The gods gave him the boon saying that whosoever will cause disturbance in your peaceful sleep will be instantly burnt to ashes when you will look at him after opening your eyes.
Krishna, Kaal Yavan & the ‘D day’
Kaal Yavan & Krishna had come face to face in the battle field. Kaal Yavan tried to engage Krishna in a duel. In stead of responding to him, Lord Krishna started running in a direction away from him. Kaal Yavan was perplexed initially. But nevertheless he felt happy that Krishna was running away from him. His enemy refused to face him.
Kaal Yavan thought that Lord Shri Krishna was scared of him. He furiously started chasing him. There was a lot of turbulence of different kind of emotions in his mind while he chased Krishna. One of the emotions was that he was feeling elated that Shri Krishna was not fighting him. He felt happy & even more powerful now. The second emotion was intense fury & anger.
Shri Krishna was very fast but still he kept giving Kaal Yavan the hope that he would be able to catch Krishna. But every time he was within Kaal Yavan’s reach, he would suddenly increase his relative speed & move further away. Shri Krishna was playfully teasing him in the chase.
This chase continued for some time. With the passage of time Kaal Yavan started feeling tired. He became irritated & blind with rage. That’s when Krishna entered the cave in which Muchkund was sleeping since Treta Yuga.
तेनानुयातः कृष्णोऽपि प्रविवेश महागुहाम् । यत्र शेते महावीर्यो मुचुकुन्दो नरेश्वरः ॥ [विष्णु पुराण 5/23/18]
Meaning of the above Sanskrit shlok:- While being chased by Kaal Yavan, Lord Shri Krishna entered the huge, great cave in which Muchkund was sleeping. (Vishnu Puran 5/23/18 5th part, 23rd chapter, 18th shlok)
On entering inside the cave, Lord Shri Krishna hid himself. When Kaal Yavan entered the cave, he saw a man sleeping peacefully. Kaal Yavan knew that Shri Krishna had the magical powers to transform himself & take the form of someone else. As he was already very tired, irritated & angry he did not cross check the cave, location & possibility of this man being someone else.
He screamed saying, “O Krishna! You have taken the form of a weak, old man & are trying to deceive me? Get up & fight.” With this, he kicked the sleeping Muchkund. Muchkund who had been in a state of deep slumber since long, slowly opened his eyes & got up. He looked around & found only Kaal Yavan standing in front of him.
Muchkund was infuriated as he was woken up with a kick. He looked at Kaal Yavan with intense rage in his eyes. As a result Kaal Yavan was burn to ashes due to the boon given to him by the gods of heaven.
What does Lord Krishna teach us via this Krishna-Lila?
One must never fight an enemy whom you know very well that he cannot be defeated. It is possible that you will gain some relevance or respect as a result of a display of the courage in fighting an invincible enemy. But if defeat is certain then it is absolutely stupid to fight with such an enemy.
One must engage directly, delay a possible conflict & try to look for a solution without getting involved in a confrontation. However if one is left with no other option then it is sagacious to seek help from others or at least fight in an environment which is favorable to you.
Lord Shri Krishna avoided a direct war which would have resulted in the loss of lives of soldiers from both sides. He saw no point in getting into a state of war with 2 huge armies. The war was such that it would only serve to boost the ego of one individual.
Shri Krishna also accepted the fact that Kaal Yavan was invincible. He respected the boon given by Lord Shiva. He did not display arrogance saying, even if Kaal Yavan is blessed by Lord Shiva, I will still kill him as I am the ultimate god.
He teaches us to not get involved in ego battles which bear little or no fruit but as a consequence of the battle also rake in huge losses in terms of lives, resources, time & reputation.
Lord Shri Krishna as ‘Ranchhod’ says “What’s in a name?”
Shri Krishna was willing to personally accept a tarnished reputation. After this incident he was named as Ranchhod. Ranchhod translates to “someone who left the battlefield”. With this incident he teaches us to be ready for personal sacrifices & look for bigger gains.
Lord Krishna sacrificed his personal reputation and got a name as Ranchhod as a result of him leaving the battle field when Kaal Yavan challenged him for a duel. But in return he was able to save the lives of a lot of soldiers from both sides who would have otherwise died just because of the ego of Kaal Yavan.
There are very deep meanings & interpretations with every Lila associated with the life of Lord Shri Krishna. He teaches us how to live…