Mahabharata - Chapter 34 - Jarasandha - Told by Sriram Raghavan

When Yudhishtira asked Krishna for advice on performing the Rajasuya, Krishna responded at length with all his wisdom.

Krishna said, “Dear Yudhishtira. You possess all the qualities of a king worthy of performing this great Yajna. However, there are some obstacles that we must first cross. King Jarasandha has taken over much of Middle Earth, otherwise known as Mathura. He is an evil ruler. He has created a divide amongst many other kings and has killed thousands for wrong reasons. In fact, he was instrumental in Kamsa overthrowing my grandfather Ugrasena. I had to kill Kamsa, but since then, Jarasandha has become exceedingly powerful. He attacked Dwaraka many times but we have successfully kept him away. He will never let you perform the Rajasuya and will definitely wage war against you. There are many great kings capable of fighting Jarasandha – like Sisupala, Vaka, Hamsa, Dimvaka, Dantavakra, Karusha, Karava, Meghavahana. But they have all joined hands with him out of fear or because they too have fallen into evil ways. Even Bhagadatta, an old friend of your father, has joined forces with Jarasandha.”

“Jarasandha has planned a grand Yajna for Lord Shiva. In this Yajna he plans to sacrifice a 100 kings. Jarasandha has captured and imprisoned 95 kings for this purpose and is waiting to capture the other 5. His evil intentions must not be allowed to take fruition. He has to be killed.”

Before we proceed, let us delve into the history of Jarasandha. Long ago, the land of Magadha was ruled by a king called Vrihadratha. He had two wives but was childless. He approached a rishi and prayed to him intently. The rishi, pleased with the king’s prayers asked Vrihadratha what he wanted. Vrihadratha said, “O Muni, I have been endowed with all the powers in the world and I have 2 beautiful wives. But I have no children and I am worried that my kingdom will go without an heir to the throne. I seek children. Please grant me this boon.” The rishi was seated under a mango tree. He closed his eyes and meditated. In a few moments, a mango fell on the Rishi’s lap. The Rishi gave the mango to the king and said, “Whoever eats this mango will have an illustrious son.”

Vrihadratha was elated on hearing this. He bowed to the rishi and rushed back to his kingdom and gave the mango to his wives. Since the king had 2 wives, they split the mango into two equal halves and ate one half each. Soon, they were pregnant and the king was overjoyed. In time, the two wives gave birth, but to the king’s and everyone’s horror, each of his wives had given birth to half a child. Each child has one eye, one hand, one leg. The two halves were a mirror image of one another.

The mango was supposed to be eaten by one person. But neither the king nor his wives knew that. Now, they were left with two halves of a dead child. Unable to bear the sight, the king took the two halves and put it in the back yard to bury them later.

After some time, a Rakshasi by name Jara smelt the dead flesh and came to the king’s backyard and found two halves of a body. Rakshasis are fond of human flesh. Jara took the two halves and bundled it in a cloth to easily carry it. Immediately, the two halves merged into one and became a complete baby. The baby came to life and started crying. The Rakshasi was astonished. She did not want to kill a newborn child. She immediately summoned the King and gave the baby back to him and disappeared.

The king was overjoyed. He finally had the son that he dreamed of. Since this child was put together by the Rakshasi called Jara, the king named the child, Jarasandha, meaning, “put together by Jara”.

Krishna continued, “Jarasandha needs to be slain. But he cannot be defeated by normal means, as his army is exceedingly powerful. He also has powerful allies. Thus, I recommend that Jarasandha be killed by a single hand-to-hand combat.” In those days, kings considered it an honor to accept a challenge of a one to one duel. Krishna knew that Jarasandha would not refuse such an invitation.

After strategizing for some time, Krishna, Arjuna and Bhima disguised themselves as Brahmanas and went to Magadha. When they reached Magadha, king Jarasandha rushed out and paid his respect to the Brahmanas. Remember - we had seen in earlier chapters that it is a Kshatriya’s duty to pay respects to Brahmanas. Though Jarasandha was drunk with power and wanted to conquer more lands, he also followed certain principles like that of serving Brahmanas.

Krishna addressed Jarasandha. He pointed to Arjuna and Bhima and said, “O King! These two men have taken a vow of silence and will not speak until midnight.”

Thus, Jarasandha made the three of them comfortable in guest apartments and waited until midnight to speak to them. Once midnight arrived, Jarasandha went and met Krishna, Arjuna and Bhima. He said, “You have arrived here as Brahmanas. But judging by the mark of bow strings on your hands and the Kshatriya Energy that you effuse, I do not believe that you are Brahmanas. Tell me who you are. Tell me the truth.”

Krishna responded, “O Jarasandha! You have made a grave mistake by imprisoning kings with the intent of sacrificing them. I am Krishna. And the two men you see here are Bhima and Arjuna, the sons of Pandu. And we wish to challenge you to a one on one fight. You can choose one of us and whoever you choose will fight you with bare arms.”

Jarasandha replied, “Of the three of you, only Bhima is equal to me in strength. Only he is worthy of fighting a single combat battle with bare hands. I will fight him.”

Thus, Bhima and Jarasandha started fighting in a battlefield while Arjuna and Krishna watched. They fought with only their hands as weapons. They punched, clasped, pulled, and used their enormous energy to fight. They roared like lions. At times they twisted each other’s arms and legs as though they were twigs. Slowly, the citizens of Magadha came out in thousands to watch the two enormously powerful wrestlers fight this great battle. They were equal in strength and the fight went on for an entire day. Then it went on another day. And another. They fought valiantly for 14 days before Jarasandha eventually felt fatigue. Bhima saw the opportunity and lifted Jarasandha over his head and swirled it around a 100 times and dashed him to the ground. Then, pressing his knees against Jarasandha’s spine, Bhima tore his body into two and threw it. Magically, the two halves of Jarasandha’s body came together automatically and Jarasandha started fighting again with reborn energy. Jarasandha was capable of merging into one as he was originally born as two halves. Many times Bhima summoned all his strength to tear Jarasandha into two pieces, but the bodies always came together immediately and Jarasandha sprung back to life. Bhima was clueless and looked over to Krishna for help. Krishna picked up a small stick from the ground, broke it into two and put the two pieces away from each other in such a way that the joint that was cut pointed in opposite directions. Bhima got the hint and once again tore Jarasandha’s body into two. This time, he threw the two parts of the body in such a way that the back of one part was facing the back of the other part. Jarasandha’s body could not merge into one anymore and he died.

Krishna installed Jarasandha’s son, Sahadeva as the king of Magadha and set the 95 imprisoned kings free. The victorious Bhima, Arjuna and Krishna returned to Indraprastha.

Note the significance of Krishna in the lives of the Pandavas. The Pandavas invariably faced dilemmas and problems. It was Krishna who gave them timely advice and suggestion on numerous occasion and showed them a way out. We may not have a Krishna in our lives to tell us what to do. However, we do have our parents and teachers, whose wisdom and life experiences are more than sufficient to guide us in the right path. The important thing however, is to follow the path of Dharma and always live righteously as the Pandavas did. If we do that, help will always find us during times of distress.

With the major threat out of the way, Yudhishtira was all set to perform the Rajasuya Yajna. We will see this, in the next chapter.