Top 12 Evil Suppression Krishna Leela Stories
Krishna, the eighth Avatar of Lord Vishnu, peformed many miracles or leelas in order to suppress the evil doers of the material world. Here, I would like to present top 12 evil suppression Krishna Leela (divine play) stories in brief.
1.Putna Vadh
At the age of one month, Lord Krishna killed Putna Rakshasi. The oppressive king Kangsa sent Putna Rakshasi to kill his own nephew, Sri Krishna. Putna took the form of a beautiful woman and came to the house of Krishna’s foster father, Nanda. There she invisibly tried to kill Krishna by suckling her poisoned breasts. But Krishna killed Putna by sucking her vitality.
2.Sakatasura Vadh
When Krishna was three months old, he killed Sakatasura. One day Krishna’s foster mother, Yashodha went to bathe while the child Krishna was lying on the bed. Then Kangsa sent Sakatasura to kill Krishna. But the infant Lord Krishna first threw Sakatasura into the sky, then killed him by throwing him on the ground.
3.Trinavarta Vadh
When Krishna was only a year old, Kangsa sent a servant named Trinavarta to kill Krishna. Trinavarta came to Mathura, created a whirlwind and lifted Krishna into space. But Krishna gained so much weight that Trinavarta failed to carry him. At that time Krishna grabbed Trinavarta by the throat and Trinavarta fell on the rock from space and died.
4.Vatsasura Vadh
One day Balarama and Sri Krishna were grazing cows on the bank of the river. The Gop boys were with them. In the herd of cows, a demon (Vatsasura) was hiding in the form of a cow. Balarama understood the matter and told it to Krishna. Without letting anyone understand the matter, Krishna slowly proceeded towards Vatsasura. Then Krishna grabbed the demon’s tail and legs, turned him in a circle and threw him on a tree and killed him.
5.Vakasura Vadh
One day Balarama and Sri Krishna along with Gop boys went to the edge of a pond to water the cows. They made the cows drink water and they also drank water themselves. Then the Gop boys saw a huge bird with sharp beaks a little distance away. The Gop boys were terrified when they saw this strange bird. In fact it was no bird. It was a bird-like demon named Vakasura.
Vakasura swallowed Krishna as soon as he saw Him. Seeing this scene, the Gop boys became unconscious. Krishna kept hitting Vakasura in the face. Vakasura could not bear it. Then he took Krishna out of his mouth. But soon Vakasura attacked Krishna again. Krishna then used force to kill Vakasura and killed him at last.
6.Aghasura Vadh
One day Krishna along with Gop boys was grazing cows. A monster named Aghasura appeared there. Aghasura was the younger brother of Putna and Vakasura. As soon as Aghasura saw Krishna, he realized that it was Krishna who had killed his brother and sister. Aghasura then took the form of a huge dragon to kill Krishna and his mouth was like a mountain cave. The Gop boys thought that Aghasura’s mouth was a natural cave and they entered his mouth. Krishna then understood everything and went to Aghasura to save the Gop boys. Entering his mouth, Krishna spread His body and closed all the passages of Aghasura’s mouth. Aghasura then stopped breathing and died.
7.Keshi Vadh
One day Kangsa sent one of his servants named Keshi with the intention of killing Lord Krishna. Keshi, in the form of a horse, continued to torture the Gop boys. Krishna then faced Keshi. When Keshi was about to swallow Krishna, Krishna put a huge arm in his mouth and suffocated him to death.
8.Kaliya Naga Daman
Once Krishna and the gop boys were playing by the banks of the river Yamuna where Kaliya lived with its family. Actually Kaliya was a poisonous black snake or Naga with multiple mouths. Kaliya was blinded by hatred and its venom had started poisoning the waters of Yamuna.
Krishna encountered Kaliya. Then Kaliya became furious. Krishna fought the giant Kaliya Naga. Krishna assumed the weight of the entire universe and danced on the Naga’s head, soon overpowering it. He then ordered Kaliya to leave Vrindavana and the river Yamuna and never return.
9.Shishupala Vadh
Shishupala was the son of King Damghosh of the Chedi kingdom and Srutasravara, sister of Basudev and Kunti. During the coronation ceremony of Yudhisthira in the royal court, Krishna, the eighth incarnation of Lord Vishnu, killed Shishupala as Shishupala was insulting Krishna. Shishupala was known as Chaidya as he was a child of the Chedi dynasty.
10.Kangsa Vadh
Kangsa was a king of the Bhoj dynasty who oppressed the subjects of evil nature. He married Asti and Prapti, two daughters of King Jarasandha of Magadha. He captured Raja Ugrasen, his old father, with the help of Jarasandha and became the king of Mathura. At this time Basudev got married to Kangsa’s sister Devaki. While attending the wedding, Kangsa heard the prophecy that Devaki’s eighth child would kill him. So he imprisoned Devaki and Basudev. They had six children in a row in prison, all of whom were killed by Kangsa. The seventh child was transplanted from the womb of Devaki to the womb of Rohini Devi, the second wife of Basudev of Gokul. There he was born on the full moon of Bhadra. The eighth son named Krishna was born at midnight on the eighth day of Krishna Paksha (the dark fortnight) in the month of Bhadra. To protect the dynasty, Basudev immediately hid Krishna in the house of Gopraj Nanda in Gokul. That night, the goddess Mahashakti was born as Jogmaya, the daughter of Nanda’s wife Yashoda. Basudev left Krishna at Yashoda’s house and returned to Mathura with his newborn daughter Jogmaya. Then Kangsa ordered Jogmaya to be stoned to death, but Jogmaya, as she was being thrown, ascended to the sky and said, “The person who will kill you is growing in Gokul.”
Kangsa tried to kill Krishna by searching for him, but all attempts failed. Then Kangsa performed Yajna and brought Krishna to Mathura. On this occasion, the wrestlers of Kangsa were killed by Krishna. Angered by this, Kangsa ordered to send two brothers, Krishna and Balarama into exile. He also ordered Nanda to be taken prisoner and Ugrasen and Basudev to be killed. Upon hearing this order, Krishna attacked Kangsa and killed him by throwing him from the throne. When the eight brothers of Kangsa resisted, Balarama killed them. Later Krishna established peace in Mathura by placing his grandfather Ugrasen on the throne.
11.Shankhasura Vadh
After killing Kangsa, Krishna and Balarama learned Dhanurveda and Ayurveda from the sage, Sandeepan. While bathing at Prabhasa Tirtha, Panchajanya, an evil sea demon who lived in a colossal Shankh (conch shell) in the deepest depths of the Prabhasa ocean, took Sandeepan’s son into the ocean. As Guru Dakshina (the tradition of repaying one’s teacher or to a spiritual guide or ‘guru’ after the completion of formal education) Sandipan Muni requested Krishna and Balarama to rescue his son from the demon. Then Krishna and Balarama killed Shankhasura and rescued the son of Sandipan.
12.Jarasandha Vadh
Jarasandha married his two daughters Asti and Prapti to Kangsa. With the help of Jarasandha, Kangsa captured his father Ugrasen and became the king of Mathura. When Kangsa was killed by Lord Krishna, he attacked Mathura a total of seventeen times to avenge it.
But due to Krishna’s war strategy, he was not able to capture Mathura. Overwhelmed by repeated attacks, Krishna ordered the Yadavas to build a residence in Dwarka. But before Yadavas went to Dwarka, Jarasandha attacked Mathura again. This time the companion was a Krishna-hating king named Kalayavan. This time Krishna devised a strategy to kill Kalayavan. When Kalayavan started following Krishna to kill him, Krishna pretended to flee and entered a cave in a distant mountain. A sage named Muchukunda was sleeping in that cave. Kalayavan followed Krishna and entered the cave and kicked Muchukunda in the dark thinking he was Krishna. Muchukunda just woke up and looked at Kalayavan. Then Kalayavan was burnt.
When Jarasandha came to attack Mathura once more, a follower of Jarasandha named Hamsa was killed by Balarama. Hamsa’s brother Dimbak committed suicide in the river Yamuna in this grief. After the death of Kalayavan and Dimbak, Jarasandha returned to his kingdom feeling miserable.
Thus Krishna, overwhelmed by the repeated attacks of Jarasandha, came to Jarasandha with Bhima and Arjuna to kill him (Jarasandha). At this time all three were disguised as Brahmins. When Jarasandha saw the signs of weapons in the hands of these three and wanted to know their true identities, Krishna gave them their true identities. Then Bhima wrestled with Jarasandha. Bhima defeated Jarasandha more than once and dismembered the body, but in a short while Jarasandha came to life by attaching the body. Then, at the behest of Krishna, Bhima created an obstacle for the disintegrated body to come together and the real death of Jarasandha took place.
