Stories From The Bhagawatham - Krishna Avatar - Aghasura

 

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Once, Krishna planned to spend a whole day in the forest with his friends.

“I will bring my flute and trumpet.” He told his friends. “You all bring whatever you wish to. We will play music and games and have a glorious day in the forest.” His friends all agreed, already getting excited.

The next day the whole group left for the forest with their calves and cows. Krishna led the gang, playing music on his flute. The boys kept an eye on their cows while also enjoying themselves – weaving garlands out of wild flowers found there, applying the powder of pink shells found on the banks of the river and playing pranks on each other.

Needless to say, Krishna was the wildest in the group, running ahead and teasing his friends to catch him and then getting caught and rejoicing with his friends.

How blessed were the friends of the Krishna, for whom the Lord of the Universe took a human form, played with them and filled their days and their lives with such joy and bliss! People spend lifetimes meditating on Krishna to attain him, but these innocent boys earned Krishna’s love and affection with just pure friendship.

As the group kept venturing inside the forest, they came across a strange-looking cave. The kids’ imagination ran wild.

“Why, it looks like the open mouth of some creature!” One of the kids remarked.

“Not just any creature but a python, a large python, with its lower jaw on the ground and its upper jaw high up in the sky.” Another kid remarked.

“And the red path leading inside looks like its tongue.” The kids started picturizing more and more about the cave. “The ridges on the side of the lower jaw look like teeth. Why, even the air coming out from the cave feels different, perhaps toxic like a python’s breath.”

“What if we go inside, thinking it is a cave but it turns out to be a python instead?” One child remarked fearfully.

“Our Krishna will save us if it turns out to be a python.” Some of the kids replied confidently and started marching into the cave.

Unfortunately, they were right, for it was no ordinary cave but the open mouth of an Asura named Aghasura who had taken the form of a gigantic python. This Asura was the brother of Putana and Bakasur. Although Kansa had sent him to kill Krishna, Aghasura also had his own revenge in his mind against the killing of his brother and sister. He saw the kids enter his mouth one by one, silently getting excited about the chance to finally kill Krishna.

Krishna, in the meanwhile, knew that it was Aghasura. He silently watched his friends walking inside. Our Krishna will save us… He heard them say and he smiled. He was the last one to enter into the mouth of the evil python.

The moment Aghasura realized that Krishna had entered his mouth, he shut it. Even the celestial beings watching from their realms shouted in alarm at the sight of the python trapping Krishna and his friends inside him.

Krishna’s friends started suffocating inside the python’s mouth. Standing exactly at the python’s throat, Krishna started growing in size. The python initially felt slight suffocation which quickly turned into fear when Krishna didn’t stop growing and kept choking his throat. Aghasura thrashed his body, trying to breathe but Krishna’s growing form completely choked him until he drew his last breath as his head split with the pressure of Krishna.

Once the Asura was dead, Krishna turned his attention to all his friends who had fainted due to the toxic fumes inside the Asura’s mouth. They all woke up with the power of his gaze and ran outside. Krishna was the last one to leave from the Asura’s mouth.

Even as everyone watched in wonder, a glow emanated from the mouth of the dead Asura and merged into the feet of Krishna. Aghasura the evil Asura had gained liberation at the divine hands of Krishna.

Om Namo Narayana! Om Namo Bhagawathe Vasudevaaya!