Kiratasena, the king of the
kiratas, the forest-dwellers, went to the Kurukshetra War for glory and for
revenge but ended up attaining moksha.
The Great War at Kurukshetra was
imminent. The Pandavas and the Kauravas had entered the battlefield of
Kurukshetra, and each side, with the warriors who had come to fight for them,
was assessing the strengths and weaknesses of their adversary. It was then that
King Kiratasena arrived on the battlefield with his son, named Jara. Kiratasena
went to Duryodhana and told him that with just one arrow, he could vanquish both
Krishna and Arjuna, and requested him to make him the Commander of his army. Coupled
with his quest for glory in the Great War, was his desire for revenge. In his
earlier incarnation as Sri Rama, Sri Krishna had killed him, who was King Bali then.
But about his desire for revenge, he said nothing to Duryodhana. The Kaurava king
upbraided him for his boastfulness. With his crude bow and just three arrows,
how could he think he would defeat Basudeva, the lord of the Universe, he asked
him. Kiratasena told him that they were not ordinary arrows. With them, he
could win the three worlds. Duryodhana told him that such boastfulness was
totally incongruous with a true warrior. He would think of making him the
Commander of his army if, with the forces at his command, he failed to defeat
the Pandavas. He told him that he came to him uninvited, and he did not trust
him. In any case, forest-dwellers were untrustworthy, and he did not need him,
he said. Feeling humiliated and disappointed, Kiratasena left him.
He then went to Yudhisthira. He
wanted glory. If he could not take revenge, so be it, he must have thought. He
paid his respects to the embodiment of Dharma and told him that He belonged to
the gotra of the Basu savara and that he was the king of the forest named
Kaushika. On hearing that a great war was going to take place, he had come to
participate in it. He told Yudhisthira he would win the war for him if he made
him the Commander of the Pandava army. Yudhisthira’s reply was rude. They were
the low caste forest dwellers, and how could he think he would fight with the
great Bhishma, who even the king of the gods feared to fight with, he asked
him. Kiratasena told him that he was not boasting. He had three infallible
arrows with him. With one, he would win the swarga, with another, the patala
and with the third, the world of the mortals: the martya. In that case, said
Yudhisthira, it would be appropriate to make him the Commander of his army. But
he would not do so. He told him what Duryodhana had told him before. He said if
one failed to win a war with his own resources, only then could one think of
taking someone else’s help. That apart, it was going to be a fight between
brothers, and an outsider had no place in it. Disappointed, Kiratasena and his
son left the place.
As they were going, Kiratasena
saw Sri Krishna. With utmost devotion, he worshipped him. The poet Sarala gives
no hint in his narrative that would explain the sudden change of attitude in
the savara king: from the one who sought revenge, he became an ardent devotee.
In the spirit of Sarala Mahabharata, we could suggest that the darshan
of Krishna had purified him; his revengefulness had disappeared, and in him, there
was pure devotion. He told Krishna how Yudhisthira did not allow him to take
part in the war. He could conquer the world, but was going back utterly
disappointed, and begged him to allow him to fight in the war. He told him
about the power of his three arrows.
Krishna was worried. He took
Arjuna aside and told him that if the savara went back to Duryodhana and
Duryodhana changed his mind and allowed him to lead his army, it would be
disastrous for the Pandavas. Arjuna told him that he was the protector of the
Pandavas and that he left their fate in his hands.
Krishna then called Kiratasena
and told him that he wanted something from him and that, in return, he would
fulfil his wishes. The savara king readily promised ritually that he would give
him, the wielder of Sudarshana Chakra, whatever he asked of him. Extending his
hand to him in the manner of a receiver of dana (ritual gift), Krishna asked him
for his head. Kiratasena told him that he was bound by oath to give him
whatever he wanted from him and in all humility, told him to cut off his head
with Sudarshana Chakra. He sat in the yogic position padmasana, and meditated
on the Supreme god Narayana. Krishna severed his head with his Sudarshana
Chakra.
The severed head told Sri Krishna
how, in the aeon of Tretaya, in his incarnation as Sri Rama, he had killed him
without a fight. He was Bali then, the king of Kishkindha and his son, now Jara
in his present existence, was Angada. He told Sri Krishna that he, in the
incarnation of Sri Rama, had killed him with the arrow named Babala. But now,
being merciful, he had killed him with Sudarshana Chakra. Kiratasena surely
knew that killed with Sudarshana Chakra by Sri Krishna, he would attain moksha.
To digress a little to reflect on
this. Sarala Mahabharata distinguishes between the other Avataras
(incarnations) of the Supreme god Narayana, the giver of moksha, and Sri
Krishna. Sri Krishna is the only incarnation in which the Avatara wields
Sudarshana Chakra (and rides on Garuda, not mentioned here in the narrative in
this context for obvious reasons), like Narayana. In that sense, Sri Krishna
can be called the Purna Avatara of Narayana. As such, he is the moksha-giver.
Returning to the severed head,
Kiratasena prayed to Sri Krishna to grant him his wish. He wanted to stay alive
and witness the Kurukshetra War. Krishna gave him a great deal more. Such was his
mercy. He said that he would remain in his present form on the flag of his
ratha (chariot), Nandighosha (gobinde boile mora nandighoshe raha / murtibanta
hoi mohara ratha dhwaje thaaa). He then said that he would remain in his
chariot for aeons and aeons, and people would see him manifest in that form (juga
jugantare thibu ye mohara rathe / tohara murtibanta nare dekhibe samaste). And
those who would see him would not be troubled by sorrow and suffering.
Thus, Kiratasena attained eternal
life. Free from death and on that account, rebirth, he attained moksha. To see
it from another perspective, moksha is staying eternally connected with
Narayana.
Now, what had happened to Bali in
swarga, after he was killed by Sri Rama? This is what Sage Agastya (Agasti)
told Baibasuta Manu, the lord of the aeon: he told him how killed by Sri Rama,
Bali had attained swarga and how the Creator god Brahma cursed him there for
having taken his younger brother’s wife by force and making her his wife. He
cursed him to be born in the mortal world as a kirata, a low caste forest
dweller. He would go to Kurukshetra and meet both the warring Kings and plead
with each of them to be allowed to fight in the war. He would be rejected by
both. And there he would meet Basudeva, who would sever his head with his
Chakra. The severed head would remain alive, and Sri Hari would place it in the
flag of his ratha (chariot) and from there, he would witness the war.
To conclude, Brahma had granted Kiratasena’s
severed head a limited span of life. Sri Krishna freed him from the cycle of
life and death.
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