The tyranny of Jarasandha

When he attained youth, Jarasandha’s father King Vrihadrath abdicated in his favour and went to the forest with his two queens to practice Vaanprastha (renunciation). He later ascended to heaven. After his retirement, Jarasandha expanded the rule of the Magadh kingdom by his valour and brought numerous kings under his sway. He became more powerful than his father. But gradually, he came to be known as a cruel tyrant who was more feared than respected by his own subjects as well as other kings both for and against him. With time, he became the emperor ruling over a vast area. Kings like Sisupala commandeered of his forces. Many kings were forced to accept his dominance. Those who did not were killed or captured. Many others chose to flee their kingdoms along with their family and followers.

Particularly, he picked up enmity with the Yadavas of Mathura after Kansa was slain by Shri Krishna. Kansa, the cruel ruler of Mathura, who subjugated the Yadavas had married two of his daughters. As a retaliation of his death, he vowed to destroy the Yadava clan. He attacked Mathura many times along with his two supporters Hansa and Dimvaka. Once he hurled a huge mace towards Mathura with great power. It fell at ninety-nine yojanas from Gririvraja. The place where the mace fell near Mathura became to be known as Gadavasan. The Yadavas comprising of three powerful tribes Kukkura, Andhaka and Vrishni, were constantly disturbed by Jarasandha and even Balaram and Krishna somehow could not do much to punish Jarasandha. Because by a boon, he was incapable of being vanquished in battle even by all the celestials and the Asuras (fighting together). He could only be defeated in a personal struggle with bare arms.

Being frustrated with his repeated acts of aggression, Krishna advised the Yadavas to shift their kingdom to a separate place which was safe. Accordingly, the Yadavas decided to leave Mathura and shift to the western part at a place called Kusasthali, nestled by the mountains of Raivata. In that city, they rebuilt the fort and made it strong and impregnable from further attacks. The new city was named Dwaravati .

To demonstrate his superiority the cruel Jarasandha had decided to sacrifice one hundred princes. He started attacking various kingdoms and imprisoned kings and princes. Eighty-six princes were thus made captive as he looked for fourteen more to fulfil his sadistic desire.

Around this same time, Yudhisthir having built the city of Indraprastha and ascending the throne there decided to perform the Rajyasuya Yagna, a function to showcase his dominance as an emperor. As he sat with his brothers and advisors to prepare for the big function, Krishna told him about the menace of Jarasandha. He also informed him that with the cruel Jarasandha living and sacrificing the hapless princes held captive, there was no king who could claim supremacy in real terms. He asked Yudhishthir to get the princes freed and ensure the death of Jarasandha before assuming the throne of Indraprastha.

Learning about the might of Jarasandha and his treatment of the powerful Yadavas, Yudhishthir was initially not inclined to take any direct action against Jarasandha as it would prove futile to engage him into a war. But Krishna then suggested that since no conventional war could dislodge Jarasandha, it had to be a one to one fight. Both Arjun and Bhim volunteered to face Jarasandha. Krishna then explained Yudhishthir that Bhim represented strength and Arjun triumph. Therefore, as a prelude to performing the Rajyasuya, they would certainly achieve the destruction of the ruler of Magadha.

He planned to approach that monarch incognito, and challenge him to fight one of them in an open encounter. It was expected that from the fear of disgrace and his pride of strength he would certainly summon Bhim to the encounter. It was then decided that the two brothers along with Krishna as their advisor would embark upon a clandestine mission to kill Jarasandha and free the princes imprisoned by him to protect the imperial dignity and moral right of Yudhishthir as a king. The three of them set off for the mission.

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(Coming up next - The end of Jarasandha)