Kamsa out of the love he bore for his sister decided to be the bride and groom’s charioteer for the day. While Kamsa drove the chariot bearing Devaki and Vasudeva out of the wedding hall, a voice from the heavens boomed informing Kamsa that Devaki’s eight child would be his slayer.

Kamsa being the superstitious type would take no chances. He wanted to strike down Devaki that very moment. Vasudeva intervened, he begged Kamsa not to slay Devaki and show her some mercy. He further promised Kamsa that he would hand over any child born to them, if he would let Devaki live. Now Kamsa not wanting to have the blood of his sister on his hands agreed and instead placed them under house arrest.

Every time a child was born, the guards would inform Kamsa and he would take the child and kill it. Six of Devaki and Vasudev’s children met their death this way. It so happened that the seventh child was born at night, and Devaki and Vasudeva seeing the opportunity decided to try to save the child.

The guards were asleep, so Vasudeva easily slid out of the palace undetected. He went to neighboring Gokul and left the child with his second wife Rohini and quickly returned to the palace (this child was named Balrama). In the morning he sent word to Kamsa that the child was still born.

Kamsa was pleased, he knew the next child was prophesized to be his slayer. Not wanting to take chances with the birth of the eight child, Kamsa had Vasudeva and Devaki thrown into the dungeon chained.

The eight child was born on the eight night of the month of Shravan. It was raining heavily and the skies thundered as if the Gods were trying to pay homage to the new born child. Then the miracle happened, Vasudevas chains fell off and the prison door opened by itself. Vasudeva found the guards to be asleep, so he decided that he would escape with the child and leave him at his friend Nanda’s place in Gokul.

Picking up the child, Vasudeva placed him in a basket. He then carried the basket on his head and made his way to Gokul. Now Gokul was on the opposite bank of the river Yamuna. Because of the thundering and the rain, the river Yamuna was in a state of turmoil. Vasudeva, wondering how he would cross the river prayed for a miracle. Then it happened!. The waters of the Yamuna parted and made way for him. Vasudeva then crossed the Yamuna and reached Gokul.

On reaching Nanda’s house in Gokul, Vasudeva realised that Nanda’s wife Yashoda had given birth to a baby girl. While Nanda and Yashoda were asleep, he placed his child in the cradle and took Nanda’s daughter instead. He presumed that since it was a baby girl, Kamsa would not kill her. He then made the journey back to Mathura and he took the baby girl with him. As soon as Vasudeva reached the dungeon, the dungeon doors closed behind him and the baby girl started to cry. Awakened by the cries, the guards rushed to tell Kamsa of the birth of the eight child.

Hearing the news, Kamsa rushed to the dungeon and picked up the child and was about to dash it to the ground. Vasudeva begged Kamsa not to kill the child as it was only a girl and that a girl could do him no harm. The wicked Kamsa paid no heed and dashed the baby to the floor. As the baby was about to hit the floor, it suddenly flew up and told Kamsa that the one who was born to kill him still lives and is in Gokul. Then she disappeared.

Narakasura would raid and plunder the kingdoms of the three worlds. He did not even leave the women and would kidnap them for his own personal harem. Narakasura heard that Indra, the king of the devas, had thousands of divine elephants in his army. Now Narakasura, greedy that he was, wanted to possess everything, so he attacked the heavens.
Indra was helpless as he watched Naraka’s minions plunder the heavens. Naraka himself began pursuit of the devas. While pursuing the devas, a glimmering object far away caught his eye. Upon inspection, he realised that the glimmering object was mother Aditi’s (the mother of the devas) earrings. He assaulted mother Aditi and grabbed her earrings.

Now Indra, feeling humiliated at his loss and even worse that his mother was assaulted, wanted revenge and he knew that there was only one person who was a match for Naraka. It was Krishna.

Indra reached Krishna’s palace when Krishna was spending quality time with his wife Satyabhama. He told Krishna about the happenings and begged him for his help. Krishna was enraged that Naraka might lay his hands on mother Aditi and said that Naraka must die for his insolence.

Satyabhama looked annoyed because Krishna was about to leave her. Wanting to please both Satyabhama and Indra, Krishna decided to take Satyabhama with him into battle.

Krishna summoned his mount Garuda (a giant eagle) and made way towards Naraka’s fortress. An impenetrable barrier of magic mountains surrounded Naraka’s fortress. The mountains were such that a barrier would come up from any side that Krishna tried to enter the fortress. Krishna, unperturbed, hurled his mace at the barrier and shattered the entire mountain range in one blow. A downpour of magical weapons rained down on them. Krishna fired multiple arrows and destroyed all the weapons. In this manner Krishna destroyed countless other magical barriers and finally reached Naraka’s fortress.

Naraka’s palace was guarded by the five-headed demon Mura. Mura hurled countless weapons at Krishna, but Krishna shot each one down with his bow and arrow. Then Krishna picked up his flying discus and hurled it towards Mura dislocating Mura’s five heads. Mura fell to the ground, dead.

Krishna challenged Naraka to battle and killed him easily. Bhoomi Devi then sang hymns in praise of Krishna and begged him to take Naraka’s son Bhagdatta under his protection. Krishna placed Bhagdatta on the throne and then freed all of Naraka’s prisoners. The devas showered Krishna with flowers from the heavens.

Jarasandha grew up and became a very powerful king. He defeated many other kings and made them promise their allegiance to him making him supreme emperor. He gave both his daughters in marriage to Kamsa of Mathura.

Now Krishna killed Kamsa, making Jarasandha an enemy. Jarasandha attacked Mathura seventeen times and Krishna decimated his army, sparing Jarasandha alone.

Krishna had five cousins, the Pandavas, who had just acquired a kingdom -Indraprastha. The eldest Pandava, Yudishtra wanted to perform the Rajasuya Yagya. In order to perform the Rajasuya Yagya, a king had to be declared emperor and all the surrounding kingdoms had to recognize the emperor as their overlord. In order for this to happen, Yudishtra would have to defeat Jarasandha and obtain the title of emperor. Yudishtra, not knowing how to go about this, asked Krishna for help. Krishna said that he, Arjuna (the third Pandava) and Bheema (the second Pandava) would dress up like brahmans and go to Magadha and challenge Jarasandha to a wrestling match.

Upon reaching Magadha, Krishna, Arjuna and Bheema challenged Jarasandha to a wrestling match. Jarasandha seeing their physiques realised that these were not brahmans and asked them who they were. Krishna revealed their identities and told Jarasandha that they had come to challenge him and that Jarasandha must pick an opponent. Jarasandha said that he would not fight Krishna as he was a cowherd and he did not match his dignity and social standing. He then refused to fight Arjuna saying that Arjuna was too young, but he agreed to fight Bheema as Bheema seemed mighty and a worthy opponent.

Bheema and Jarasandha fought for days, both equally matched and neither succumbed to the other’s blows. Bheema realizing that Jarasandha was an equal match looked to Krishna for help. Now Krishna who knew the story of Jarasandha’s birth, picked up a twig from the floor, broke it in two halves and threw the two halves far away from each other.

Bheema now knew what he must do. He threw Jarasandha to the ground, held his legs and split his body in two. He then threw the two halves of Jarasandha far away from each other so that they might not join. Bheema had defeated Jarasandha and Krishna installed Jarasandha’s son as the king of Magadha. In return, Jarasandha’s son agreed to be a vassal to the Pandavas.

Satrajit became a really wealthy man. Krishna then approached Satrajit and told him that he should share the gem with the other people of Dwarka and give it to King Ugrasena. Satrajit declined saying that the jewel belonged to him.
A few days later, Satrajit’s brother Prasena wore the jewel as a necklace and went out on a hunt. He climbed a tree waiting for some game, a lion came by and just as Prasena was about to shoot it, a snake, which dropped from the branch above, surprised him. Now Prasena was startled and he fell from the tree. As he was falling, the necklace with the Syamantaka gem got caught in a branch and Prasena hung by the neck, and was killed instantly.

Now the lion below, being attracted to the glow of the gem, picked it up and carried it away. As the lion walked away with the gem, Jambavan the king of the bears saw him. Being seduced by the glow of the gem, he attacked the lion and killed it and took the gem to his cave and gifted it to his infant son.

Prasena did not return to Dwarka and people were wondering what had happened to him. Satrajit suspected that Krishna might have killed Prasena in order to attain the gem. Krishna, in order to prove his innocence, gathered a search party and went into the forest.

A few hours later, they found Prasena’s body. Krishna noticed lion tracks around the body and assumed that a lion must have killed Prasena. On following the lion tracks, they came across the body of the dead lion. Krishna noticed that the lion had the marks of a bear’s claws and noticed that there were bear tracks around the body. On following the bear tracks Krishna reached Jambavan’s cave. Krishna sensing the danger ordered the rest of the party to stay outside while he entered the cave alone. Krishna found Jambavan’s son playing with the Syamantaka gem. Frightened by the stranger, Jambavan’s son let out a wail that alerted Jambavan. Now Jambavan thought someone was attacking his child and attacked Krishna. Krishna fought Jambavan for twenty-eight days after which Jambavan recognised Krishna’s divinity and surrendered to him. Along with the gem, Jambavan offered Krishna his daughter Jambavati’s hand in marriage. This Krishna accepted.

Krishna then returned to Dwarka with the Syamantaka gem and his new bride. Krishna returned the gem to its rightful owner Satrajit who by then was ashamed of accusing Krishna. In order to make up for his accusations and show his good will towards Krishna, Satrajit offered his daughter Satyabhama to Krishna.

But Satyabhama already had three suitors – Akrura, Kritavarma and Shatadhanwa. They were angered by the fact that Satrajit have given Satyabhama to Krishna and not to one of them. Shatadhanwa in his rage killed Satrajit while he slept and stole the Syamantaka gem from him. On realizing what he had done, Shatadhanwa left the gem with Akrura and fled from Dwarka. Krishna and Balrama gave chase and killed Shatadhanwa for his crime. Not finding the gem on Shatadhanwa, Krishna knew that he must have left it with Akrura for safekeeping.

Krishna approached Akrura and requested him to tell the people of Dwarka that he possessed the gem otherwise the people of Dwarka would think that he had killed his father in law in order to possess the gem. This Akrura did and Krishna’s name was cleared.

Now Rukmi was a friend of Kamsa and owed his allegiance to Jarasandha. He wanted his younger sister to marry Shishupala, the crown prince of Chedi, who also was favored by Jarasandha.

Rukmini had heard stories of Krishna’s valour from her childhood and she had her heart set on marrying him. When she heard that Rukmi had chosen Shishupala for her, she resolved that she would only marry Krishna or die.

She sent for her trusted aid Sunanda, a wise old Brahman. She wrote a note to Krishna telling him that he was the only husband for her and asked if he would come and take her away. She wrote to him, that if he wouldn’t have her, she would give up her life. She also begged him that he spare the lives of her family whilst kidnapping her. She wrote that on the day of the wedding, she would go to the temple of the Goddess Parvati (their family deity) and if he would, that was the right time to kidnap her. She sent Sunanda with the note to Dwarka (Krishna’s new fortress home).

Krishna had heard a lot about Rukmini’s beauty too. He longed to have her but wasn’t sure if he should approach her family, as they owed their allegiance to Jarasandha. Upon receiving the message from her, he resolved to kidnap her. Now Jarasandha who knew that Krishna might try something like that to humiliate him, filled Vidarbha with people loyal to him.

Krishna went to Vidarbha first and Balrama followed with the army. On the wedding day, when Rukmini was leaving the temple, she looked in the crowds for Krishna. She did not see him. As she was about to enter her chariot and leave, she felt someone hold her from behind. It was Krishna. He lifted her into the chariot and sped away.

Jarasandha was furious. He rallied all his men and ordered them to chase Krishna. Jarasandha’s men followed Krishna but were ambushed by Balrama and his army on the outskirts of the city. Now Rukmi managed to go through Balrama’s army and catch up with Krishna and Rukmini. He swore that he would not return to his city without his sister.

Rukmi fired an arrow at Krishna, but it did not even make a dent in Krishna’s divine armour. Krishna then fired multiple arrows, which first killed Rukmi’s horses and then shattered his chariot. Rukmi then picked up his bow again, but before he could fire, Krishna shot another arrow and shattered Rukmi’s bow. Rukmi now mad with rage picked up his sword and ran towards Krishna. Krishna fired another arrow and split Rukmi’s sword in two. Krishna then picked up his sword and was about to attack Rukmi when Rukmini begged her lord to spare her brother’s life. On Rukmini’s saying, Krishna spared Rukmi’s life but cut half the hair on his head and half the moustache on his face, the worst insult a warrior could face, and then let him go.

Krishna returned to Dwarka with Rukmini and made her his bride.