Comparative Mythology by University of Mumbai

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Samba – son of Krishna

Krishna was the proverbial large tree, under which no other tree could grow or thrive. A well known father, whose son/s were not so well known. Though Krishna’s sons were not very well known, Samba was an exception as he had a small role to play in the epic Mahabharata and a larger role in the ultimate decimation of the Yadava community.

Samba was the son of Krishna and his wife, Jambavati (Read http://utkarshspeak.blogspot.in/2014/06/one-tale-and-two-wives-of-krishna.html ). Samba was very handsome like his father, but notorious. Though many felt that Samba resembled Krishna, Krishna however felt that Samba was like Lord Shiva and in every respect.

It is said that Lord Krishna had a desire for a son, but no ordinary son. He wanted a son like Lord Shiva. To appease Lord Shiva, he meditated for years to seek his blessings. When Shiva was pleased with his meditation, Krishna sought to be blessed with a son like Shiva himself. Krishna wanted a son who had the destructive powers of Shiva as he could foresee the decline of the Yadava’s who would be needed to be eliminated in future.

 Pic Courtesy - Wikipedia

Soon Jambavati gave birth to a son, who was named Samba, after the name of Lord Shiva. Samba grew up to be a handsome boy, b ut was notorious for pranks and was also extremely frivolous. One of his well-known pranks is said to have led to the ultimate decimation of the Yadava community. According to this, once some sages were taking rest under a tree. Samba dressed up as a pregnant woman, along with his friends, went to the sages to seek their blessings. When the friends asked the sages as what would the pregnant ‘woman’ give birth to, the sages were angry. They cursed that whatever came out of the belly of the ‘woman’ would lead to the ultimate end of the entire community. Samba was carrying an iron pestle under his dress.

The boys were worried about the curse and they approached King Ugrasena, father of Kamsa, who was reinstated as the King of Mathura after Krishna killed Kamsa. The king was ashamed of the acts of the boys and suggested that they ground the iron pestle and throw away the powder in the sea. The powder however, washed ashore the coast of Dwarka which was covered by bamboo trees. It is said that these were the same iron-like bamboo sticks which were used by the Yadava’s when a fight broke out amongst themselves, after nearly thirty years of the war of Kurukshetra.

A single piece of the iron which could not be grounded was found inside a fish by a fisherman, who sold it to an ironsmith, which was later made into the tip of an arrow. It was this arrow, which killed Krishna, the last of the Yadavas.

However, this is not the only claim to fame, or ill-fame, of Samba. Duryodhan had a beautiful daughter, by the name of Lakshmana. When she was of age, many Kings desired that she be married to their sons. Duryodhan decided to hold a swayamvar for his daughter and invited all the princes for the event. Samba secretly desired Lakshmana, though she did not fancy Samba. When Samba realised that on her own Lakshmana would never marry him, he forcibly abducted Lakshmana from the swayamvar. The Kauravas and the court of Hastinapur were up in arms on the kidnapping of Lakshmana, all the more since they knew that Lakshamana was not inclined towards Samba.

Under the leadership of Karna, an army was sent to get Lakshmana and Samba back. Samba, though alone fought bravely till Karna and others, destroyed his chariot and weapons. They brought both of them back and imprisoned Samba. Narada related the whole incident to the Yadavas, who were angry for imprisoning Samba. Balarama, the elder brother of Krishna decided to go and get Samba back.

Balarama took an army to Hastinapur, but camped outside the city and sent a message to Duryodhan that he wanted to meet them. Duryodhan was pleased and he along with Bhishma, Drona, etc. went to meet Balarama. During the meeting Balarama expressed his dislike for the way Samba was imprisoned, and that the least he would have expected that they be made aware of what had happened. However, he was willing to forget and forgive, provided they freed Samba and his wife Lakshmana.

Duryodhan and others were angry at the tone and by the sense of superiority, with no mention of Samba’s act of kidnapping. Soon there was a war of words, with both sides flaring at the incident. Balarama was so angry that he took his plough and struck the ground of Hastinapur and with all the force started to drag the city to be drowned in the Ganga. Seeing the earth shaking and tremors destroying the city, they brought Samba and Lakshmana to Balarama and apologised for their behaviour. Duryodhan arranged for a grand wedding of his daughter with Samba and soon all was forgotten.

Pic Courtesy - Brooklyn Museum

According to another tale, at one point of time, Krishna was so angry with Samba for not listening to anybody, that he cursed him with the debilitating disease of leprosy. Samba began suffering and his mother Jambavati, could bear no more. She urged Krishna to do something to lessen his pain and relieve him of the disease. Krishna then asked Samba to pray to the Sun and then take a dip in the river Chandrabhaga (near Konarak temple, Odisha) to cure himself. But by then Samba had become too weak to move by himself. On pleading by Jambavati, Krishna took Samba to the river and gave him a dip in the river, which cured Samba of the disease.

Till date, mothers in Odisha, observe Samba-dashami (10th day of the Sukla Paksha or waxing phase of moon in Paush month of the local calendar, which falls in the months of Dec-Jan). Mothers observe special rituals and worship the Sun god on this day for the well-being of their children. As a part of the ritual, the legend of ‘Samba Dasami Brata Katha’ or the story of Samba is read aloud. Till some time back, a dip in the river (now reduced to a trickle), was considered to be a sure cure for leprosy.

What is interesting that though the story does not find any significant mention in the epics, there exists a ritual in Odisha which centres around the son of Krishna. Also, one hardly finds mention about Krsihna’ sons, and needless to mention that none of them were as illustrious as the father – isn’t that something that can be seen even in modern times?

One tale and two wives of Krishna

There is an interesting tale of how Lord Krishna got two wives, Jambavati and Satyabhama. This revolves around a single act, by which he got two wives, both of whom were part of his ashta-bharyas, i.e. his eight principal wives.

The main story is about the famous Syamantaka jewel (aka syamantaka-mani). According to this tale, once Lord Surya gave the Syamantaka to Satrajit, a Yadava governor. The jewel had the rare quality of creating a gold pellet eight times it own weight every day. Besides this, wherever the jewel was worshiped, that place would never experience natural calamities of any sort.

When Krishna learnt about the gift, he suggested to Satrajit that he give the gift to King Ugrasena, the King of Mathura for the well-being of the Yadavas at large, but Satrajit refused. Later Satrajit gave it to his brother Prasena, who wore it. Prasena was attacked by a lion, when he was out hunting, and the lion fled away with the jewel. When the lion took it inside the den of Jambavan, Jambavan attacked the lion and took the jewel. This Jambavan was none other than the bear-king who had assisted Lord Rama in the battle against Ravan. (Jambavan was blessed with eternal life and thus was alive during the next incarnation of Vishnu, in the form of Krishna). Jambavan took the jewel and gave it to his son to play with it.

In the meanwhile, Satrajit spread a rumour, that Krishna had killed Prasena and taken away the jewel, since he had not abided by the request of giving it to the King of Mathura. Krishna was angry at the false accusation and decided to absolve himself of the same. He followed the trail of Prasena and discovered his corpse and then followed the trail of the lion into the cave till he came across a child playing with the jewel. When he approached the child, he was challenged to a duel by Jambavan.

Krishna-Jambavan (Pic courtesy Amar Chitra Katha)

Jambavan and Krishna are said to have fought for 28 days, till Jambavan realised that his opponent was no ordinary individual. When he requested to know the true identity of Krishna, he came to know that the individual was none other than his Lord Rama in a different avatar. He fell to his feet and sought apologies, and Krishna too pardoned him. Jambavan then returned the jewel to Krishna and also offered his daughter, Jambavati in marriage to Krishna. Krishna accepted both and left for his kingdom.

 

Krishna weds Jambavati

In the meanwhile, when Krishna did not return for such a long time, people assumed that he might have died in the jungles, and were worried. But when Krishna entered the city with his new wife, people rejoiced. Krishna then called Satrajit at the court of the King, and told him the entire story. Satrajit was ashamed of his behavior and to atone for his crime, he offered both the jewel as well as his daughter, Satyabhama’s hand in marriage to Krishna. Krishna made it clear, that he only wanted his name to be cleared, and thus he would not accept the jewel, but accepted Satyabhama.

A rather simple story? Could this exist just for giving reasons for Krishna’s marriage to two women? Well this question, in a way intrigued Krishna himself and so he sought the help of Narada, the celestial sage, to clarify, the reasons behind the unnecessary trouble of having to get his name out of an unwanted controversy.

Narada smiled and said that Krishna was ‘punished’ due to a curse on mortals. According to this, once Lord Ganesha had had too many modaks (Steamed Rice-balls with a filling of jaggery and coconut) to eat, so much so, that on his way back to Mount Kailash, he toppled over! His stomach split and all the modaks rolled out. Not willing to let go of them, he collected all of them, put them back inside his tummy and started to go on his way. The Moon was so amused by the sight that it started laughing loudly. Ganesha felt spited, but went on his way. When he reached his parents, and tried to prostrate in front of them, he couldn’t do it properly, due to his pot-belly. Seeing this, once again the Moon laughed.

This time, mother Parvati was angry. She cursed the moon that whosoever looked at the moon would get into trouble. When Moon learnt about the curse, it felt sorry and apologised to Ganesha and Parvati and sought to lessen the curse. Parvati then said that her curse would come into effect only on the fourth day (chaturthi) of every bright fortnight. But the moon found even that too harsh and urged to reconsider the curse. Parvati then changed every chaturthi to Ganesh Chaturthi only, which was the birthday of Ganesh, i.e. the ill-effect would only take place if one saw the moon on the day of Ganesh chaturthi. However, if anybody observed a fast on the other chaturthi’s till moonrise, they would be absolved of all troubles, thus changing the curse to a blessing for others.

Krishna was still perplexed and was wondering just what he had to do with this tale. Narada went on to say, that on the day of Ganesh chaturthi, Krishna had a glimpse of the reflection of the moon in the milk that he took inside the house after milking the cows, and thus he is supposed to have got into trouble!

What is interesting is that Krishna then ordained that anybody who read this tale on the day of the Ganesh Chaturthi would be absolved of the effects of the curse.

An excellent example of a myth justifying a ritual. If Lord Krishna could not avoid such a curse, how could a mortal do so? If just a glimpse of a reflection could land someone into such trouble, what would witnessing the moon directly lead to? Since then, it is a practice to read the tale on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi.

Next we will read about another member of Krishna’s family who had a malevolent effect on the entire community. Keep reading….