Relevance of Krishna - in the present context - 1

God or Sinner?

By Neeraj Mahajan

Many people in India and all over the world worship Lord Krishna as God. The best thing about him is that unlike Lord Rama who is always straightforward and maryada purshottam, Lord Krishna is playful, mischievous and naughty. He doesn’t even mind when his devotees call him natkhat or makhan chor like you would do to a child or friend next door.

But still there are many people for instance in North East India who refuse to acknowledge Lord Krishna as God. For this very reason there are not many Krishna temples in North East India. How can a person who lies and steals be God they say? People in North East in particular hold a grudge against Lord Krishna because for the first time he kidnapped Rukmani the princess of Vidarbha and took away some 16,000 girls, 14,000 elephant and horses to Dwaraka after slaying Narakaxur in Kamrup. Years later he arrived in North East – this time to help his grandson Aniruddha elope with Usha, the only daughter of Asur king Ban of Tezpur. Is this conduct becoming of God to abduct women or help his grandson do so – they ask?

The story goes that for Rukmini haran, Krishna traveled all the way from Dwaraka to Kundilnagar on the banks of Brahmputra to kidnap Rukmani. Although the original Kundilnagar has vanished, horse foot prints can still be seen over the stones of Ashwaklanta in north Guwahati.

According to popular legend the Devtas, were being oppressed by Narkasura the wicked demon king of Pragjothishyapur, in present day Assam. Narkasura had gained a boon from Brahma that he would die only in the hands of his mother. Similarly his mother had obtained a boon from Lord Vishnu that her Son should die only when she wishes it. So on the request of the Devtas Lord Krishna along with his wife Satyabhama the incarnation of Bhoomi Devi mounted Garuda, went to Pragjyotisa. In the fierce fight that followed Lord Krishna with the help of Satyabhama defeated Narkasura in a fight and rescued his 16,100 daughters. After returning back to Dwarka, he married them and built a place for each of his wives.

According to strict social custom at that he time all the captive women were degraded, and unfit to marry, as they had been under the control of Narakasura. Thus Krishna married them to reinstate their status in the society. This wedding with 16100 abandoned daughters was more of mass women rehabilitation. In Vaishnava traditions, Krishna's wives are believed to be forms of the goddess Lakshmi—consort of Vishnu, or special souls who attained this qualification after many lifetimes of austerity, while his queen Satyabhama, is an expansion of Radha.

Also after the battle Krishna crowned Bhagadatta- the elder son of Narakaxur as the king of Kamrup. To take out his vengeance King Bhagadatta and his large contingent of troops fought the battle of Kurukshetra in favour of Kauravas sitting atop his gigantic elephant.

Lord Krishna’s grandson Aniruddha too eyed Kamrup. This time beautiful Usha, the only daughter of Asur king Ban. In the heavy fight Aniruddha was captured and there was a lot of bloodshed. Finally lord Krishna intervened and ban was defeated. Present day Tezpur is based on the ruins of Ban capital in Tezpur. The Tezpur court building was once Ban’s palace on the banks of Brahmaputra.

Hence the people in the Brahmputra valley legitimately question how they can worship a person who visited the region twice both times to abduct local women from the area.

This brings us to the question is Lord Krishna sinful, unholy, womanizer and a playboy or something else. What else do you say about a person who hides the clothes of naked women, indulges in eve-teasing, steals petty things like butter, tells lies and cheats to win a battle? Can such a person be God? Can God be naughty and mischievous?

That does not make any sense. Krishna was not a child when he went after 1600 gopies.

Even in kalyug such a person would be called a playboy and such mischievous behavior will not be acceptable from for any person. Not the least from a person who claims to be god?