Tales froM Indian Mythology

Author(s): A S Raman
Publisher: Kutub Popular

Page 67

The Birth of Krishna
41
"you are not returning my sallies today. You are sullen. What is the matter? Oh, you fear I shall marry yet another wife in my next incarnation. It will not be one, but thousands and thousands and you will have to suffer me." But she did not say a word in reply. All that she could not help was a slight twitching of her lips. "No," continued he, you cannot answer me with tears and sighs. My questions demand brains. Otherwise accept your defeat." Still she remained sad and silent. "I see,” he declared, "you are defeated. But as victory over a woman's wits is no victory at all, I am prepared to withdraw all that I might have said to tax your limited intelligence, and let us be friends once again. Now, tell me, what is the cause of your secret sorrow?" "O Lord of Lords," she cried bitterly, "you know everything." She collapsed at his feet, bursting into tears. Pressing her to his side and patting her on the back, he consoled her thus: "Devi, yes, I can visualize Kamsa's bloodcurdling. reign of terror and I realize that the time for my descent to Earth has come. I am only awaiting your command, Lakshmi.” She smiled.
Kamsa, the fiendish king of Mathurta, was the symbol of his times. Having wrested the throne from his venerable father, Ugrasena, he had crowned himself, while the old man had to rot in prison for the rest of his life. There was opposition to the usurper, but it melted away in the blood-bath that followed. The ashrams and homes were desecrated; the sages filled his prisons, and the housewives his palaces. His nobles and ministers became his mere shadows, and the asuras (demons), who were the diminutive versions of the modern nuclear weapons,