Kansa

People in Shastras

Kansa was the oldest of the nine sons of Ugrasen. He was an incarnation of the demon Kālnemi. When Ugrasen’s wife Pavanrekhā went wandering in the forest, she broke off from the rest of the group and reached one shade of a tree. There, the demon Drumilak took the form of Ugrasen and associated with her, resulting in Kansa as the child. Therefore, Kansa was demonic in nature and harassed the population. He had defeated Jarāsandh at the age of eight, therefore, Jarāsandh married his two daughters, Asti and Prāpti, to Kansa. He had raised his paternal uncle’s daughter Devki and had great affection for her. When Devki was married to Vasudev, he drove their chariot in their wedding procession. However, when a voice from the sky prophesied that Devki’s eighth son would kill him, Kansa was ready to kill Devki before she could bear children. Vasudev intervened and promised to give up any children they had to Kansa. Kansa killed six of their children. When the seventh child was born, Devmāyā took that child from Devki’s womb and implanted it in Rohini’s (Vasudev’s other wife residing in Gokul) womb. The eighth child, Krishna, was carried to the house of Nandbābā in Gokul. Kansa sent many demons to kill Krishna, but Krishna killed all of the demons. Finally, Kansa called Krishna and Balrām for the bow sacrifice; however, that was merely a pretext, and he had the two brothers wrestle with experiences wrestlers. Krishna killed Kansa and restored Ugrasen as the king.