Naarad Suggests Yudhishthir for Raajsooya Yagya and Bheem Kills Jaraasandh
Naarad Suggests Yudhishthir for Raajsooya Yagya

One day Naarad came to see Yudhishthir's court. Yudhishthir was showing him like a child. When they sat down Yudhishthir asked him - "You have been in three Lok, you must have seen many other courts, tell me about them." Naarad said - "Yes, there are some similar courtss in other worlds, for example of Yam Raaj, Varun, Indra, Rudra and Brahmaa; but yours is the best on this Prithvi." Then he described the beauty and excellence of those courts. He told that Harishchandra of Soorya Vansh used to share Indra's throne. When he came to describe Yam Raaj's court, he told many names of the kings of Earth who were now there, such as Yayaati, Nahush etc. The last name was of Shantanu and Paandu.

Yudhishthir was silent for a while then said - "Rishivar, Most of the kings of the Earth are now in Yam's court, but not in Indra's court. What good Harishchandra did to be in Indra's court which my father didn't do. He was the purest man and a saint. Please tell me the reason of this." Naarad who had come there only to tell this spoke - "Certainly, Harishchandra was the son of Trishanku, the favorite of Vishwaamitra. He won all the Prithvi and did Raajsooya Yagya, that is why he was able to share Indra's throne. The king who performs Raajsooya Yagya, stands out of common people. I met your father, he said to me, "My sons are now very powerful. If Yudhishthir performs Raajsooya Yagya, I can also go to Indra Lok and so can my grandfather Shantanu." I know that it is not an easy task but still with the help of your brothers you can do it. But now if anybody can do it, it is only you." And Naarad Jee went away after blessing him.

Now since Naarad Jee came, Yudhishthir sank in thoughts. Till now Paandav were living peacefully but Naarad's coming woke up a desire in Yudhishthir's heart to do Raajsooya Yagya. It was his father's wish also. When he talked about this in his court, everybody was very enthusiastic about it. So he called Krishn from Dwaarakaa. He was their guide and without consulting Him they couldn't do anything. Krishn came to Indraprasth.

Krishn met Yudhishthir in his court. Yudhishthir told Him about Naarad's coming and the wish of his father Paandu and asked His true advice as a real friend. Yudhishthir had all the doubts that he could do this Yagya being his Great uncle alive, but Krishn said - "You can do it, because Indraprasth is an independent state. Besides, you yourself did not get separated from them, you were separated by them. But there is a problem, and the problem is Raajaa Jaraasandh. Today all kings are the descendents of either Raajaa Yayaati or Raajaa Bhoj. And all respect Jaraasandh. Even Chedi Raaj Shishupaal considers his pride in being his army chief. Bhagdatt, Rukmee the son of Bheeshmak, and Paundrak Vasudev are also allied to him.

He is a big enemy of Vrishni Vansh. You know that I killed my Maamaa Kans, He was his son-in-law, so Jaraasandh hated me ever since then. He has fought with us 18 times, we have defied him, but we have not been able to defeat him. In fact we got afraid of his attacks so we left Mathuraa, and went to Dwaarakaa. Now his hill Girivraj is 100 Yojan far from our hill Raivatak.  He is a big obstacle. You cannot trust anybody else except your Maamaa Purujit. And Raajsooya Yagya cannot be done without removing Jaraasandh. Once in anger he threw his Gadaa at Dwaarakaa, it was thrown with so much force that it traveled the distance of 99 Yojan and got buried there.

I tell you now about his probable friends, such as Duryodhan. If he heard that you are fighting with Jaraasandh, naturally Duryodhan will take his side being your enemy. It means that all Kuru army - Bheeshm, Kripaa, Drone, even Karn who is superior to Jaraasandh, will also be at his side. With this superb team, you have no chance to perform Raajsooya Yagya. He has the blessings of Mahaadev, and he is dreaming to become a Chakravartee king after sacrificing 100 kings. He has already imprisoned 98 kings with the idea to sacrifice them to Shankar and after sacrificing them all, he will become unconquerable. The man is mad, but he is too powerful to be ignored or to be defeated. If we are able to kill him somehow then it is all easy. After being killed all other kings will not dare to oppose you. So think of a way to kill him."

Hearing all this, Yudhishthir thanked Krishn to describe the facts so clearly to him. After hearing this Yudhihthir abandoned the idea of Raajsooya Yagya. But Bheem was very enthusiastic about the Yagya, so he said to his brother - "Brother, Don't be so disappointed. There must be some way to kill him. If somebody cannot be won with might, he can be won with wisdom. With the help of Krishn and dear Arjun I think, I can kill Jaraasandh." Krishn said - "No Bheem, It is not as easy as you are thinking. He is a great devotee of Shankar. He is very righteous and generous. Apart from killing him for your Raajsooya Yagya, you will be saving those imprisoned kings' lives too who are going to be sacrificed for Rudra. That is, of course, worth considering."

Arjun said - "Brother, I feel that we should kill Jaraasandh, because he is not righteous. Because who uses his strength to persecute weaker kings, cannot be favored by Devtaa, that is how I feel. Send the three of us to Magadh, after killing him, we all four will go all around and win all kings for your Raajsooya Yagya." Krishn was very happy to hear Arjun's words, He said - "You have said befitted words to your Dharm. Everybody has to die. If we do not fight, immortality is not granted to him. Let us go there soon. We will enter his house uninvited and we will try to have a fight with him. If we win, you will be the Swaamee of the Earth, if we lose we will go to Heaven. Either way no shame will come on us."

Jaraasandh's Birth and Killing

Then Yudhishthir asked, "By the way what is the secret of his power?" Krishn told the story of his birth:  "Jaraasandh's father Brihadrath married Kaashee's two princesses and promised them that he will love them equally. He got old but he didn't get any child. One day he heard that Chandkaushik, the descendent of Gautam Rishi, had come there, so he went to see him and said - "Bhagvan, I have no child, please bestow me with a child." Muni was sitting  under a mango tree, the then mango fruit fell in his lap. He gave it to the king and asked him to give it to his queen. Raajaa considering his both queens equal, so he cut the mango in half and gave those pieces to them.

Time passed and each queen gave birth to a half child. Both got frightened seeing them and they threw them outside the palace. It so happened that Jaraa named Raakshasee came there in search of food. She found these pieces, she picked them and started playing with them. By chance those pieces got joined and the child got alive. She took him to her house and took care of him. Since Jaraa named Raakshasee brought him to life that is why he was named Jaraa+Sandh. Thus he is not one but two, therefore even Yam Raaj cannot harm him. He has seen Shankar in person.  And I have already told you bout his Gadaa which he threw on Dwaarakaa. He tried to get it back but he could not dig it out. Without the Gadaa he is not so vulnerable now as before. Still it is difficult to defeat him, but dual fight is something else. Actually, maybe we all three can kill him."

Somebody suggested that he regarded Braahman very much and did not send them back empty-handed. So if Arjun, Krishn and Bheem go there in disguise of Braahman and ask the alms of a dual fight with any one of them, he will not say "no" to them. Then let him choose his opponent. He will not choose Krishn, because he had already defeated Him 18 times. He will not choose Arjun because he considers him as an archer. He can consider only Bheem. Bheem has similar strength also as Jaraasandh.

So all went to Jaraasandh's place in Braahman's disguise. They crossed Sarayoo River, then Gandakee River, then they came to Mithilaa. They proceeded towards Magadh. They came to Gangaa River and crossed it and there they saw his capital Girivraj at some distance. There they saw a huge temple of Shankar, they worshipped him there.  They entered his palace by jumping the boundary wall and asked to see him. Jaraasandh was busy with his worship so he asked them to wait till midnight. Bheem doubted that whether he will come or not, but Krishn said - "He will surely come, he is brave and he is a great alms giver."

Jaraasandh came after midnight and saw them but could not believe his eyes, because they were not looking like Braahman. He asked - "You don't look like Braahman. Who are you and what do you want?" Krishn said - "You are right, we are not Braahman. We are your enemy." Jaraasandh said - "I don't know you at all, how can I tell that you are my enemies? If you are my enemy, please tell me the reason of your enmity to me." Krishn said - "The reason for our enmity is that you have unlawfully imprisoned kings for sacrifice for Rudra. We have come here to help those kings. I am Krishn, this is Arjun and this is Bheem. We don't need your money, clothing or animals etc. We want dual fight with you. You choose one of us for a dual fight."

Jaraasandh laughed long and loud and said - "Krishn, Should I choose you who had already fled from the battlefield 18 times and had hidden behind Raivatak Parvat? You are challenging me in my home? I am not Kans, I am Jaraasandh, the favored one of Devtaa. You are a coward, I cannot choose you. And Arjun, you? I do not want to choose you either, because you are still a child for me, and as you are an archer, you cannot fight dual fight. Yes, Bheem looks like that I can choose him." So he chose Bheem. Jaraasandh was sure to win, but as he had already seen ill omens, he coronated his son Sahadev and started fighting with Bheem.

Jaraasandh was a great brave and mighty man. If he chose Arjun then today the future would have been quite different. [Because Arjun got defeated and Yudhishthir's Raajsooya Yagya was not possible.] Therefore choosing Bheem for the dual fight is an important event for Mahaabhaarat.

Both came out of the city and the dual fight started. Both had equal strength, so both were fighting fiercely. Krishn was encouraging Bheem saying - "Bheem, Remember who you are? You are the son of Vaayu. You can tear him up if you want to." Bheem did tear him but his both pieces got joined again and fight continued. The fight continued for 28 days. Then Bheem got weaker, then Krishn demonstrated him how to kill Jaraasandh on 29th day. He torn a straw in the center and threw both parts on opposite sides. That is how Bheem could kill Jaraasandh. 

Then they freed the 98 kings imprisoned and sent them to their kingdoms. Sahadev was already the king of Magadh so Krishn asked him to attend Yudhishthir's Raajsooya Yagya. Sahadev agreed to attend it. They all came back to Hastinaapur. Krishn went back to Dwaarakaa instructing them to go on their victory tour. He told that He would come back soon with all the Vrisni clan. He was happy that now Vrisni people need not to fear from Jaraasandh. He wanted to give this news to them soon.