krishna, kalayavana and muchukunda..

In my earlier post I had mentioned about the destruction of Kalayavana at the hands of Muchukunda..

The story found in Bhagavatha Puranam is like this..

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It was all a wily trick managed by that Naughty Krishna..

Muchukunda the son of Mandatha, was a famous king in the Solar Dynasty..

He fought for the Victory of Indra, and at the end of the successful war, Indra offered him a boon..

The King requested permission for uninterrupted sleep.. and an assurance that if anyone disturbed him in his sleep, that person would be burnt to ashes once the king who was woken up set his eyes on the intruder..

There was a demon by name Kalayavana, who was fighting a pitched battle with Krishna,

(Kalayavana was the close ally of Jarasandha.. the father in law of Kamsa, the uncle of Krishna who the Lord had safely despatched to the abode of death)..

Kalayavana was a fierce fighter assisted by a huge number of cruel soldiers, and was not a stickler to the rules of war..

Krishna knew that a fight with that fellow with a huge army would cause a lot of destruction to the people all around..

So His plan was to finish off the enemy by some trick..

Muchukunda, having gained permission to have a long nice sleep like Rip Van Winkle, found a dark corner in a labyrinthine cave.. and stared his blissful snooze..

When Kalayavana started his battle with Krishna, the wily Lord just started to run away as if he was facing defeat and retreating , and Kalayanavana in his boisterous arrogance, ran after Krishna..

After a good run, the Lord entered the cave where Muchukunda was enjoying his long sleep..

Kalayavana was pursuing the Lord in hot chase..

Krishna knew that the old king Muchukunda was sleeping inside, and suddenly gave the sleeping man a hard kick.. and ran around a corner.. not visible to the sleeping hero..

( The kick part of it comes in Harivamsha Maha Puranam.. anyway krishna managed to Disturb the kings sleep,)

Muchukunda woke up in utter irritation with uncontrollable rage, and Kalayavana was right in time to be seen by the angry king..

And true to the words of Indra, Kalayavana just turned into a heap of ashes..

The crafty strategist and the wily schemer that Krishna is, finished a very strong enemy in this own way without any damage to his own land and subjects..

Of course, Muchukunda was a staunch devotee of Krishna, and when Krishna appeared before him later, he was rather happy for the kick received from the lotus feet of the Lord..