Chapter 268

Subsequently, the chains binding Vasudeva were released, Vasudeva, regaining his senses, quickly carried Krishna away from City of Mathura.

However, the City of Mathura and Gokul are separated by the Yamuna River, the longest tributary of the Ganges. At this moment, the Yamuna River is rushing wildly in Vasudeva's eyes, and the torrential rain and continuous thunder are making Vasudeva feel quite stressed...

But looking at the sleeping face of the child he was holding, Vasudeva gave a bitter smile, and then let his body, which had suffered for many years, cross the Yamuna River.

He knew he was not a good father, having watched seven of his children die before his very eyes, but now he had to keep Krishna alive.

Gale howled, carrying a biting chill, and swirled the river higher, gradually engulfing Vasudeva's body. Finally Vasudeva held Krishna above his head, while he himself was submerged in the exceptionally turbulent river.

Logically, all things in the world should assist Vasudeva in order for Vishnu's eighth avatar to successfully Present World. However, the Yamuna River seems to want Vasudeva and Krishna to die quickly... But Kavia simply watched without intervening.

Because Kalindi, the incarnation of the Yamuna River, was one of Krishna's eight wives, and Yamuna was the daughter of Surya, the Sun God, and because the Yamuna River often disturbed the ascetic practices of the Rishi, one day an angry Rishi cursed the Yamuna River to appear on earth as Kalindi.

Vishnu promised her that when he descended in the Dvapara Yuga era, she would be freed from the curse simply by touching Krishna's feet.

In other words, the reason the Yamuna River was roaring so wildly at this moment, seemingly wanting to kill Vasudeva and his son, was simply to let the river water touch Krishna's feet to break the curse. However, Vasudeva loved his son dearly and felt guilty, so he preferred to immerse himself in the water rather than let Krishna touch the river.

Kalindi couldn't actually kill Vasudeva, so after calming down, he used the Waterflow to form a human shape and touched Krishna's heel. Then he clasped his hands together in prayer to Kavia in the sky, and Kavia responded by raising one hand.

After the curse of the Yamuna River was successfully lifted, Vasudeva smoothly arrived at the town of Gokul on the other side of the river. It was then that Vasudeva realized that everyone, like the people of City of Mathura, had fallen asleep, with only a bunch of animals, such as deer and cows, surrounding him.

Vasudeva carried Krishna step by step into the home of Kavia that Nanda had told him about. At that moment, Nanda's wife was lying in bed, with a newborn baby girl beside her.

Then Vasudeva's joy at surviving the ordeal dissipated, replaced by extreme pain, because he knew that the girl's death had brought about his child's life.

Why put another child in danger when your own child is in crisis?

"No, I can't do that, I can't do it..."

Vasudeva's six children were all killed in front of him by King Kamsa, so all Vasudeva wanted for his children was their safety. For a moment, Vasudeva considered returning to City of Mathura alone, however—

What is destined to happen will happen; it is part of the Lila.

"I'm sorry, I'm a beast..."

Ultimately, out of selfishness towards his own child, Vasudeva, after much internal struggle, still left with the girl in his arms.

Not long after, Balarama, Krishna's brother and was still a child, slowly walked out of the house, lay down on the bed, and smiled at Krishna.

"Now, Shesha, you can do whatever you want, because you are now his elder brother."

Kavia appeared before the two children, gently stroking their cheeks, and said with a smile.

Balarama is the reincarnation of the Serpent King Shesha, and also Rama's younger brother. Therefore, Shesha always complained that he could not do as he pleased. However, now as the elder brother who is an avatar of Vishnu, he has countless opportunities to let his younger brother Krishna fulfill his wishes.

The reason why Balarama became the child of the herdsmen Nanda and his wife was that Vasudeva was imprisoned, and his wife, who was raising Balarama alone, could no longer support him, so she had to give him to Nanda and his wife for adoption.

"And you, who uphold Dharma and cleanse Evil..."

Kavia spoke these words to Krishna quite unusual.

Krishna is the eighth avatar of Vishnu, but Kavia understands that the two will be very different. Vishnu is the one who enters the world, the Guardian God, who sits on the Ocean of Milk, gazing upon the world with gentle and compassionate eyes, Protection the world with mercy and love, and resolving disasters.

Krishna, though possessing divine knowledge of the past and Future as an avatar of Vishnu, possessed a greater degree of humanity than the Vishnu, for he faced Evil and bloodshed in the womb and was separated from his blood relatives immediately upon birth.

Compared to the divinity of King Rama, Krishna's humanity is slightly greater.

Then, a flash of light, and the people who had fallen into a deep sleep began to awaken.

"Congratulations, Yashoda, it's a boy! Nanda has become a father!"

The midwife, watching Krishna playing with Balarama, happily spoke to Yashoda, the wife of Nanda.

The next day, in the bright sunshine and vibrant City of Mathura, King Kamsa, upon waking, naturally understood why he had slept so unusually soundly the previous night.

Therefore, he opened his arms wide and laughed heartily at the sky:

"Finally, the prophecy has come true!"

"Devaki has given birth to the one who will kill me!"

King Kamsa laughed and danced with joy.

"Very good, this is commendable. I killed Devaki's six children, the seventh was miscarried, and I guess the eighth has disappeared, but I will kill him! From now on, no prophecy can be used against me!"

Just King Kamsa thought that Vasudeva and his wife had escaped with their eighth child the night before, he learned from the guards that his guess seemed to be wrong. Vasudeva and his wife had not only not escaped, but their child was still with them.

Of course, King Kamsa didn't care either way; as long as he killed the child who was prophesied to be killed, that was all that mattered.

"Oh?"

King Kamsa, wielding his Greatsword, approached Devaki, who was holding the child. "When he was born, there was thunder and lightning, the Yamuna River was rushing, and a prophecy was proclaimed! Ha ha ha ha!"

Then, with a tyrannical smile, he pointed his finger at Devaki.

"Do you remember, Devaki? What was that prophecy?"

Seeing that Devaki remained silent, King Kamsa turned and smiled at the bound Vasudeva, "My dearest brother-in-law, I hope you remember this prophecy."

"I know you've been reciting this prophecy for many years. In your mind, you keep repeating, 'My eighth child will kill this great king, my eighth child will kill this great king.' Am I right?"

"It's alright, it's okay. Everyone here knows about this prophecy, except—"

King Kamsa pointed his sword at the child's neck.

"Apart from this child."

"Did you know? This prophecy is related to you. It says you will come into this world and kill your uncle."

King Kamsa smiled seemingly innocently and raised an eyebrow. "But there's one thing I don't understand. How are you going to kill me? Will you kill me with your little hands? Or with your little feet? Or, haha, I forgot you have no teeth! Why don't you get up? You were born to kill me! Get up! Kill me!"

Immediately, King Kamsa's tone changed, turning into blatant mockery.

"And it was a girl? A girl came to kill me? What a ridiculous joke!"

The next moment, King Kamsa picked up the girl and threw her off the mountain.

But before he could even rejoice, he saw the girl being picked up by a large, dark blue Great Serpent and slowly taken to the air.

"Your death is already sealed, you fool."

Vritra, who had been sent by Kavia to rescue them, spoke these words coldly to King Kamsa before disappearing from the scene.

Enraged, King Kamsa tallied the children born the previous night in his kingdom and surrounding areas, intending to kill them all. Upon learning of a boy who met his criteria, he sent the Putana to assassinate him. This Asura disguised herself as a woman and infiltrated the village. While Yashoda was away, she pretended to breastfeed Krishna, her milk containing a deadly poison. She expected the child to die instantly upon drinking it, but Krishna not only sucked out the poison but also drained her life force.

The deceased Putana reverted to his Asura form, instilling fear in those around him. Because of this, to escape King Kamsa's pursuit, Nanda led the entire village to Vrindavan on the lower reaches of the Yamuna River.

During this period Krishna was growing, and a few years later Pandavas and Karna were also born.

As the mother of both of them, Kunti, Karna was undoubtedly the eldest brother, being the firstborn.

In her early years, Kunti lived in the home of the Durvasa and served him. The Durvasa foresaw that Kunti would unite with Pandu, so he taught her the spell to give birth to a child with a god.

Because Pandu accidentally killed a Deer that was mating, and since the Deer was an incarnation of Rishi, it cursed Pandanu before it died, saying that Pandu would also die in mating. To avoid this, Pandu became abstinent, which could be considered as losing his reproductive ability. This is also the reason why the Durvasa passed on the spell.

Out of curiosity, Kunti, who had obtained this spell, tried to cast it on the Sun, and thus had a son named Karna with the Sun God Surya. Surya then bestowed upon Kunti the grace of becoming a virgin again.

However, having a child before marriage is something that a woman cannot convince her family of, especially regarding her reputation. Worried about these things, Kunti decided to abandon the newborn Karna.

Kunti stood on the Ganges, holding Karna in her arms, her heart filled with hesitation, for no matter what, this was her child.

Her maid noticed Kunti's dilemma and gently reminded her:

"Princess, hurry, or someone will see us."

Kunti pursed her lips, and then tears fell.

"Forgive me, forgive this foolish mother, my child, forgive me..."

"Please hurry, Princess..."

"My child, the Sun God Surya will bless you..."

So, on the riverbank, in the distance where lights rose, the son of the Sun God, born clad in divine armor and wearing a pair of earrings, was placed in a basin and floated on the rushing river.

The young son of the Sun God remained silent, quietly waiting in the Waterflow waters, awaiting his destiny.

He closed his eyes quietly, as if he wasn't asleep but deep in thought, and then the basin stopped.

Then, amidst the rushing sound of the river, a faint singing voice suddenly arose.

At the same time, when the newborn Karna saw Kavia before him, he had the illusion that all light and heat had stopped for a moment, and even the raging river water that had just been so violent had calmed down and turned into a gentle caress.

"What you can take away won't just be your own silhouette, and what you leave behind won't just be your own footprints."

So the basin continued to flow downstream and was eventually picked up by an old woman named Radha, who was working hard by the river. She had no children and immediately brought it back to show her husband.

"What should we do...?"

The old coachman, listening to his wife's murmurs, naturally understood her thoughts. He smiled and reached out to pinch Karna's cheek, who was still in the basin. But halfway there, he looked at his own rough skin—deep wrinkles, calluses, and cracks from taking care of the coach and old age—which seemed incongruous with the child's pale, almost transparent skin. So he withdrew his hand, wiped off the mud he had gotten from repairing the wheels, and then reached out to pinch Karna's cheek again.

"In that case, let's adopt him."

The old coachman paused, gazing at Karna's naturally occurring earrings and the strikingly different golden armor beneath his pale skin.

"He was born with wealth, so let's call him Vasusena!"

Vasusena is Karna's name, the name given to him by his parents, the charioteer. Later, due to certain things Indra did to him, he was also named Karna Vaikartana, meaning the one who cut off his ear, Karna, the son of the sun god.

The joyful sounds of the impoverished elderly seemed somewhat distant, and the smoke rising from the makeshift sheds carried the smell of poorly cooked food.

As darkness fell, the weariness accumulated from arduous labor and harsh conditions eased with the arrival of night. And even in the darkness brought by the world itself, some still sang hymns of praise.

"Lord of the Himalayas, I Meditation deeply upon you."

Chapter 326 The Shudra.

The Yamuna River, its famous Taiga gleaming under the unabashed sunlight.

On a large rock nearby, a dark blue-skinned boy was playing a flute. Below him, many shepherdesses, drawn by the music, surrounded him. In addition, there were many other animals, such as peacocks, cows, and snakes.

This is Krishna, now grown up. For some reason, his appearance is very different from Rama and Vishnu; his hair is no longer bright red, but black. Perhaps this is due to Krishna himself.

Given Krishna's current appearance, no one would guess that he is an incarnation of the great god Vishnu.

Krishna played his instrument, he glanced down at the crowd of shepherdesses. Among them were two girls whom Krishna had known since childhood. One was Radha, his childhood sweetheart, who was born with her eyes closed but opened them after meeting Krishna; she was one of the incarnations of Lakshmi. The other was Kalindi, the daughter of the Sun God and an incarnation of the Yamuna River.

The handsome young man with dark blue skin gazed at the Yamuna River, at the crowd, and at the sky, playing his flute with his usual joyful smile.

Suddenly, a gentle breeze arose around him.

Red and yellow leaves seemed to dance, swirling and fluttering around the crowd before scattering onto the sea.

Withered leaves fell like a curtain, and the sound of Krishna's flute was even more delicate than the rustling leaves, silently melting into the air.

"You didn't come today, Jia."

Unlike Rama, who only had a sense of familiarity with Kavia, Krishna knew from the moment he saw Kavia that he was his friend from when he Vishnu. Since even Kavia knew this, Krishna could naturally also see that his childhood friend Radha was one of the incarnations of Lakshmi, and that his brother Balarama was the Serpent King Shesha.

To this day, Krishna has killed Kaliya, the dragon Kaliya who colluded with King Kamsa, and Dhenuka who occupied Govardhan Hill.

While doing these things, Krishna was willing to do good for people because he was essentially Vishnu. However, he always felt that the best thing he had done was to use his power to Govardhan Hill to prevent the local people from suffering from devastating Flood and Torrential Rain.

This is perhaps because of Krishna's own humanity, or perhaps because Vishnu was defeated by the Wrathful Aspect of Kavia when he became Rama. In any case, the eighth incarnation of Krishna opposed the corrupt sacrificial Ritual of the Brahmin. He told people that instead of wasting large amounts of ghee on the Sacrificial Altar, they should go to worship Govardhan Hill, because it was the mountain that blocked the rain clouds and brought rain.

Even if the mountains turned into butter, and the rivers into milk, most people still wouldn't be able to drink a drop, and they wouldn't be able to take anything with them.

This phrase often flashed through Krishna's mind, and perhaps this is the reason why he is the way he is in this life, because—

In that instant.

That moment.

That scene.

The scene, as clear as a photograph, was etched into Krishna's mind.

The friend of the Wrathful Aspect, the flames all around like weeds, the fear of the Three Worlds, the Abhimanyu of the Dharma.

Your Wrath is partly my own.

I recalled again the words that my 'self' from that day, buried deep in my soul, could not utter.

"Therefore, my share will become your Wrath."

Because the locals did not worship Indra, Heavenly Emperor Heavenly Emperor, he was furious and sent down heavy rains to flood the mountain and the people. This is why Krishna lifted the Govardhan Hill. Indra, who eventually recognized Krishna's true identity, bowed to him in apology and performed Abhisheka for Krishna with Celestial Ganges Water in his jar, honoring Krishna as the Lord of all bulls.

This matter could be said to have ended Perfection, but Krishna felt uneasy. This was probably because Indra did not admit his mistake because of the people's suffering, but because 'Krishna is Vishnu.' For a moment, Krishna wanted to question the Heavenly Emperor, 'If I were not Vishnu, would this place have been destroyed? Are their lives so meaningless?' But he held back.

Because he understood that his duty was to uphold the Dharma, and the God of Upholding the Dharma was to ensure its operation in this world.

However, upholding does not equate to justice. For Krishna is his entire life, while for Vishnu Krishna will appear again and again to uphold the Dharma. Krishna quite well, but feels a little sad.

In Krishna's own view, he would rather be Krishna than an incarnation of Vishnu, even if the status was extremely high, it was just like a dream.