Jarasandha (Sanskrit: जरासंध) was a great and legendary king of Magadha. He was the son of a vedic king named Brihadratha. He was also a great devotee of Lord Shiva. But he is generally held in negative light owing to his enmity with the Yadav clan in the Mahābhārata.
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Brihadratha was the king of Magadha. His wives were the twin princesses of Benares. While he led a content life and was a famed king, he was unable to have children for a very long time. Frustrated over his inability to have children, he retreated to the forest and eventually ended up serving a sage named Chandakaushika. The sage took pity on him and on finding the actual cause for his sorrow, gave him a fruit and told him to give it to his wife who in turn will soon become pregnant. But the sage did not know that he had two wives. Not wishing to displease either wife, Brihadratha cut the fruit in half and gave it to both of them. Soon both the wives became pregnant and gave birth to two halves of a human body. These two lifeless halves were very horrifying to view. So, Brihadratha ordered these to be thrown in the forest. A demoness (Rakshasi) named "Jara" (or Barmata) found these two pieces and held each of these in her two palms. Incidentally when she brought both of her palms together,the two pieces joined together giving rise to a living child. The Child cried loudly which created panic for Jara. Not having the heart to eat a living child, the demoness gave it to the king and explained him all that happened. The father named the boy as Jarasandha (literally meaning "joined by Jara")
Chandakaushika arrived at the court and saw the child. He prophesied to Brihadratha that his son will be specially gifted and would be a great devotee of Lord Shiva.
In India, descendants of Jarasandh still exist and use joriya (which means piece of flesh named after their ancestor, "jarasandha") as their suffix while naming themselves.
Jarasandha became a famed and powerful king, extending his empire far and wide. He prevailed over many kings, and was crowned emperor of Magadha. Even while Jarasandha's power continued to grow, he had concerns over his future & that of the empires, as he had no heirs. Therefore, on the advice of his close friend king Banasura, Jarasandh decided to get his two daughters 'Asti and Prapti' married to the heir apparent of Mathura, Kamsa. Jarasandha had also lent his army and his personal advise to Kansa to create a coup d'etat in Mathura.
When Krishna killed Kansa in Mathura, Jarasandha become enraged because of Krishna and the entire Yadavas clan on seeing his two daughters being widowed. So, Jarasandha attacked Mathura repeatedly. He attacked Mathura 17 times. Sensing danger over the repeated attack on Mathura by Jarasandha, Krishna relocated his capital city to Dwaraka. Dwaraka was an island and it was not possible for anyone to attack it at all. Hence, Jarasandha could not attack the Yadavas anymore.
Yudhisthira was planning to make a Rajasuya yagna or Ashwamedha Yagna in order to become the emperor. Krishna convinced him that Jarasandha was the only obstacle to oppose Yudhisthira from becoming an emperor. Jarasandha raided Mathura (Krishna's ancestral capital) unopposed by Krishna, who was aware of Jarasandha's military prowess; and instead moved capital to Dwaraka. Jarasandha had imprisoned 95 kings and was in need of 5 more kings, after which he could perform a major Yagna to Shiva. So, Jarasandha was planning to make one last attack on Dwaraka after this Yagna. This would in turn make Jarasandha an emperor.
Thus, Krishna advised Yudhisthira that Jarasandha must be killed before Yudhisthira starts performing the Rajasuya yagna. Krishna knew that it was not possible for Yudhisthira to defeat Jarasandha in a conventional war as Jarashandha was a great military general, and had a boon of not being killed through any weapons. Instead, Krishna planned a clever scheme to make Bheema wrestle with the proud but ageing Jarasandha (who was close to 80 at this time).
Like Karna, Jarasandha was also very good in giving charity donations. After performing his Shiva pooja, he used to give whatever the Brahmins asked for. On one such occasion Krishna, Arjuna and Bheema in the guise of Brahmins met Jarasandha. Krishna asked Jarasandha to choose any one of them for a wrestling match. Jarasandha chose Bheema, the strongman, to wrestle. Both of them fought for 27 days. Bheema did not know how to defeat Jarasandha. So, he sought the help of Krishna. Krishna knew the secret by which Jarasandha could be killed. Since, Jarasandha was brought to life when the two lifeless halves joined together, conversely, he can be killed only when these his body was torn into two halves and find a way as how these two don't merge. Krishna took a stick, he broke it into two and threw them in both directions. Bheema got the hint. He tore Jarasandha's body into two and threw the pieces in two directions. But, these two pieces came together and Jarasandha was able to attack Bheema again. Bheema got tired after several such futile attempts. He again sought the help of Krishna. This time, Lord Krishna took a stick, broke it into two and threw the left piece on right side and the right piece on the left side. Bheema precisely followed the same. Now, he tore Jarasandha's body into two and threw them in opposite directions. Thus, Jarasandha was killed as the two pieces could not merge into one.
After his death, the Pandavas released all the 95 kings imprisoned by Jarasandha and crowned his son, Sahdeva as the king of Magadha. Thus, these 95 kings along with Sahdeva, the new ruler of Magadha became an ally of Pandavas who took part in the great Mahabharat war later.
A Dwandwa yudda refers to a one on one duel between two warriors. This does not involve the destruction of an entire army. The Mallayudda (wrestling) between Bhima and Jarasandha lasts 27 days. Similarly, the dwanda-yuddha between Parasurama and Bhishma lasts for 30 days, while that between Krishna and Jambavan lasts for 28 days. Likewise, the dwandwa-yudda between king Vaali (Sugriva's brother) and Dundubhi, a demon in the form of a water buffalo, lasts for 45 days. Thus, in those days, many of the dwandwa-yuddas fought between two great warriors lasted for more than a month. It was only after a month long battle, the battle concluded by some unique strategies adapted by one warrior in order to gain an upper hand over his opponent.
| Jarasandha | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Chitrapu Narasimha Rao |
| Written by | Balijepalli Lakshmikantham |
| Starring | Vemuri Gaggaiah Kocharlakota Satyanarayana M. V. Rajamma |
| Music by | Gali Penchala Narasimha Rao |
| Cinematography | D. B. Chavan |
| Studio | Jaya Studios |
| Release date(s) | 1938 |
| Country | India |
| Language | Telugu |
The story of Jarasandha was made as Telugu film in 1938 entitled Krishna Jarasandha by Raja Venkatarama Apparao Bahadur of Mirzapuram and directed by Chitrapu Narasimha Rao.[1] Veteran stage actor Vemuri Gaggaiah portrayed the Jarasandha character and Kocharlakota Satyanarayana as Srikrishna. Balijepalli Lakshmikantham wrote about 25 songs and poems for this film; while the music is scored by Galipenchala Narasimha Rao.
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