Week 10 Storytelling: Birth in a Dungeon

            The stench of the dungeon cells mixed with the scent of a fresh birth. After 6 years, Vasudeva had grown used to the smell of the dungeon, but the new combination once again reminded him the feeling of disgust. His wife, Devaki, was far too exhausted to notice.

            Vasudeva’s newborn son laid peacefully in his father’s arms. Seven sons had cried at birth, but the eighth son slept quietly. It only took one look at the boy to know he was divine in nature; Vishnu had kept his promise and lived now inside the eighth son.

            With any other son, Vasudeva would be happy, but the prophecy was clear. This child would be the one to kill Kansa, the demon king, and Kansa wasn’t too pleased about that. Kansa threw Vasudeva and Devaki into his dungeon and pledged to keep them there until their eighth son was born. Furthermore, he pledged to kill that son, and although the dungeon guards dare not wake their wrathful king at this late hour of the night, they would alert him come morning, and the boy would be taken. Vasudeva eyed the dungeon guards suspiciously, and they licked their lips at the sight of the boy they had so anxiously awaited to be born. No, at the birth of his eighth son, Vasudeva was not happy.

            Devaki, having finished the daunting task of birthing a god, fell fast asleep on the rocky dungeon floor. “Your boy is beautiful.” The voice came from the further reaches of the darkness of the dungeon. Vasudeva stepped back, for no one else had been put in this cell for years. Yet the voice sounded both calm and sincere. “What is his name?”

            Vasudeva stared into the blackness but could see nothing. “Who’s there?” Moments passed with no response, and Vasudeva finally answered the stranger’s question. “His name is Krishna.”

            An ancient man stepped into the torchlight. His beard stretched past his waist and was whiter than moonlight. His face was plagued with wrinkles, but Vasudeva was surprised to see that the man miraculously had all his teeth. Humble rags covered his body, and he held in his hand a long walking stick taller than the man himself. “Is it true that the lord Vishnu himself has been reborn tonight?” the man asked in a frail voice.

            Vasudeva was taken aback and found his mouth wide open. “-oh, uh…” he stumbled with his words. “Yes. Or so the prophecies have foretold.”

            “Then we better get a move on.” The old man raised his hand, and Vasudeva heard the clanking of metal behind him. As he turned around, he saw all of the guards fast asleep on the ground, vigorously snoring with their weapons still in hand. The old man tapped his staff on the dungeon floor and the jail door hinges popped out of their slots. The door wobbled slightly and slammed into the stone with a loud clank, yet the guards slept on.

            “What is this? Who are you?!” Vasudeva asked in shock. His wife slept on through the loud noises, and Vasudeva wondered if the old man’s magic was working on her too.

            “I am no one, no person of significance but the gods’ puppet.” The old man walked forward and stepped over the sleeping guards. “The will of the gods is that your son grows up far away from here. Come. Bring the boy. We have a long journey ahead of us.”

            Vasudeva followed the sage as his newborn son slept peacefully in his arms. When they reached the outdoors, Krishna’s skin seemed to glow in the night. At the edge of Kansa’s great palace, a roaring river blocked their path, but before Vasudeva could even raise a concern, the old man raised his hand and the water split apart to the very bottom. Both men’s feet were still dry when they crossed.

            After an hour, Vasudeva and the old man reached the outskirts of a small town. Krishna stirred slightly but slept on. Vasudeva followed the old man to a small farmhouse. He waived his hand and the door opened silently. Inside, a small baby and his mother lay sleeping. “Take this babe, and leave your son here,” the old man whispered quietly.

            “You can’t mean that I’m leaving my son here?”

            “Yes, and you are taking this baby back with you so that Kansa will find it in the morning.”

            Vasudeva’s eyes widened. “You would condemn an innocent child to death? No, I will go back to the cell empty handed and both children will live.”

            The old man sighed. “Then Kansa will never stop searching for your son, and the world will never be rid of demons. It is Krishna’s fate to purge the world of their presence once more.” He picked up the child and held it out to Vasudeva. “This is the will of the gods.”

            Vasudeva gave in and laid his newborn son where the other baby had been sleeping. He and the old man walked back to Kansa’s castle with the other baby in his arms. The river remained parted, the doors remained open, and the guards remained asleep. When they finally arrived back at the cell, the old man waved his hand and the cell door sprung back into its hinges. Vasudeva stole one last glimpse at the old man before he faded back into the shadows of the cell. In the morning, Vasudeva, Devaki, and the newborn baby were the only ones in the dungeon cell, and Kansa came for the child.

             

Author’s note: This story is based on the story “The Coming of Krishna” In this story, it is foretold by the gods that the eighth son of Vasudeva would kill Kansa, so Kansa threw Vasudeva and his wife Devaki into the dungeon. When their eighth son was born in the night, he was divine and had magic powers. The baby blew the door off the hinges and parted the rivers while speaking to his father. Then, he swapped places with one of Vasudeva’s other children born to his other wife the same night. In the morning, when Kansa came for the newborn baby, the baby ascended to heaven while telling Kansa that he was a fool and the real 8^th child had escaped. I thought it was silly imagining these newborn children talking and performing magic, even if they are incarnations of the gods, so I changed the story to make it easier to imagine and a little darker by implying the second child would die to save Krishna.

Image Information

Dungeon Cell - Flickr