Bhoomi Devi (mother Earth) had a
son named Naraka. Even though Naraka was the son of a divinity, he had
the nature of a demon. Naraka was powerful and he took pleasure in
terrorising the inhabitants of the three worlds.
Narakasura would raid and plunder
the kingdoms of the three worlds. He did not even leave the women and would
kidnap them for his own personal harem. Narakasura heard that Indra, the
king of the devas, had thousands of divine elephants in his army. Now Narakasura,
greedy that he was, wanted to possess everything, so he attacked the heavens.
Indra was helpless as he watched
Naraka's minions plunder the heavens. Naraka himself began pursuit of the
devas. While pursuing the devas, a glimmering object far away caught his
eye. Upon inspection, he realised that the glimmering object was mother
Aditi's (the mother of the devas) earrings. He assaulted mother Aditi and
grabbed her earrings.
Now Indra, feeling humiliated at
his loss and even worse that his mother was assaulted, wanted revenge and
he knew that there was only one person who was a match for Naraka. It was
Krishna.
Indra reached Krishna's palace when
Krishna was spending quality time with his wife Satyabhama. He told Krishna
about the happenings and begged him for his help. Krishna was enraged that
Naraka might lay his hands on mother Aditi and said that Naraka must die
for his insolence.
Satyabhama looked annoyed because
Krishna was about to leave her. Wanting to please both Satyabhama and Indra,
Krishna decided to take Satyabhama with him into battle.
Krishna summoned his mount Garuda
(a giant eagle) and made way towards Naraka's fortress. An impenetrable
barrier of magic mountains surrounded Naraka's fortress. The mountains
were such that a barrier would come up from any side that Krishna tried
to enter the fortress. Krishna, unperturbed, hurled his mace at the barrier
and shattered the entire mountain range in one blow. A downpour of magical
weapons rained down on them. Krishna fired multiple arrows and destroyed
all the weapons. In this manner Krishna destroyed countless other magical
barriers and finally reached Naraka's fortress.
Naraka's palace was guarded by the
five-headed demon Mura. Mura hurled countless weapons at Krishna, but Krishna
shot each one down with his bow and arrow. Then Krishna picked up his flying
discus and hurled it towards Mura dislocating Mura's five heads. Mura fell
to the ground, dead.
Krishna challenged Naraka to battle
and killed him easily. Bhoomi Devi then sang hymns in praise of Krishna
and begged him to take Naraka's son Bhagdatta under his protection. Krishna
placed Bhagdatta on the throne and then freed all of Naraka's prisoners.
The devas showered Krishna with flowers from the heavens.