In the Jarasandha Parvadhyay of the Mahabharata Sabha Parva, Shri Krishna himself, while describing this incident to Yudhishthir, says – The old Kshatriyas of Bhoj dynasty, being deeply saddened by the atrocities of the evil Kansa, requested me to leave the caste and go somewhere.For the welfare of the caste class, I killed Kansa with the help of Balabhadra. No one came forward to protect Kansa. Since then the festival of killing Kansa is celebrated as the victory of good over evil.
Just as Ashwin Shukla Dashami i.e. Vijayadashami is celebrated across the country as a symbol of Ravana Dahan, similarly, Kansa Vadh Leelas are organized in many parts of the country including Mathura on Kartik Shukla Dashami. It is believed that Jarasandha Kansa, son of Mathura King Ugrasen of Yadukul and Queen Padmavati, was killed on the Dashami of Shukla Paksha of Kartik month. He was the brother of Devaki, the mother of Lord Krishna. Kansa has been described as a demon in many Puranas, who, contrary to Sanatan Vedic history, on the advice of his uncles and demons like Banasur and Narakasur, had deposed his father and established himself as the king of Mathura.
According to Mahabharata and Bhagwat Purana, Kansa had become extremely wicked and, like the Islamic rulers of the Mughal period, had deposed his father and taken over the throne himself. He started torturing the Yadavas so much that they fled from Mathura in fear and settled elsewhere. Vasudev had also sent his other wife Rohini and son to Nandgram. And kept it in Nand’s house.
According to Mahabharata and mythological texts, Kansa’s father Ugrasen was the ruler of Yadavas. Kansa arranged the marriage of his beloved sister Devaki with Vasudev. After marriage, Vasudev started taking Devaki away, at that time Kansa was happily driving the chariot as the charioteer of the couple. At this time a voice came from the sky that the eighth son born from Devaki’s womb would kill Kansa. To immediately end that fear, Kansa became ready to kill Devaki. Vasudev pacified Kansa and promised that he would offer all the sons born from Devaki’s womb to Kansa in time. In this way, Devaki’s life was saved at that time, but Kansa put Vasudev and Devaki in prison.
Kansa killed his first six children as soon as they were born. The seventh child perished in the womb itself. According to mythological texts, as per the orders of Vishnu, Yoga Nidra removed the child from Devaki’s womb and placed it in the womb of Vasudev’s other wife Rohini. This child of Rohini was a son named Balram. Rohini was kept by Vasudev in the colony of cowherds near Mathura under the care of his close friend Nand. Shri Krishna was born as the eighth child of Devaki at midnight on Bhadrapada Krishna Ashtami. That very night Vasudev took him to Nand’s house in Gokul. On the same night, Nand’s wife Yashoda gave birth to a girl. According to the Puranas, this girl was Yoganidra, the power of Vishnu. Devaki was under the influence of Yoga Nidra, meanwhile Vasudev kept his son in Sutika Griha and in return took the girl to his residence.
This girl was offered to Kansa as his child. Kansa could not destroy that girl. Yoganidra, while traveling in the sky, said that the destroyer of Kansa had been born. After some time, Kansa freed Devaki from prison, but Shri Krishna was living in Nand’s house. There Kansa sent many demons to kill Shri Krishna, all of whom were killed by Krishna. Incidents like Putana slaughter, Shakat Viparyaya, Trinavarta slaughter, Yamlarjun Bhangi etc. are from this period. During this turmoil in Shri Krishna’s childhood, fearing objections from his maternal grandparents, he left Gokul and went to Vrindavan. On coming to Vrindavan, Shri Krishna killed three demons named Vatsasur, Bakasur and Adhasur. At the same time, Kansa got the news that Shri Krishna and Balram had become very powerful in Vrindavan. All the followers of Kansa from Putna to Arishta were killed. Devarshi Narad told Kansa that Balaram-Shri Krishna is the son of Vasudev. The girl whom Kansa killed considering her to be Devaki’s eighth child, was the daughter of Nand-Yashoda. Vasudev has hidden Shri Krishna in Nand’s house by exchanging his children. Hearing this, Kansa became frightened and angry. And he became ready to kill Vasudev. He sent Yadav chief Akrur to bring Balram and Shri Krishna. In the name of the archer, he called the powerful Mallas to kill both of them.
As soon as Balram and Shri Krishna came to the stage, Kansa’s trained elephant Kuvalayapid attacked. At last Balram and Shri Krishna killed that elephant and the mallas named Chanur and Mushtik. Both the brothers jumped up on the stage, and on the tenth day of Shukla Paksha of Kartik month, they destroyed Kansa by throwing him on the ground and causing trouble to everyone with his atrocities. Then after freeing Vasudev and Devaki, he anointed Kansa’s father Ugrasen on the kingdom. In the Jarasandha Parvadhyay of the Mahabharata Sabha Parva, Shri Krishna himself describes this incident to Yudhishthir and says – The old Kshatriyas of Bhoj dynasty, being deeply saddened by the atrocities of the wicked Kansa, requested me to leave the caste class and go somewhere, I did the work for the welfare of the caste class. With the help of Balabhadra, he killed Kansa. No one came forward to protect Kansa. Since then the festival of killing Kansa is celebrated as the victory of good over evil. This day is especially celebrated in Uttar Pradesh and Mathura, and many special programs are organized.
In mythology, Kansa was recognized as the evil and tyrannical king of Mathura, who was killed by Lord Krishna on Kartik Shukla Dashami. Kansa in his previous birth was a demon named Kalnemi who was killed by Lord Vishnu. According to the story written in Bhagwat Purana and Vishnu Purana about the birth of Kansa who married the two daughters of King Jarasandha of Magadha – Asti and Prapti, Mathura King Ugrasen was married to Padmavati, the daughter of King Satyaketu. After marriage, after staying in her in-laws’ house for some time, Padmavati went to her maternal home. Once Dhrumila, a messenger of Yaksharaj Kuber arrived there and went to meet King Satyaketu in his court. After meeting the king, his eyes fell on Padmavati, the extremely beautiful daughter of King Satyaketu. Dhrumila was a very sinful Gandharva. So he disguised himself as King Ugrasen in front of Padmavati and went to Padmavati. Mistaking Dhrumila for Ugrasen, he had sexual intercourse with her, due to which she became pregnant, but as soon as Padmavati came to know the truth, she wished that her son should die before birth. At the same time Ugrasen also reached there and took him to Mathura. After reaching Mathura, Padmavati gave birth to a son. He was named Kansa who in his previous birth was a demon named Kalanemi. In this way, even though Kansa was the son of Ugrasen in the eyes of the world, in reality he was the son of Dhrumila. Like his father Dhrumila, Kansa was also a sinner and had all the demonic qualities of his father.