Theft of the Parijat Tree

Indra, accompanied by his entire army faced Krishna, who stood alone with just Garuda by his side. Crores of angels along with Indra shot their arrows towards Krishna. They covered the entire sky shutting out the light completely. But Krishna destroyed all their weapons with great ease! Varuna arrived with his own special missile but Garuda instantly broke it to pieces. Yama, the King of death threw his mace at Krishna. But this broke into pieces, the moment it touched Krishna’s mace. Kubera dashed in to attack Krishna. But this broke into pieces, the moment it touched Krishna’s mace. Kubrea dashed in to attack Krishna, only to see his chariot going to pieces.

The sun and the moon came out with their fury but a mere glance of Krishna cooled their fire and completely put out their. Agni, the God of fire also froze at a glance from Krishna. Finally, no one from the celestial army survived except Indra himself. Alone, he was now face to face with Krishna. Indra held his main weapon, the lightning, while Krishna took up his Sudarshan Chakra. Indra’s lightning was said to be invincible and he shuddered with fear as he threw it at Krishna. But Krishna grabbed it by his free hand and the lightning turned to a handful of frost. Now Indra was completely weaponless. There was no need for Krishna to fight him. Defeated and defenseless, Indra tried to run away, burning in shame and humiliation. Who could have imagined that a mere prince from the earth could defeat the King of heaven and his entire army?

Satyabhama burst out laughing as she saw Indra running away. “Well, is that the King of heaven, running away?” she asked him. “Don’t worry, I am not going to take away your precious Parijat. You can take it back to Indrani. I was a guest in your house but Indrani is so proud that she didn’t even bother to come and greet me. Is that the way the God of Gods treats his guests? That’s why I was angry and wanted to let her know that pride has its fall. I have no wish to take anything which she thinks is hers.”

Indra came back and sought Satyabhama’s pardon. “It was very wrong of my wife to ignore a guest of honour. Please forgive us both and take the parijat with you. And please don’t be angry with us any more.”

“Are you saying this because Krishna defeated you?” asked Satyabhama. “No. I am not ashamed to be defeated by Krishna, the incarnation of Vishnu himself. I would really like you to have the parijat.” “But it belongs to your Nandan Kanan,” said Krishna. “I had picked it up at the request of Satyabhama because I too felt that the Queen of heaven should be shown how to respect guests. I think I have succeeded, so please say no more. The Parijat shall remain where it has been all this time. Here it is.”

“Please Krishna, take it to Dwarka now,” begged Indra. “When your days on earth are over, the original tree can return to heaven once more.” “So be it,” said Krishna with a smile. Krishna and Satyabhama soon sat on Garuda, holding the Parijat carefully. They were off to Dwarka with their prized possession.