Long ago, in the city of Dvaraka by the sea, there lived a kind and brave king named Krishna. One day Indra, the king of the gods, came to see him. Indra had come to tell him about a wrong.
There was also a king named Naraka. His mother was Bhumi, the Earth. But Naraka took things that were not his. He ruled from a fortress city with great walls.
Indra told Krishna what Naraka had done. Naraka had taken the earrings of Aditi, Indra’s mother, made of glowing gold and shining jewels. He had taken the umbrella of Varuna, god of the waters, too, and the gods’ playground on Mandara mountain.
Krishna took his wife, Satyabhama, and the two of them climbed onto Garuda, the great eagle who carried Krishna. Up they flew, all the way to the fortress.
The fortress was ringed with barriers. Hills rose around it. Fire, water and wind guarded it, and strong wire was stretched across the way. How could anyone get in?
But Krishna broke through them all. He broke through the hills and the wire, and through the fire, the water and the wind.
Krishna blew his conch, a shell that sounds like a horn. The sound shattered the magic seals on the fortress. Then Krishna broke down the earth walls, and the way was open.
Deep in the water around the fortress, a huge guard lay asleep. The sound of the conch woke him. He rose up out of the water and roared, and the roar filled earth and sky.
The guard hurled his great three-pointed spear at Garuda. Krishna broke it into three pieces. Then he broke the guard’s club into thousands of pieces. The guard could not stop Krishna.
Naraka sent out his army. When his chief warriors could not stop Krishna, he grew furious. He went out of the city himself, with huge elephants born from the Milk Ocean.
Krishna and Satyabhama sat on Garuda, shining like a cloud with lightning above the sun. All at once, Naraka’s soldiers hurled their weapons at them.
But Krishna struck down every weapon before it could land. Garuda swept at the elephants with his wings, and they ran back into the city.
Now Naraka was alone on the field. He threw his spear at Garuda. Garuda hardly moved, as an elephant hardly moves when a flower garland hits it.
Nothing Naraka tried had worked. He took up one more weapon, but before he could throw it, Krishna sent his discus, a spinning wheel, flashing toward him.
Naraka could never harm anyone again. Cheers of “Well done!” rose, and the sages and the gods showered Krishna with garlands of flowers.
Then Bhumi, the Earth, Naraka’s mother, came to Krishna. She gave him Aditi’s earrings, glowing gold set with shining jewels, and other treasures too.
Bhumi bowed low before Krishna. Then she stood with her palms pressed together and praised him. She spoke of his glance, as cool as a lotus flower.
Naraka’s son was frightened, and he came to Krishna for shelter. His grandmother, Bhumi, asked Krishna to protect him. And Krishna took away his fear.
Krishna went into Naraka’s palace, which was full of riches. There he found many princesses. Naraka had taken them from their kings.
The princesses saw Krishna come in, and their hearts were drawn to him. Each one kept thinking of him.
Krishna had the princesses dressed in clean, spotless clothes. Then he sent them to Dvaraka in palanquins.
Chariots, horses and treasure went with them. Krishna sent sixty-four swift white elephants too, and every one of them had four tusks.
Krishna still had Aditi’s earrings. Now he and Satyabhama rode to Indra’s home in the sky, where the gods live, to give them back.
There Krishna gave Aditi her earrings. Indra and his wife honoured Krishna and Satyabhama. Indra had told Krishna about the stolen earrings, and now Aditi had them again, and the princesses were free.
For grown-ups
Where this story comes from
This story is retold from the Bhagavata Purana (also called the Srimad-Bhagavatam), Canto 10, chapter 59, “The Killing of the Demon Naraka”: verses 10.59.1-45, with the story ending at 10.59.38-39. The English wording we checked is the A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada translation on vedabase.io. In the text, Naraka is also called Bhauma, “son of the Earth”, and his fortress city is Pragjyotisha. The pages say Naraka and “the fortress”. Naraka Chaturdashi, the day many families link to this story, is one of the five days of Diwali. Our Diwali festival page names it. It is a faithful simplification. We shortened and skipped scenes, and we name them below. We did not add events, and we did not change anyone’s reasons. The speeches are simplified. We say plainly what the text says and the story leaves out: in the text, Krishna ends Mura, Mura’s seven sons, Naraka’s army and Naraka himself, and Naraka is ended by Krishna’s discus (10.59.10, 14, 16, 21). The story tells these as Krishna stopping them, so that it can be read to a young child. A few lines of introduction come from the wider tradition and are not in this chapter: Dvaraka is by the sea, Krishna is kind and brave, Garuda is an eagle, Varuna is the god of the waters, and Indra’s home is “in the sky, where the gods live” (10.59.38 says only “the abode of Indra”). Two more points are our own wording or reading. “Guard” is our word for Mura; the text does not call him one. That Satyabhama goes with Krishna to Indra’s home is our reading of 10.59.38-39, which says only that Indra and his wife worshiped Krishna and Satyabhama. We checked this telling against one edition only.
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Three things this telling leaves out, and why
- What happens to Mura (10.59.6-11). The guard in the moat is Mura, a demon with five heads. The text says Krishna’s discus cut off his heads (10.59.10). The story says only that he could not stop Krishna. It does not count his heads, and it does not name him.
- Mura’s seven sons, and Naraka’s army (10.59.11-16). The text says Krishna ended Mura’s seven sons and their general Pitha (10.59.14), and that his arrows killed much of Naraka’s army, with its horses and elephants (10.59.16). The story says Naraka sent out his army and that his chief warriors could not stop Krishna. Every weapon is turned aside, and the elephants run (10.59.17-19).
- How Naraka’s end is told (10.59.21-22). The text says Krishna’s razor-sharp discus cut off Naraka’s head as he sat on his elephant, and that the head lay shining on the ground (10.59.21-22). The story shows the discus flying, and then says Naraka could never harm anyone again. It shows no head and no body.
- The conch and the defenders’ hearts; the weapon lists (10.59.4-5, 13, 15, 19). The text says the conch’s sound also shattered “the hearts of its brave defenders” (10.59.5), and it names the weapon that Krishna used on each barrier (10.59.4). It lists the weapons the soldiers threw (10.59.13, 15), and says Garuda beat the elephants with wings, beak and talons (10.59.19). The story keeps the magic seals, the broken walls, and Garuda’s wings.
- King Parikshit’s question (10.59.1). The chapter begins with a king asking how Naraka was ended. The story has no listener, so this frame is left out.
- What the princesses hoped, and the weddings (10.59.34-35, 42-45). The text says each princess, on seeing Krishna, accepted him as her chosen husband in her mind (10.59.34-35). After this, the text says Krishna took a separate form for each princess and married each one in her own palace, and lived with them as a householder (10.59.42-45). The story keeps only that their hearts were drawn to him and that each one kept thinking of him. Marriage is not told for ages 6 to 9. The story ends before these verses. This edition says sixteen thousand princesses in the verse (10.59.33), and its own chapter summary says sixteen thousand one hundred. Some tellings say 16,100. The pages say “many princesses”.
- The Parijata tree and Indra’s fight (10.59.38-41). After Aditi gets her earrings, Satyabhama asks for the heavenly Parijata tree. Krishna takes it, defeats Indra and the other gods who oppose him, and plants it in Dvaraka. That is a second story, and it includes a fight with Indra. The story ends at the earrings.
- Bhumi’s long prayer (10.59.25-30). Bhumi’s prayer is a long praise of Krishna in high philosophical words. The story keeps that she bowed, joined her palms and praised him, and one image from her prayer: his glance as cool as a lotus (10.59.26).
- The garland, the umbrella and the peak (10.59.23). The text says Bhumi gave Krishna a Vaijayanti flower garland, Varuna’s umbrella and the peak of Mandara, with the earrings (10.59.23). The pages say “other treasures”. In the verses we read, the chapter does not say where these go next, and the story adds nothing.
- Later tellings (not in this chapter). Some tellings say that Satyabhama herself ended Naraka, and that Naraka asked for a boon that his death be remembered with a festival. Neither is in this chapter. The story does not tell them.
- Naraka Chaturdashi: the oil bath and the lamps (custom, not in the text). The text does not mention lamps or an oil bath. Many families link this victory to Naraka Chaturdashi. It has an oil bath (abhyanga snan) before dawn, with lamps lit the evening before. The south keeps it as the main day of the festival. The oil bath and the lamps are custom. No page of the story mentions them. Our Diwali page lists the day under Krishna. Our guide, Purohit, can tell you the day in your city.
Indra’s visit and his news (10.59.2-3) are pages 1 to 4, and the three stolen things share page 3. The fortifications (10.59.2-4) are pages 5 and 6, with the weapons left out. The conch and the ramparts (10.59.5) share page 7. Mura (10.59.6-10) is pages 8 and 9. The seven sons and the army (10.59.12-16) are page 10, and Garuda’s part in the fight (10.59.15, 17-19) is pages 11 and 12. Naraka’s spear and trident (10.59.20-21) are pages 13 and 14. Bhumi’s gifts, her praise and her request (10.59.23-32) are pages 16 to 18, and the princesses (10.59.32-37) are pages 19 to 22. The return of the earrings (10.59.38-39) is pages 23 and 24, and Indra’s worship is cut to one line.
The question children ask here
“Why was Krishna kind to Naraka’s son?” In these verses the text gives this answer:
- Bhumi, the Earth, is Naraka’s mother, and Naraka’s son is her grandson (10.59.14, 32);
- she brings Naraka’s frightened son to Krishna, and asks Krishna to protect him (10.59.31);
- and Krishna, thus asked, gives her grandson fearlessness (10.59.32).
“His grandmother asked, and Krishna was kind.”
A Sanatani Production
