Krishna's Archery

Srimad Bhagavatham:

1. He lifted, strung and then broke Kans' sacrificial bow (similar to Drau's swayamvar one).

(Vishnu has something against bows really jab dekho tod dete hai! )

https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/10/42/

2. Jarasandha x 17: Check this out, this link has quite a detailed description of how Krishna liked his archery.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/10/50/

3. Duel with Rukmi - we all know how that ended.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/10/54/

4. His battle with Narakasura:

https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/10/59/

5. Battle with Banasura: Krishna fights Lord Shiva and forces the latter to back off. Archery is used here.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/10/63/

6. Battle with Shalva: the first 1/3 was fought through archery, and then unable to tackle Krishna in that Shalva switched to clubs.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/10/77/

Mahabharata:

In MB we do not see much of Krishna's valour since he mostly refrains from fighting there and frankly that story isn't about him.

Still off the bat here twice that he uses bows and arrows:

1. Battle of Shalva

2. Khandava forest burning

Just like Arjun had his Gandeev, Krishna too had his Shaarnga/Shraanga bow.

Feel free to add to this list if you find more stuff! 😃

Wow this is a useful thread

Krishna ji was definitely the best archer in place

How did he defeat Shivji?? Isn't Shivji his Araadhya

Originally posted by: FlauntPessimism

Wow this is a useful thread

Krishna ji was definitely the best archer in place

How did he defeat Shivji?? Isn't Shivji his Araadhya

Krishna made him yawn, of all things. 😆

And then made his fever-astra fight with Shivji's fever-astra. 😆

And Prady made Kartikeya flee the battlefield.

Yaar Pradyumna ne badla le liya. After all it was his/Kamdev's sacrifice which resulted in the birth of Kartikey ji in the first place

Bhagaana to banta hai

Nice thread. Firstly I'm always bemused by gods fighting gods esp. the Trimurti.

Shiv vs Vishnu - who will win? Or who should win?

Secondly bemused by all the varied avatars meeting/greeting each other viz. Parashuram meeting Rama in Ramayana & also Krishna in MBH somewhere.

Then there's Durvasa who's ansh of Shiva moving around in MBH (can't recall if he ever met Krishna). N also Hanuman, another ansh of Shiva who had sole scene with Bhima.

Thirdly, what's difference between avatar and ansh?

Last, apart from Rukmi & Salva, is there any other places where Krishna fights?

Good point! Kamadeva was Vishnu's son only, full family badla tha yeh! 🤣

Thank You for the thread

Originally posted by: Eloquent

Nice thread. Firstly I'm always bemused by gods fighting gods esp. the Trimurti.

Shiv vs Vishnu - who will win? Or who should win?

It honestly depends on whose Purana we're reading. 😆

Secondly bemused by all the varied avatars meeting/greeting each other viz. Parashuram meeting Rama in Ramayana & also Krishna in MBH somewhere.

I believe that this 'avatar-ship' was something that was transferrable. Like, Parashurama transferred it to Rama at Seeta's swayamvara.

Further, it is interesting to note, this avatar-ship was granted to Rama only after he was united with his Lakshmi (Seeta). But I think since Rama ascended to Vaikuntha himself (as opposed to the other avatars), he directly transferred the avatar-ship to Krishna at his birth.

Alternatively, if you believe in Radha being Lakshmi, then obviously that explains ke Radha was year older than Krishna and since Krishna was united with her soon after his birth, he started working miracles from then only.

I don't remember Krishna meeting Parashurama ever. Do you remember kahan par this happens?

Then there's Durvasa who's ansh of Shiva moving around in MBH (can't recall if he ever met Krishna). N also Hanuman, another ansh of Shiva who had sole scene with Bhima.

Shiva in MB has more to do with the Ps than Krishna as it seems. 😆

Thirdly, what's difference between avatar and ansh?

This is my personal understanding: the word avatar has been blown outta proportion by our Vishnu ji. I think ansh and avatar mein there's no diff. Rather, an ansh is a subset of an avatar if you will. 😆 Like, ansh-avatar. It's just dependent on the level of power that each of these avatars/projections of these deities had.

I had read a theory some while back, ke we know that perfection in Indian cultures is defined as the possession of the 16 kalas (please don't ask me the names idk 😆). My point is, in the list of Vishnu's 10 avatars, the no. of Kalas increases by a factor of 2 with the passing of each avatar.

Matsya - 2

Koorma - 4

Varaha - 6

Narasimha - 8

Vamana - 10

Parashurama - 12

Rama - 14

Krishna - 16 (since he was the poorna-avatar with all the magic and shiz)

(Buddha and Kalki seem to be exceptions 😆)

Last, apart from Rukmi & Salva, is there any other places where Krishna fights?

Literally, the list upar. 😆

JK, he fights with all demons that come his way like I forgot Jarasandh, will add that. 😳

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Thanks @proteeti for the explanation.

For me the best fight of Krishna is where he doesn't fight at all but runs away from the battlefield and gains the doubt ful epithet of Rannchor.

I think he runs of from Jarasandh? But I think his reasons for running away & lessons from this episode are laudable i.e. protection of subjects.

Originally posted by: Eloquent

Thanks @proteeti for the explanation.

For me the best fight of Krishna is where he doesn't fight at all but runs away from the battlefield and gains the doubt ful epithet of Rannchor.

I think he runs of from Jarasandh? But I think his reasons for running away & lessons from this episode are laudable i.e. protection of subjects.

Jarasandh and another Greek invader called Kalyavan had barricaded Dwarka. So while Jarasandh was waiting Kalyavan marched forward. So, Krishna lured Kalyavan away. That's when he gets that name.

But yes, Ranchhor-ing part 2 happened with Jarasandh. Krishna-Balram freaking jumped off a cliff to do that! 🤣

Yes, he was probably the only royal person back then who actually cared from his subjects (maybe cause he spent his formative years being one)!