Devaki and Vasudev spent their honeymoon in a prison cell in Kamsa's palace. Kamsa didn't really feel bad. He was only doing this to protect himself. However, no one else saw it the same way. When Devaki gave birth to her first six children, Kamsa would visit the prison cell and throw the baby at the wall, brutally killing the baby. This cruel display of power disgusted the guards, Devaki, and Vasudev. However, Kamsa felt that he was only doing what he had to do.
Kamsa had nightmares about what his death would be like. Hearing his fate left Kamsa on edge at all times. He faced serious anxiety about dying some day. He would much rather have not known how he was going to die. He would regularly have nightmares about his death. One night, he had a particularly vivid nightmare. His dream was filled with flashes of bright light and a feeling of impending doom.
When Kamsa heard that Devaki had given birth to her eighth child the following morning, he visited the cell to once again kill the baby and save his fate. However, when Kamsa got to the prison cell and saw a baby girl, he was confused. How could he die at the hands of Devaki's daughter? He did not think he had a chance of being killed by her. Nevertheless, he felt the need to save his fate. He grabbed the baby girl and was about to throw her at the ground when all of a sudden a bright flash of light stunned him. In that moment, Kamsa was certain that his dreams were foretelling this moment. If his nightmares had foretold this moment, what else had they correctly foretold? Kamsa snapped back to reality to notice Durga standing before him. Durga told Kamsa exactly what he was now aware of: Devaki's eighth born child was moved to another location and he would someday kill Kamsa. Durga wanted Kamsa's fear of his fate to consume him over the next years. Kamsa was confused as to why the process had to be drug out for so long. He couldn't take the anxiety. He wanted the resolution and he wanted it quick. If it resulted in his death, at least he didn't have to live in constant fear.
He couldn't be certain of when his foretold death would occur, but he was going to fight fate. He couldn't believe how cruel the gods were to make this all happen so slowly. He decided that his only option was to deal with rakshasas to fight his destiny. He was going to send out rakshasa after rakshasa to find and kill Devaki's eighth born child.
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| Kamsa trying to kill Devaki's 8th child only to learn it had been swapped with Durga. Image from Wikimedia |
Author's Note
This story was developed from the Krishna series of Epified videos on YouTube. The videos explained Krishna's life from his birth to slightly after the killing of Kamsa. In my story, I tried to focus more of the plot on Kamsa and less of the plot on Krishna. I wanted to show that Kamsa was truly going mad with the frustration of not knowing when he would die but knowing how. It seems very harsh to know how you're going to die, but not when. It would surely consume a person. And it is shown to in this story. Kamsa was going to kill his own sister on her wedding day but spared her after intervention from others. However, he still locked his sister and her family in a cell for the rest of their lives and killed all of their children. I hoped to not make people feel bad for Kamsa, but to understand that he truly went crazy and would resort to anything to preserve his life.
Bibliography
"Epified: Krishna: Part A". Epified. Youtube. Link
Hi Marshall!
ReplyDeleteI also watched this Epified video on Krishna’s background. I think you kept pretty close to the original story, but you did a great job tweaking it a little to show it from the perspective of Kamsa. This week for the projects we were supposed to comment on paragraphs. Not sure if that applies here, but thought I’d touch on that. The fourth paragraph could possibly be split into to. The sentence “Kamsa snapped back to reality to notice Durga standing before him” would be a great place to start a new one. Other than that small suggestion, I think you did a good job with this story!
Hi, Marshall! I really enjoyed reading your story. I especially like that you pointed out the irony of Kamsa’s death in the first paragraph. It kind of goes along with the saying, “No good deed goes unpunished.” I wonder how many times Kamsa had this terrible dream? Was it the same dream every time? Overall, I think you did a really great job of retelling this story!
ReplyDeleteMarshall,
ReplyDeleteI really like your version of this story. I remember watching those videos and thinking this story was very sad!That king deserved all the torture he was feeling so I think it was a good aspect to focus on! If you wanted to lengthen your story you could give an example of one of the dreams he had. Overall great story!
Hi Marshall!
ReplyDeleteI love that your story gives Kamsa a voice that is mostly overlooked in the original story! It made me sympathize a little with a character that is easy to hate in the original story because Kamsa almost seems like he doesn’t realize that he was a cruel ruler and feels betrayed by the gods. This story sheds light on Kamsa’s fear-driven actions and almost justifies his crazy actions.
Hi Marshall. I am glad that I was able to read your story this week. I thought it was a really great rendition of the original story and very creative. I like how you focused on Kamsa. It allowed me to see Kamsa in a different light which I thought was cool. Overall, great job this week with your story!
ReplyDelete