The Eighth Child

The Voice of Warning

As the cruel and evil Kamsa drew the chariot of his newly wedded sister Devaki* in her honour, Vayu, as a disembodied voice made a dire prediction. Vayu declared that the eighth child born of this union of Devaki and Vasudeva would be the cause of his (Kamsa’s) death. Kamsa was immediately filled with hatred towards Devaki and Vasudeva and became enraged at the prospect of them becoming the parents of his killer. As Kamsa drew his sword to nip the issue in the bud by killing his sister Devaki, the groom entreated with him to spare her life and promised to give up every new born to Kamsa to do as he pleased.

*Devaki was Aditi reincarnated. King Ahuka had two sons, Ugrasena and Devaka. Devaki was the daughter of Devaka and Kamsa was the son of Ugrasena who was the elder brother of Devaka. Therefore Kamsa and Devaki were cousins (considered brother and sister).

The six deaths

Many years after the other eighth child of Ganga survived and lived, it was the turn of six infants* to die, albeit at the hands of their maternal uncle** and not their own mother. The seventh one having been miscarried***, missed being murdered by its uncle. After the incident of the ‘miscarriage,’ Devaki carried her eight child to its full term and it was again an eight child which survived and lived.

*Six sages born from Sage Marichi drew the ire of another sage named Devala, when they made fun of him. Sage Devala cursed them to be born as Kalanemi’s sons. These six sages performed severe penance and were blessed with boons by Bramha. Hiranyakashipu who considered himself God was furious when he learnt of this and cursed them to be born on the earth and to be killed by their own father.

**Kamsa was the incarnation of Kalanemi, an eternal evil demon who time and again dies at the hands of Vishnu. Kamsa ended up killing his own six sons (known as Shadgarbhas) as Durga devi transferred their souls to the womb of Devaki, thus making the curse come true.

***The foetus was miraculously transferred from Devaki’s womb to Rohini’s womb and continued to grow, and was born as Balaraama, who was an incarnation of Shesha devaru with special presence of Vishnu (a strand of his white hair). As Rohini was one of Vasudeva’s wives (who he had married even before he married Devaki), the boy became known as the elder brother of Krishna. As Rohini was placed in Nanda’s house (by Kamsa himself) and Krishna was transferred to Nanda’s house, Raama and Krishna grew up together.

The Birth of the Lord

After the illusion of miscarriage was created, Devaki became pregnant for the eighth time. The Lord who knows no birth or death, appeared to be ‘born’ to Devaki and Vasudeva. But, in order to exhibit his divine nature and to dispel any fleeting notion that they might possess of having given ‘birth’ to him, he revealed his true resplendent form with four arms and his conch, discus, mace and lotus, and instructed Vasudeva to swap him with Yashoda’s new born baby. As per the instructions of the Lord himself, Lakshmi devi, as Yoga Maaya, had occupied the body of the baby born to Yashoda and she was brought back to Mathura. When Kamsa upon hearing the news of the birth of the dreaded eighth child, rushed to Devaki and snatched the infant with the idea of smashing her to the ground, she slipped out of his hand and assuming her divine form with eight arms, announced that his (Kamsa’s killer) had taken birth and was alive!