ACK-087: Balram Ki Kathayen

After a long time we are presenting a Hindi ACK. Some voices were heard demanding a Hindi version. So, lets enjoy this one.

Description:

Balarama was Krishna's elder brother and his mate in  their joint exploits. Balarama is simple-minded and  depends on his physical strength in combat.

Balarama's symbol was his plough. He used the plough to  make a channel from the river Yamuna to a far-off dry  land. It was the plough that procured for him the  suitable bride Revati.

Balarama and Krishna jontly fought with Kamsa in their  early years. But Balarama kept himself away from the  later war of Kauravas and Pandavas.

Download ACK-087: Balram Ki Kathayen

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Story: Meera Ugra
Illustrations: Raam Vaeerkar


बलराम की कथाएँ

कृष्ण के बड़े भाई बलराम, कृष्ण के बचपन के साहसिक कार्य, युद्ध और उपलब्धि में सहभागी रहे. बल और  वीरता में अद्वितीय होने के बावजूद रिश्तेदारों में युद्ध के विचार से भी उन्हें पीड़ा होती, इसलिए पांडवों और कौरवों के  बीच हुए महाभारत के युद्ध में वे तटस्थ रहे.

बलदेव और बलभद्र भी बलराम के ही नाम हैं. इस अमर चित्र कथा में प्रस्तुत हैं कुछ उनके बचपन और उनके  विवाह की कथाएँ.

More information about Balram

1. From Wikipedia (condensed from the main source):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balarama

Balarama (बलराम, Balarāma), also known as Baladeva, Baldau, Balabhadra and Halayudha, is the elder brother of the divine being, Krishna in Hinduism. Within Vaishnavism and a number of South Indian, Hindu traditions Balarama is worshipped as an avatar of Vishnu, and he is also listed as such in the Bhagavata Purana.^[1] Within both the Vaishnava traditions and Hinduism generally he is acknowledged as being a manifestation of Shesha, the serpent on whom Vishnu rests.

The Bhagavata Purana describes Krishna as the original Supreme Personality of Godhead from whom everything else emanates. As part of this divine 'emanation', Krishna's very first expansion is Balarama, and from Balarama all other incarnations of God then appear. Of the three transcendental elements described in Sanskrit as sat, cit and ananda (eternity, knowledge and bliss), Balarama is in charge of eternity and knowledge. Hence he worshipped as the supreme teacher or Adiguru.

Balarama was born to Vasudeva and Devaki. Kamsa, the brother of Devaki and an evil king, was intent upon killing all the children of his sister because of a prediction that he would die at the hands of her eighth son. Kansa thus threw his sister Devaki and her husband Vasudeva into prison, and proceeded to kill each of their children as they were born. However, the seventh child was transferred miraculously from Devaki's womb to the womb of Rohini, who had desired a child of her own. Thus Balarama's other name is also Saṃkarṣaṇa which describes the transfer of the child from the womb. The child was formally named Rama, but because of his great strength he was called Balarama (Strong Rama), Baladeva or Balabhadra.

Thus, Rohini actually gave birth to Balarama and raised him. Balarama spent his childhood as a cowherd boy with his brother Krishna and friends. He later married Revati, the daughter of King Kakudmi, ruler of Kuśasthalī or Anarta^[2]

Balarama famously taught both Duryodhana of the Kauravas and Bhima of the Pandavas the art of fighting with a mace. When war broke between the Kauravas and the Pandavas, Balarama was equally affectionate to both parties and so decided to be neutral. Eventually when Bhima (of greater strength) defeated Duryodhana (of greater skill) by dealing a blow below the navel with his mace (a move against the rules of mace combat), Balarama threatened to kill Bhima. This was only prevented when Krishna reminded Balarama of Bhima's vow to kill Duryodhana by crushing the very thigh he exposed to his wife Draupadi.

2. From Mythical Folklore (condensed from the main source):

http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/balarama.htm

BALARAMA. [Source: Dowson's Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology] (Balabhadra and Baladeva are other forms of this name.) The elder brother of Krishna. When Krishna is regarded as a full manifestation of Vishnu, Balarama is recognized as the seventh Avatara or incarnation in his place. According to this view, which is the favorite one of the Vaishnavas, Krishna is a full divinity and Balarama an incarnation; but the story of their birth, as told in the Mahabharata, places them more upon an equality.

It says that Vishnu took two hairs, a white and a black one, and that these became Bala-Rama and Krishna, the children of Devaki. Balarama was of fair complexion, Krishna was very dark.

As soon as Balarama was born, he was carried away to Gokula to preserve his life from the tyrant Kansa, and he was there nurtured by Nanda as a child of Rohini. He and Krishna grew up together, and he took part in many of Krishna's boyish freaks and adventures.

His earliest exploit was the killing of the great Asura Dhenuka, who had the form of an ass. This demon attacked him, but Balarama seized his assailant, whirled him round by his legs till he was dead, and cast his carcase into a tree. Another Asura attempted to carry off Balarama on his shoulders, but the boy beat out the demon's brains with his fists.

When Krishna went to Mathura, Balarama accompanied him, and manfully supported him till Kansa was killed. Once, when Balarama was intoxicated, he called upon the Yamuna river to come to him, that he might bathe; but his command not being heeded, he plunged his ploughshare into the river, and dragged the waters whithersoever he went, until they were obliged to assume a human form and beseech his forgiveness. This action gained for him the title Yamunabhid and KaIindikarshana, breaker or dragger of the Yamuna. He killed Rukmin in a gambling brawl. When Samba, son of Krishna, was detained as a prisoner at Hastinapura by Duryodhana, Balarama demanded his release, and, being refused, he thrust his ploughshare under the ramparts of the city, and drew them towards him, thus compelling the Kauravas to give up their prisoner. Lastly, he killed the great ape Dwivida, who had stolen his weapons and derided him.

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