Shishupala: Difference between revisions

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'''Shishupala''' ({{lang-sa|शिशुपाल}}, lit. ''protector of demon'', [[IAST]]: ''Śiśupāla''; sometimes spelt '''Sisupala''') was the son of Damaghosha after whom descendants to Chedi Kings were named as [[Hindu Ghosi]]s a tribe king of [[Yadav]]as in of [[Chedi Kingdom|Chedi]], by Srutashravas, sister of [[Vasudeva]] and [[Kunti]] and cousin of [[Nanda Baba]]. He was slained by [[Krishna]], his cousin and an avatar of [[Vishnu]], at the great coronation ceremony of [[Yudhishthira]] in punishment for the opprobrious abuse made against his august personage. He is also referred to as Chaidya ("(Prince) of the Chedis"). Shishupala was the third and last birth of Vishnu's gatekeeper [[Jaya]].<ref>{{cite book|title=India through the ages|url=https://archive.org/details/indiathroughages00mada|last=Gopal|first=Madan|year= 1990| page= [https://archive.org/details/indiathroughages00mada/page/80 80]|editor=K.S. Gautam|publisher=Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India}}</ref>

The [[Mahabharata]] states that Shishupala was born with three eyes and four arms. His parents were inclined to cast him out but were warned by a voice from heaven (''ākāśavāṇī'') not to do so, as his time had not come. It also foretold that his superfluous bodyparts would disappear when a certain person took the child into his lap and that he would eventually die at the hands of that same person. Coming to visit his cousin, [[Krishna]] placed the child on his lap and the extra eye and arms disappeared, thus indicating Shishupala's death was destined at the hands of Krishna. In the Mahabharata, Shishupala's mother persuaded her nephew, Krishna, that he would pardon his cousin Shishupala for a hundred offences.{{sfn|Chakravarti|2007}}

The [[Shishupala Vadha]] is a work of classical [[Sanskrit poetry]] (''[[kāvya]]'') composed by [[Māgha]] in the 7th or 8th century. It is an [[epic poem]] consisting of 20 ''sarga''s ([[canto]]s) of about 1800 highly ornate stanzas<ref name=indica>{{citation | title = Encyclopaedia Indica: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh | author1=S. S. Shashi | publisher=Anmol Publications PVT. LTD. | year = 1996 | isbn=978-81-7041-859-7 | page=160 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GOexbgmDNNoC&q=sisupala&pg=PA160}}</ref> and is considered one of the six Sanskrit ''mahakavya''s, or "great epics". It is also known as the ''Māgha-kāvya'' after its author. Like other ''kavya''s, it is admired more for its exquisite descriptions and lyrical quality than for any dramatic development of the plot.{{citation needed|date=June 2016}}. His sons were killed in the [[Kurukshetra War]].