After the Mahabharata war had ended and Yudhishthira was crowned the new and rightful king of Hastinapur, there were celebrations all over. Krishna bade farewell to the Pandavas and returned to Dwarka. He ruled over Dwarka for thirty-six years. Then suddenly madness seized the residents of Dwarka and they started killing one another. Only women, children, Balrama and Krishna were left alive. Krishna sent the women and the children to the city of Kuru and they left with the Pandavas. After this, Balrama and Krishna desolated themselves into dense forests. One day, Krishna was sleeping under a tree in the forest. Some time later, a hunter named Jara passed through the forest. Krishna was wearing yellow clothes and the soles of his feet were shining very brightly. The hunter mistook them to be the eyes of a deer. He aimed and shot a poisonous arrow, which pierced one of Krishna’s feet. As soon as Jara realised what had happened, he rushed to Krishna and apologised but it was too late. Krishna assured Jara that this was destiny. Then Vishnu’s chariot descended from the sky and Krishna sat in it and went to heaven. This way, Krishna departed from the earth.
KRISHNA DEPARTS
