Krishna and Bhaumasura

Bhaumasura was a powerful demon. He was very fond of young girls and travelled from one kingdom to the other kidnapping young maidens. In this way he had captured sixteen thousand one hundred women and made them his slaves. The girls prayed to Indra for help. Indra went to Krishna and asked him to free the girls from Bhaumasura.

Vishnu's Garuda transported Krishna to Bhaumasura's capital city, Pragiyotisapura. There, Krishna found that the city was heavily fortified with gigantic walls, barbed wire, weapons, and soldiers.

Fearless Krishna sounded his arrival by blowing his conch shell. He fired his Sudarshan chakra at the walls and his arrows at the soldiers. When Maura, the demon who had built the city, came to see the damage caused by Krishna, he too was killed. The news of Krishna's arrival spread like wildfire. Next, Maura's seven sons came charging, but Krishna defeated them all.

Finally, Bhaumasura himself came forward. He fired the sataghni, which could demolish a huge army at once. Krishna retaliated with his feathered arrow and stopped the sataghni midway. Meanwhile, Garuda too had launched his attack. Bhaumasura shot a series of arrows at the bird, but they broke as soon as they hit his strong body.

Frustrated, Bhaumasura finally decided to attack with the trident, but before he could even lay his hands on it, Krishna cut off his head with the Sudarshan Chakra. The girls fell in love with their saviour and wished to marry him. Krishna returned with them to Dwarka and fulfilled their wishes.