Lord Krishna was an avatar of Lord Vishnu. In this article we will discuss how did Lord Krishna die? Lord Krishna was born to Devki and Vasudeva. His mama kansa was foretold that Krishna will kill him so he ensured that he left no stone unturned to kill Krishna soon after he was born. However, after Krishna was born the gates of the jail where Vasudeva and Devki were staying opened.

All the guards who were protecting them slept off. As a result Vasudeva escaped with little Krishna. He went to his friend Nanda in Gokul. On the same day Nanda’s wife had given birth to a daughter. Vasudeva kept Lord Krishna and took their daughter away. Thus from birth the life of Lord Krishna was surrounded by miracles. Everyone knew that he was not an ordinary person but incarnation of lord Vishnu. Throughout his life he did perform a lot of miracles. He saved a lot of lives and was very popular among the people.

The above tale is well known to most of us but what is not so well known is the other end of the story.

The end of Lord Krishna was not as glorified as his whole life was. His end was rather sad and tragic. There are many stories about the end of Lord Krishna. One of the most popular is the story of Gandhari. Gandhari was the mother of Duryodhan. Lord Krishna had supported the Pandavas in Kurukshetra and he had given his army to the Kauravas.

The Pndavas won the battle of Kurukshetra that lasted for 18 whole days. At the end of the battle all the Kauravas were dead. Gandhari who lost all her 100 sons was very sad. Lord Krishna went to meet her on that day and wanted to be a part of her grief. However, Gandhari was too upset with the death of her sons. She lost control and cursed Lord Krishna. Gandhari’s karma was not bad and so she did not deserve this pain.

Gandhari’s Curse

She told Lord Krishna that he will die and along with him his whole Yadu dynasty will disappear. She basically wanted that Lord Krishna feel the same pain that she was going through. Lord Krishna accepted this curse and left without complaining. The yadavas were very strong and no one could kill them so Gandhari cursed that they will fight among each other and kill each other.

Lord Krishna Death

Some say that Lord Krishna himself wanted the Yadu dynasty to end as he felt that his dynasty was becoming very arrogant. He was lord incarnate so he definitely had the power to nullify this curse but he did not do anything. The curse was to come true after thirty six years. Soon after the curse Gandhari realised that what she said was wrong. Why should she curse Lord Krishna for no fault of his? She fell at the feet of Lord Krishna and asked for apology. Lord Krishna consoled her and said that he accepts the curse and holds nothing against her.

Thirty six years went by. The Yadu dynasty flourished. Lord Krishna’s holy city of Dwarka was one of the richest cities in the country. The city was blessed with wealth as well as peace. There was bliss all around. The power and respect that the Yadavs were given by the people actually made them blind. They became greedy and immoral with time. The fame of the yadu dynasty was at its peak when calamity struck. There was a festival arranged and in this festival a fight broke between the Yadavas. Most of the members of the family were killed in this fight.

The Time is Up

Both Lord Krishna and his brother Balaram knew that it was time for the curse to come true. Balaram who was the elder brother of Krishna could not take this shock. He started to meditate and gave up his body in meditation itself. The city of Dwarka was burning and Lord Krishna helplessly watched his family killing each other. He could have stopped this destruction but he decided not to. He was prepared for this and so Lord Krishna went to the forest. There he was meditating under a tree. A hunter named Jara saw his foot. He thought it was the foot of a deer and he shot an arrow. Jara was very upset about what he had done.

Lord Krishna told him that it was destined to happen. In his previous birth Lord Krishna was born as Lord Rama and he had killed Bali. Bali in this birth was born as Jara and by killing Lord Krishna he basically took revenge of what had happened in the last birth. After this Lord Krishna left his body and departed to the heavens. The departure of Lord Krishna has been described very well in the Mahabharata. The death of Lord Krishna was the end of the Dvapara yug and it led to the beginning of the Kali yug.

Even the city of Dwarka which was the capital city of Lord Krishna disappeared overnight. It was one of the richest cities of its time. The whole city was built on an island. Gandhari said that not even a single person of the Yadu dynasty will survive. That is exactly why soon after Lord Krishna died the whole island city of Dwarka also went under the water. This killed the remaining Yadavas including the women and the children. This ensured that no one of the Yadu dynasty survived. This was the actual end of Lord Krishna and his life on earth. So the powerful dynasty that Lord Krishna had started did end with him.

The Law of Karma

The story of how Lord Krishna died does prove it again that the rule of karma works the same for everyone. Even if the lord cannot be spared by the wheels of karma is the moral of the story. If we become too arrogant and we do not respect the people around us it can definitely lead to our end and the end of those who mean everything to us. No matter how strong we think we are we cannot change go against what has been written already.