Murari - the slayer of Mura

Murari – The slayer of Mura

 

Mura was walking around his land. He was shocked to see heaps of dead Asuras. He was worried about the fate of the Asuras and wanted to become powerful and invincible to protect his clan. He decided he would get some divine support. Who better than his own grandfather, Lord Brahma? Who was this Mura who called Brahma his grandfather? He was the son Sage Kashyapa Prajapati and his wife Danu. Kashyapa was the son of Lord Brahma.

Anyway, coming back to our story, Mura did an intense penance for thousands of years. Lord Brahma finally made an appearance in front of his grandson and asked him what he wanted. Mura had thought long and hard about what he would be asking and was ready for this question. He said “Oh grandfather. I need to protect my family and my clan. Please give me the strength and the power to do that.” The request was innocent enough. Brahma said “Of course. To protect what is yours is your dharma. Tell me what you want and I will give that.”

Such open ended commitments always gets one into trouble. It might be prudent to first check what we are saying yes to.

Anyways, Mura was better well prepared with an answer. He asked Lord Brahma to grant him the boon of killing anyone he touched. Brahma promptly granted the boon. As always, when physical power is combined with boons of perceived invincibility, the concerned person becomes arrogant. Mura was no different. He became the terror of everyone on earth and in the heavens. He occupied Amaravathi and challenged Indra. Indra did not want to fight with him and left Amaravathi. He conquered the Yakshas and the Gandarvas in Mahameru and occupied that terriorty too.

Narakasura made the powerful Mura the guardian of Pragjyotisa. Mura had ten thousand sons and many were engaged in this job of protecting Pragjyotisa. They were unkind and cruel to the population and were feared by the people of Pragjyotisa. Pragjyotisa was an impregnable fortress with many layers of protection - the outer most ring made of stone, the next one of fire, the third layer of spears and the fourth layer was the water in the moats surrounding the city with deadly crocodiles in it. Mura was confident that no one could break this powerful layers of protection and was wandering the universe.

Drunk with power and victory over the Devas, Mura was feeling proud. He was enjoying Amaravathi, the capital city of the Devas with the Airavata and the divine damsels while at the same time unleashing terror on earth as Narakasura’s chief of security.

One day, Mura was wandering the earth on Airavata. He happened to go near the river Sarayu, where Raghu, a Suryavanshi king was conducting a yagna. Confident of his own powers, Mura went to prevent the yagna. He told the king Raghu, “Why are you wasting your time praying to the weak Devas? I am their superior. Either you stop the yagna or you will have to fight me. This was a difficult predicament for King Raghu. He looked to his Guru Vasishta for guidance.

Guru Vasishta smartly turned to Mura and said “If you are so powerful, why are you wasting your time with mere mortals. Go and conquer Yama, the king of death and time.” This was a challenge that Mura did not expect but in his over confidence he did not think it was difficult to overcome. He proceeded towards Yamaloka. Yama, on hearing about Mura and the challenge posed by Vasishta, sought the counsel and protection of Lord Vishnu.

Lord Vishnu told him, “Just tell him that you are doing your duty when you end lives on earth. Also tell Mura that you are doing this as I have told you to do so.”

Mura reached Yamaloka and challenged Lord Yama for a fight. Lord Yama met Mura and told him, “You have to understand that each of us have a role in the Universe. None of us are important or powerful beyond that role. What are you trying to achieve by killing me.” Mura was not discouraged. He roared in anger. “I am the most powerful being in the Universe. You cannot have a role unless you decide that.”. Lord Yama said calmly, “I have no problem with that. But I am already serving another master. I cannot obey you unless I am free of him.”

Mura said “Another master? Who is that?”. Yama replied, “He is called Lord Vishnu. He resides in Vaikunta in the middle of a milky ocean in Svetadwipa. He favourite recliner is a giant snake, Adiseshan and he has the Sudarshana Chakra and a gada on his hands. Most of the time he is in a yoganidra.”

Mura laughed nervously. He said “I shall wake him up for sure.” Saying so, he proceeded towards Vaikunta. At that time, he got news from Pragyotisa that it was being attacked by Lord Krishna of Dwaravati. He rushed back to Pragjyotisa and was killed by the Lord in the battle. The Devas and the people praised him as Muramathana or Murari.

Twist in the tale

There are a couple of versions of this story that readers may have come across. In one version, when Mura goes in search of Lord Vishnu in Vaikunta, the Lord tricked Mura into placing his own hand on his heart and as per the boon he got from Lord Brahma, brought about Mura’s death.

In another version of the story, Lord Vishnu retired to a cave in Badrikashramam after many eons of fighting with Mura and went into a deep meditation. Mura followed him into the cave and tried to attack him. From the meditating form of Lord Vishnu, there emerged a beautiful maiden Ekadashi, who fought with Mura fiercely and defeats him. Hearing the commotion, Lord Vishnu comes out of his yoganidra and finds a dead Asura Mura and a beautiful maiden.

He blessed the maiden saying that since she appeared on the eleventh day of the lunar cycle, Lord Vishnu gave her the name of Ekadashi. He also granted that whosoever fasted on the day of Ekadashi would be precious to him and will reach his above.  This version of the story per our research appears in the PadmaPurana and is said to have taken place in the Satya Yuga. While the Bhagavatam (10^th Skanda) has the story of Krishna slaying Murasura and takes place in Dwapara Yuga during Krishna Avatar .

It does not matter which version we want to take or appeals to us. The story is a narration of victory of good over evil. More importantly as many of our Puranic stories reiterate, the need to understand and appreciate one’s own position in the cosmos and not get arrogant.

We did get a beautiful name for Lord Vishnu though in this process – Murari. Jai Ho Murari.