The story of King Paundraka is very interesting because it proves that there have always been many rascals and fools who have considered themselves God.

No, THIS is The God Delusion

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The Deliverance of Paundraka and the King of Kashi

The story of King Paundraka is very interesting because it proves that there have always been many rascals and fools who have considered themselves God. Even in the presence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, there was such a foolish person. His name was Paundraka, and he wanted to declare himself God. While Lord Balarama was absent in Vrindavana, this King Paundraka, the King of the Karusha Province, being foolish and puffed up, sent a messenger to Lord Krishna. Lord Krishna is accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but King Paundraka directly challenged Krishna through the messenger, who stated that Paundraka, not Krishna, was Vasudeva. In the present day there are many foolish followers of such rascals. Similarly, in Paundraka’s day, many foolish men accepted Paundraka as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Because he could not estimate his own position, Paundraka falsely thought himself to be Lord Vasudeva. Thus the messenger declared to Krishna that King Paundraka, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, had descended to the earth out of his causeless mercy just to deliver all distressed persons.

Surrounded by many other foolish persons, this rascal Paundraka had actually concluded that he was Vasudeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This kind of conclusion is certainly childish. When children are playing, they sometimes select a “king” amongst themselves, and the selected child may think that he is actually the king. Similarly, many foolish persons, due to ignorance, select another fool as God, and then the rascal actually considers himself God, as if God could be created by childish play or by the votes of men. Under this false impression, thinking himself the Supreme Lord, Paundraka sent his messenger to Dvaraka to challenge the position of Krishna. The messenger reached the royal assembly of Krishna in Dvaraka and conveyed the message given by his master, Paundraka. The message contained the following statements.

“I am the only Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva. No man can compete with me. I have descended as King Paundraka, taking compassion on the distressed conditioned souls out of my unlimited causeless mercy. You have falsely taken the position of Vasudeva without authority, but You should not propagate this false idea. You must give up Your position. O descendant of the Yadu dynasty, please give up all the symbols of Vasudeva, which You have falsely assumed. And after giving up this position, come and surrender unto me. If out of Your gross impudence You do not care for my words, then I challenge You to fight. I am inviting You to a battle in which the decision will be settled.”

When all the members of the royal assembly, including King Ugrasena, heard this message sent by Paundraka, they laughed very loudly for a considerable time. After enjoying the loud laughter of all the members of the assembly, Krishna replied to the messenger as follows: “O messenger of Paundraka, you may carry My message to your master: ‘You are a foolish rascal. I directly call you a rascal, and I refuse to follow your instructions. I shall never give up the symbols of Vasudeva, especially My disc. I shall use this disc to kill not only you but all your followers also. I shall destroy you and your foolish associates, who merely constitute a society of cheaters and the cheated. O foolish King, you will then have to conceal your face in disgrace, and when your head is severed from your body by My disc, it will be surrounded by meat-eating birds like vultures, hawks and eagles. At that time, instead of becoming My shelter, as you have demanded, you will be subject to the mercy of these lowborn birds. At that time your body will be thrown to the dogs, who will eat it with great pleasure.’ ”

The messenger carried the words of Lord Krishna to his master, Paundraka, who patiently heard all these insults. Without waiting any longer, Lord Sri Krishna immediately started out on His chariot to punish the rascal Paundraka, the King of Karusha. Because at that time he was living with his friend the King of Kashi, Krishna surrounded the whole city of Kashi.

King Paundraka was a great warrior, and as soon as he heard of Krishna’s attack, he came out of the city with two akshauhini divisions of soldiers. The King of Kashi also came out, with three akshauhini divisions. When the two kings came before Lord Krishna to oppose Him, Krishna saw Paundraka face to face for the first time. Krishna saw that Paundraka had decorated himself with the symbols of the conchshell, disc, lotus and club. He carried an imitation Sharnga bow, and on his chest was a mock insignia of Shrivatsa. His neck was decorated with a false Kaustubha jewel, and he wore a flower garland in exact imitation of Lord Vasudeva’s. He was dressed in yellow silken garments, and the flag on his chariot carried the symbol of Garuda, exactly imitating Krishna’s. He had a very valuable helmet on his head, and his earrings, like swordfish, glittered brilliantly. On the whole, however, his dress and makeup were clearly imitation. Anyone could understand that he was just like someone onstage playing the part of Vasudeva in false dress. When Lord Sri Krishna saw Paundraka imitating His posture and dress, He could not check His laughter, and thus He laughed with great satisfaction.

The soldiers on the side of King Paundraka began to shower their weapons upon Krishna. The weapons, including various kinds of tridents, clubs, poles, lances, swords, daggers and arrows, came flying in waves, and Krishna counteracted them. He smashed not only the weapons but also the soldiers and assistants of Paundraka, just as during the dissolution of this universe the fire of devastation burns everything to ashes. The elephants, chariots, horses and infantry belonging to the opposite party were scattered by the weapons of Krishna. Indeed, the whole battlefield became strewn with smashed chariots and the bodies of men and animals. There were fallen horses, elephants, men, asses and camels. Although the devastated battlefield appeared like the dancing place of Lord Shiva at the time of the dissolution of the world, the warriors on the side of Krishna were very much encouraged by seeing this, and they fought with greater strength.

At this time, Lord Krishna told Paundraka, “Paundraka, you requested Me to give up the symbols of Lord Vishnu, specifically My disc. Now I will give it up to you. Be careful! You falsely declare yourself Vasudeva, imitating Me. Therefore no one is a greater fool than you.” From this statement of Krishna’s it is clear that any rascal who advertises himself as God is the greatest fool in human society. Krishna continued: “Now, Paundraka, I shall force you to give up this false representation. You wanted Me to surrender unto you. Now this is your opportunity. We shall now fight, and if I am defeated and you are victorious, I shall certainly surrender unto you.” In this way, after chastising Paundraka very severely, Krishna smashed Paundraka’s chariot to pieces by shooting an arrow. Then with the help of His disc He separated Paundraka’s head from his body, just as Indra shaves off the peaks of mountains by striking them with his thunderbolt. Similarly, Krishna also killed the King of Kashi with His arrows. Lord Krishna specifically arranged to throw the head of the King of Kashi into the city of Kashi itself so that his relatives and family members could see it. Krishna did this just as a hurricane carries a lotus petal here and there. Lord Krishna killed Paundraka and his friend Kashiraja on the battlefield, and then He returned to His capital city, Dvaraka.