The Legend of the Birth of Samba

Sham S. Misri

According to Devi Bhagavata Purana and Mahabharata, Krishna’s wife Jambavati had no son. She was unhappy as she was the only one who had not borne any child to Krishna while all his other wives were blessed with many children. She expressed her wish to Krishna to be blessed with a son. Lord Krishna then went to a sage who advised him to pray to Lord Shiva. Pleased with Krishna’s austerities, Lord Shiva finally appeared in the form of Samba, the half-male, half-female form of the god and asked him to ask a boon. Krishna asked for a son for Jambavati; Lord Shiva granted. A son was born to Jambavati and he was named as Samba. It was through his actions and anger that brought an end to the Yadu dynasty.

Lord Krishna wanted his son Samba to be exactly like Lord Shiva. However, Lord Shiva’s main function is to destroy creation and so for his son to be like Lord Shiva it meant that the child too would have to be the main cause of the destruction of his entire race, the Yadu Clan. No wonder, this was what Lord Krishna desired as the Yadus were unbeatable, the one who could not be defeated by anybody. Samba was not a nice boy. He was a nuisance to the Yadvas. His Marriage with Duryodhana’s Daughter (Kuru Clan) was a wrongdoing. He abducted Duryodhana’s daughter Laxmana on the day of her marriage. He had heard of her beauty and wanted to marry her though she had no interest in him. Samba was arrested by the elders of the Kuru clan and threw him in their prison. However, Balarāma (Krishna’s brother) rescued him out.

Samba Was Cursed By His Own Father

According to Skanda Purana some of Lord Krishna’s junior wives were infatuated with Samba. One wife Nandini even disguised herself as Samba’s wife and embraced him. For this, Lord Krishna cursed Samba to be inflicted with leprosy and his wives to be kidnapped by robbers after his death. Next, Samba got infected by leprosy. However, he got cured by worshipping Surya in the temple. All Sun temples are attributed to Samba.

Samba Was the Reason of Yadu Clan’s Demise. Samba once pretended to be a pregnant woman and his friends asked some sages that who will the child be. Offended by the mischief, the sages cursed that an iron pestle will be born to Samba and will destroy the Yadvas. The curse came true leading to the death of Krishna and his clan. The Bhagavata Purana records the weeping and crying of Krishna’s queens and their subsequent leap in Krishna’s funeral pyre immolating themselves as (sati). The Hindu epic Mahabharata describes the death of Krishna and end of his race and declares that Jambavati killed herself by burning alive after being attacked by robbers while leaving Dwarka after Krishna’s funeral.