How Kamsa got Mathurapuri. In olden times there was a famous place called Madhuvana in the river-base of Kalindi. The place got the name of Madhuvana because the demon Madhu was residing there.

Madhu had a son named Lavana. Lavana was a very wicked demon always ill-treating the devas. Satrughna, son of Dasaratha, killed him and lived there establishing a beautiful kingdom there. He named that place Mathura. After the death of Satrughna two of his sons ruled that country. Then when the Surya dynasty became extinct the city of Mathura came into the possession of the Yadu dynasty. It was ruled then by a very brave and valiant ruler named Surasena. Vasudeva father of Sri Krsna was the son of Surasena. After the death of Surasena another King of the Yadava dynasty, Ugrasena, became the ruler of the place, Vasudeva accepting cow-rearing as his profession. Kamsa became King keeping Ugrasena as a prisoner. (Skandha 4, Devi Bhagavata). .

5) Vasudeva and Devaki are imprisoned. Vasudeva married Devaki daughter of Ugrasena and sister. of Karirsa. Karirsa pleased with his sister presented her with a chariot. Kamsa, Vasudeva and Devaki ascended the chariot and Kamsa himself drove the chariot. Then from an unknown source above came a voice which said "Oh King, know thou this and from this moment chalk out thy plans for the future. The eighth son of your sister will kill you for certain. You will be no match against him." (Chapter 1. Bhagavata 10th Skandha).

Hearing this voice from heaven Kamsa got furious and dragging his sister by the hair raised his sword to kill her. Vasudeva then pleaded weeping not to kill Devaki. Only the eighth child of Devaki was going to kill him. Vasudeva would hand over all the children to him as soon as they were born. Such arguments pacified Kamsa and he left off Devaki without hurting her.

One day Narada visited Kamsa and told him that he was the incarnation of an asura named Kalanemi and the son who would be born to Devaki was to kill him and is Narayana. Kamsa, blind with fury, imprisoned both Devaki and Vasudeva.

6) Man-hunt of Kamsa. Pralamba, Canura, Trnavarta, Mustika, Ar.istaka. Kesi, Dhenuka, Agha, Vivida and Putana were born in the asura family as servants of Kamsa. He sent them to different sides of the country to torment the Yadavas. Many Yadavas left the place. Even Kamsa's father Ugrasena, a great devotee of Visnu, was teased.

In the meantime Devaki delivered six sons including Kirtiman and all of them were killed by Kamsa by smashing their heads against the ground below. The seventh fetus of Devaki was aborted. Instructed by Mahavisnu, Mayadevi invoked the seventh foetus of Devaki and transferred it to the womb of Rohini another wife of Vasudeva. The child thus born to Rohini was Sankarsana or Balabhadrarama. Mahavisnu then entered the womb of Devaki instructing Mayadevi to enter that of Yasoda, wife of Nandagopa of Ambadi at the same time. Sri Krsna was then born in the figure of Visnu. The watchmen were sleeping. Following directions from the new-born child Vasudeva took the child to Gokula and leaving the child there brought back the child of Yasoda and placed it near Devaki. When the watchmen awoke and knew about the delivery of Devaki they immediately ran to Kamsa to tell him. Boiling with rage Kamsa rushed to the side of Devaki and taking the child by the legs raised it for smashing it against the ground. The child to the frightened dismay of Kamsa slipped from his hand and rising up in the air said "Hi, ill-mannered wicked Kamsa, do not waste your valour on women. Your killer has already been born on earth. Do search for him quickly."

Kamsa went pale with fright on hearing this and went away to his palace.

7) Conspiracy of Kamsa. The thought that his killer was born somewhere made him restless. He let off Vasudeva and Devaki finding them innocent. Then he sat sadly pondering over the future. The courtiers then advised him to kill all the children who had been born within the past ten days and that would include the killer also. Kamsa accordingly sent to different parts of the country his secret agents to kill all children ten days old.

During this campaign Putana, Sakata, Trnavarta, Aristaka and Kesi! tried to kill Sri Krsna, but Krsna killed them all easily. For details see under each head separately. (10th Skandha, Bhagavata).

8) Kamsa is slain. Aristaka was one of the prominent Asuras sent to kill Krsna. He attacked Krsna in the form of an ox. Sri Krsna killed it without any difficulty. Narada who saw this incident informed Kamsa about it adding that Krsna and Balaranra were the sons of Vasudeva only and the child who slipped out of his hands was the child of Yasoda. Kamsa got furious and he again imprisoned Vasudeva and Devaki and brought to Mathura Sri Krsna and Balabhadrarama and started thinking of ways and means to kill them. Kamsa arranged to conduct a grand celebration of Ayudha.puja (worship of the weapons) and invited Krsna and Balarama for the same among many other gopas from Ambadi. He sent his chariot with Akrura to fetch Krsna and Balarama from Ambadi. Akrura privately informed Krsna of the bad intentions of Karirsa. Nandagopa and many others from Ambadi started for Mathura. When Sri Krsna and Balabhadrarama started their journey in the chariot the gopas and gopikas assembled there cried loudly. Some blamed Akrura.