Balarama- Hindu GodDeity"The Strong One"

Birth and Childhood

Balarama is an incarnation of the cosmic serpent Shesha, who serves as Vishnu's eternal couch and companion. He was conceived by Devaki in the prison of King Kamsa, but the divine embryo was transferred to the womb of Rohini, another wife of Vasudeva, to protect him from Kamsa's murderous campaign against Devaki's children. Raised in the cowherd village of Gokula, Balarama grew up as Krishna's inseparable elder brother. His strength manifested early: as a boy he slew the ass-demon Dhenuka by seizing him by the hind legs and hurling him into a palmyra tree, and he killed the demon Pralamba who had infiltrated the cowherds' games.

Feats of Strength

Balarama's weapons were the plough and the mace, earning him the epithet Halayudha, wielder of the plough. When the Yamuna River refused to come closer so that he could bathe, Balarama dragged her toward him with his plough, forcing her to change course. He taught the art of mace combat to both Duryodhana of the Kauravas and Bhima of the Pandavas, students who would face each other in the war's final duel.

The Kurukshetra War and Death

When the war erupted, Balarama refused to take sides. His students stood on opposite armies. He departed on a pilgrimage along the Sarasvati River rather than watch them fight. Returning for the final duel between Bhima and Duryodhana, he witnessed Bhima strike Duryodhana below the waist, a foul blow by the rules of mace combat. Balarama was furious and had to be restrained by Krishna. After the Yadava dynasty destroyed itself at Prabhasa, Balarama sat beneath a tree in meditation, and the cosmic serpent Shesha departed from his mouth, returning to the ocean.