Many years ago in Shonitpur village lived a courageous, strong and brave asura named Banasura. He had thousand hands and was a staunch follower of Lord Shiva. He used to perform aartis, pooja and used to visit Mount Kailasa regularly. It was his everyday routine to seek Lord Shiva’s blessings. He believed that he had the power and the capacity to conquer the whole world and Lord Shiva will always protect and help him in his endeavor. He had a beautiful daughter named Usha. One day she insisted Banasura to take her to Mount Kailasa to meet Lord Shiva and Maata Paravati. . Banasura at once agreed to her daughter’s demand and took her along with him. Usha saw the divine love of Lord Shiva and Parvati and was carried away by such eternal love for each other. At that time Mata Parvati asked Usha for a boon and Usha said, “ Maa, I want a handsome husband.” Maata Parvati said, “Tatastu”. And added further, “You will dream on Vaishaka Shudh Dashmi and find your husband. You will fall in love with him and get married.”
Here Banasura performed a huge pooja to please Lord Shiva. His bhakti pleased Lord Shiva and asked Banasura what does he want now?
Banasura replied, “I want to fight with a warrior who is more courageous and stronger than I am. Let such a warrior be born on this earth with whom I can fight.”
Lord Shiva said, “When your chariot’s flag will fall down on the battle front, you will find such a warrior who will be more stronger than you are and he will defeat you. But if you will surrender to Lord Krishna you will find Moksha and divine power.”
Banasura never believed that Lord Krishna had supreme powers and he will ever need to go to him. He believed that he had Lord Shiva’s blessings so nothing would go wrong.
Accordingly Usha got a dream as told to her by Mata Paravati. She saw many handsome princes. Next day sage Narada visited Usha and asked her whom she has selected. Usha smiled and gave him all the pictures of the Rajkumars she saw in her dream.
Narda asked to select one and she selected one handsome prince whom she liked the most. “My child, he is Lord Krishna’s grandson Anirudh. And now you have to go to Dwarka to meet him.”
Usha was so mesmerized by Anirudha that she decided to go to Dwarka. When she set her eyes on Anirudha she at once fell in love with him and they both got married in Gandharva style. Soon, Usha became pregnant.
Usha’s mother told Banasura about this. He became furious. He didn’t like the fact that his only daughter married his bitter enemy’s grandson. He was so aggrieved by this fact that he challenged Anirudha to fight with him and sent his troops to kill Anirudha.
But Anirudha killed all his troops and proved victorious. This enraged him further and he asked Lord Shiva to help him. Lord Shiva couldn’t refuse his bhakt, so he along with Lord Karethikiya and Lord Ganesha came to rescue Banasura.
All of a sudden Banasura’s chariot’s flag fell down. He realized that he is going to be defeated by Anirudha, so with his magical powers he made him unconscious. Sage Narada told Dwarkadish about Anirudha lying unconscious on the battlefield, this made Lord Krishna very upset and he decided to go to the battlefield.
Seeing Lord Krishna and Banasura requested Lord Shiva to fight with him. For sometime, Lord Shiva and Lord Krishna fought. At that moment Lord Shiva told Lord Krishna that there is only one way to break Banasura ego and that is to cut his 998 hands which he is very proud of. Lord Krishna cut of his hands and he was left with only two hands. This made Banasura panic and he apologized to Lord Shiva and asked him to help him.
Lord Shiva told him, “ Hey, Banasura, you surrender to Lord Krishna, the Lord of the Universe and he will take care of you.” So Banasura asked Lord Krishna to make him his bhakt and surrendered himself. Lord Krishna readily agreed and told him never to challenge Lord’s power. Lord Krishna forgave Banasura made him his bhakt and gave him Moksha.
