The kingdom of Chedi was in a celebratory mood. The imminent birth of the long awaited child of King Damaghosha and Queen Srutashrava was the reason. But the celebration soon turned into despair. The baby was born with three eyes, four arms and his cry was like the bray of an ass.

The king’s counselors advised him, “Give your son away. The eyes, arms and the braying are all inauspicious. If you keep him he will bring doom to our kingdom.”

The king and queen were miserable hearing this. While wondering what to do they heard a voice from the skies, “Do not fear. This child will not cause any harm to this kingdom. In fact, not only will he have great strength, but he will also bring great fortune to this kingdom. Besides, destiny predicts that he will only die at the hands of the person born to kill him.”

With folded hands, Queen Srutashrava addressed the voice in the sky. “Please tell me how we will know the identity of my son’s slayer.”

The voice replied, “When the slayer takes your child on his lap, his third eye and extra arms will fall off.”

King Damaghosha and Queen Srutashrava happily brought up their baby. They name him Shishupala.

Kings from the neighboring kingdoms came to see the unique baby. They also wanted to know if one of them was the slayer. But nothing happened when they took Shishupala on their laps.

News about Shisupala’s birth and his unique features reaches the kingdom of Dwaraka where Krishna and Balarama lived. Queen Srutashrava was the sister of Vasudeva and therefore paternal aunt to Krishna and Balarama.

Krishna and Balarama decided to meet their cousin. When they reached Chedi, Krishna and Balarama were shocked to see the weird looking baby. The Queen placed baby Shishupala on Krishna’s lap and to the shock of everyone there, the extra eye and arms disappeared.

Knowing that her nephew was fated to be her son’s slayer, Srutashrava said anxiously, “Grant me a boon, Krishna. Promise me that you will forgive any mistakes committed by Shishupala.”

Krishna replied, “For your sake aunt, I will forgive a hundred mistakes even if they are unforgivable offenses. But no more than a hundred. “

Krishna married Rukmini. But Rukmini was supposed to have been Shishupala’s wife.

Shishupala, who already disliked Krishna due to the prophecy, was filled with hatred. He frequently committed unforgivable offenses. But despite that Krishna forgave him.

“How much longer are you going to overlook Shishupala’s mistakes?” asked Balarama one day.

“Remember, brother? I have promised our aunt to forgive a hundred offenses. My promise ties me”, replied Krishna.

A few more years passed. Pandavas, the five sons of Pandu, had established themselves in the kingdom of Indraprastha. Yudhishthira, the eldest Pandava, became the King of Indraprastha. To secure the role of the Emperor, Yudhishthira performed the Rajasuya sacrifice.

Kings from all over the country had two choices. The first was that they could accept Yudhishthira as an Emperor and become his vassal. However, if they did not, the Pandavas defeated them.

Shishupala knew he was no match for Yudhishthira So, he accepted Yudhishthira as the Emperor and attend the Rajasuya. Many esteemed warriors attended the Rajasuya sacrifice including Bheeshma, the great granduncle of the Pandavas, their teachers Dronacharya and Kripacharya, and their cousins the Kauravas, Krishna and Balarama.

Towards the end of the Rajasuya sacrifice, Bheeshma advised Yudhishthira, “Oh Yudhishthira, you have to offer all the kings present here with some gift as a mark of respect to them. But before that, you need to choose the person whom you will honor first. Honor Krishna.”

Yudhishthira replied, “I will do as you command.”

Everyone present accepted except Shishupala.

Shishupala began heaping insults at every body present including Bheeshma, the Pandavas and their wife Draupadi.

Then Shishupala began to insult Krishna.

Everyone was shocked but Krishna sat smiling as he sat counting Shishupala’s offenses. Finally, Shishupala committed a hundred sins.

When Shishupala insulted one more time, Krishna released his Sudarshana Chakra and killed Shishupala.