"The Crown Prince of Dwarka, Vasudev Krishna has arrived!" The crier announced. All the servants and maids quickly took their positions. All the officials and ministers gathered to welcome the legendary man who was said to be a walking miracle. My vision unfurled in front of my eyes as I saw a wave of excitement surge from the entire kingdom.

The King of Panchal, the Crown Prince and the General were in the front lines to welcome Krishna. The best warriors of Panchal formed a certain pattern and released arrows into the sky, creating a magical show as per the General's command. The swordsmen lowered their swords uniformly creating a pathway for his arrival. The ones with the spears were paired up to prepare a ceiling of spears above the heads. The best dancers and musicians were present at every periodic interval. The maids and the servants were in their places holding plates of flowers to shower over him. Me along with the queens of father awaited him at the entrance of the palace. Father would personally escort Krishna from the city gates to the entrance of the palace. And on the way, the citizens would show their sincerity to Krishna.

I was sure that no one had ever witnesses this scale of a splendid welcome in the history of Panchal. That was how important Krishna was. And as we were about to send a messenger for updates, the conch shells sounded from the distance. I looked over at the public. In crowd, I could make out father and my two brothers riding horses while the shower of flowers almost drowned them. Behind them, I saw a white chariot being pulled by four white horses with Dwarka's flag flying over it. And as the distance closed between us, my heart started pounding faster. The feeling of meeting Krishna was everything I had heard. Even if I had planned for this whole welcome, it had felt unreal. But now, I wholeheartedly believed that Krishna was magic.

I made out his silhouette from this distance, but I couldn't see his face yet. And before I could have a glance, the periodic shower of flowers blocked my vision. And I only saw him when he started climbing the stairs to the entrance. Towards us.

My heart throbbed.

I saw how we both were similar, and I could finally understand why father had named me Krishnaa. His white regalia with golden accents perfectly contrasted with his dark skin with a blueish hue. He was wearing golden ornaments over his angavastram and peacock feathers adorned his golden crown. When he approached me, his dreamy eyes connected with mine and sent a vibrant thrill through my body. It wasn't a romantic feeling. Even now, I couldn't imagine this divine being attached with a mere mortal term "husband". He felt more than that. Something essential that I never knew I needed, someone who filled the gaps you never knew existed. His golden eyes warmed up like melted honey and he smiled, flashing his teeth like a child who had just met his crime partner. 

I couldn't help but laugh at his expression. I ignored the queens and the maids who flashed a look of genuine concern for me. Controlling my laughter and settling for a controlled smile, I circled the aarti thali around his face thrice and applied sandalwood over his forehead. I showered some flowers and gave way to him. He winked at me before he approached the queens for further proceedings.  

How could this man be tied by a mortal term called 'husband'? He was more like a sakha who knew the deepest secrets and desires of one's mind. 

I watched father and my brothers escorting Krishna to his resting quarters specially designed by me. Unfortunately, I couldn't follow them to see the best of men reacting to my tastes in aesthetics.

Never mind. I would see him soon in father's chambers anyway. My marriage talks won't commence without my presence. Even if I couldn't imagine him as a husband yet, I was sure I would get used to it. Life looked fun if he was going to be as mischievous and teasing, he had been when we first met.

But I never knew that Krishna would seek me out instead of father after resting.

I was tensed when I went to his chambers. Had there been a mistake in my arrangements? Was there something that bothered him? Was the food not to his liking? Was the scenic view not good enough? Did he already dislike Panchal?

I entered his chambers when I heard a faint come in after I knocked on the door. Upon entering, my eyes immediately connected with a pair of golden eyes. There was no dissatisfaction nor any resentment in his eyes. His eyes were warmer than they had been. His lips were playing a gentle smile.

"How are you, sakhi?" His warm, honey-like sweet voice said.

I froze. Not because he called me sakhi but because he was the most beautiful person I'd ever met. I could almost imagine a halo behind him, a serene peace settling my anxious nerves into rest. His divine appearance calmed me down and it almost felt reassuring even though I sensed no danger. I smiled and pranamed. He was no mere human being.

"How can you not know my heart?" I smiled.

He laughed. Even his laugh sent a tingling sensation through my ears. The sweetest tinkling of bells, a melodious voice it was.

"I came to see you, sakhi. But do you happen to know why Maharaj made such elaborate arrangements for me?" His eyes looked at me mischievously.

I chuckled.

"If you are curious, why not ask Maharaj himself?" I couldn't help but grin. And then all of a sudden, he ceased laughing but kept a smile on his face.

"Sakhi, I am not the one for you. You deserve more. You are destined to be a queen." He said, the words were a compliment but felt like a consolation to me. Despite the literal meaning, I could feel a deep meaning behind it.

"Parihar." I ordered my servants to move out. These matters were not to be heard by them.

"Did anything lack on our part? Or is it me?" I asked without looking at him. Father wouldn't be happy. I was fine, I didn't love anyone. I had just...yes, I had liked him. But if he didn't feel the same it couldn't be helped. And regardless it was embarrassing enough to get rejected after I had been fed the lie that I was the most beautiful woman of Aryavarta.

"Sakhi, what do you mean? There can be no perfect woman like you. And all these arrangements could even lure Lord Indra down to Earth. If you wish to marry me, I am more than happy to have another goddess to worship in my Dwarka. But my dear sakhi, you are meant for greater purpose." He said.

"What greater purpose? I only know that my father wishes to marry me to the best of men and establish Dharma. The reign of righteousness can only happen when you are a part of it, Shri Krishna." I said. It was fine if he didn't want to marry me, but at least there should be a reasonable excuse. His compliments for me felt quite contradictory to his actions.

"That is where you're wrong, sakhi. You are not just meant for establishing Dharma. You are meant to destruct the whole race of Kshatriyas, the whole race of proud men who have forgotten the very essence of Dharma. You are to be the creator of the greatest wars of all times, the mother of the greatest battle. You are meant to be the cause why Earth would be drenched in blood. And therefore, your place cannot be in the peaceful Dwarka. You have to be in the root of Adharma to establish Dharma." He said.

"Why must it be me? Why should I be the cause of the destruction? Why must I punish the entire Kshatriya race? If you know I am going to shed blood through a war, why not change destiny to protect the innocents?" I questioned him back.

"Because the war has to happen, no matter what." He said and suddenly his eyes were distant. And cold. As if...as if he was seeing the battle, one of the greatest ones and he was watching over the entire war. And I was nothing. I was a mere insignificant human whose personal feelings couldn't stand in the way of the destiny set. And suddenly, he felt like an immortal, someone who had lived several centuries and was experienced in the worldly matters.

"Krishna?" I called out to him, afraid that I would also be lost in imagination. Anyone who heard of all the tales of Krishna would never believe him to be a mere mortal. He had to a divine deity if not God.

For someone who was the crown prince of Dwarka, his own life was far more glorious than the kingdom he rules. I remembered all the words my maids and sakhis had whispered to me softly. 

In a terribly stormy night, Krishna was born to Devaki and Vasudeva. He was the eighth son prophesized to be the cause of death of the evil and wretched King of Mathura, his maternal uncle, Kansa. To break the divine prophecy with a massacre of all the children born to Devaki, Kansa's sin of murdering children, reigning the kingdom with terror and punishing the innocents kept on accelerating with his anxiety of the eighth child's birth.

Devaki couldn't help but clutch to her fate and sacrifice her children one by one at the hands of Kansa while staying in prison. Vasudeva firmly believed that Kansa's end was near. Miraculously, her seventh child, Balarama was said to have been transferred to the womb of Yashoda, the wife of Nanda residing in Mathura by the grace of Goddess Yogmaya, the divine incarnation of Goddess Shakti. And this got received as a miscarriage on the part of Kansa. And then was the turn of the birth of Krishna, the rumored incarnation of Vishnu who would establish Dharma on Earth.

Every world cycle witnesses the birth of sixty three great heroes. Twenty four hermits or tirthankaras, twelve kings or chakravartis and nine sets of three warriors each. In each set, there would be three types of warriors. One who was righteous and peaceful (Baladev), one who was righteous yet violent (Vasudev) and one who was neither righteous nor peaceful (Prativasudev). Great sages who witnessed the live events of Krishna's life believed that he was a Vasudev. Hence, he got his title Vasudev Krishna. 

The night Krishna was born, another miracle happened. Vasudeva who had waited for every opportunity to protect his last offspring got the chance in the form of divinity. All of a sudden, all the prison guards fell in a deep slumber and the prisons magically unlocked. The whole of Mathura was asleep in the dark, stormy night when he slipped through the prison and headed towards Mathura to see his good friend, Nanda, and ask for help. The road to Mathura was a path full of obstacles. Submerged till the waist, Vasudeva carried Krishna in a basket over his head to protect him from the flood. But little did he know that the dark child, the child with beautiful blue hue over his body, was an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, the preserver of the world. To protect his master, Shesh Naag (serpentine demigod) emerged in his true form of seven heads and sheltered the divine incarnation from the heavy rain. With his command, the flood formed a path midway for Vasudeva. 

And then on the break of dawn, fair skinned Yashoda and Nanda had become parents to a dark child and back in the prison, Devaki's hands held a baby girl. And no one, not even Vasudeva had any idea about what had happened in the course of the night. Kansa came, he came to see the face of his said nemesis. Instead, he found a girl in the hands of his sister. He knew something was wrong. The prophecy had mentioned the eighth son. Not the eighth child. But any danger could be a danger. Even a girl. After all, wasn't the slayer of the mighty Mahisashura, a woman? 

And wasn't his own nephew, his death, born from the womb of a woman?

He lifted the newborn girl in the air, just like the previous children of Devika, ready to smash her in the rough prison cell. But before he could carry out such a disgusting act, the girl immediately transformed into Goddess Yogmaya and blinded everyone with her divinity. When everyone regained their senses, the Goddess gave a warning to the King of Kansa.

"Count your days, Kansa! The prophecy will come true. The cause of your death has taken root in your own kingdom. You can not run from your death, you can only wait for it."

Kansa became restless. He sent Putana, a demon to kill all the newborns in his kingdom. She disguised herself as a divine lady to attract all people. People gave her their children for breastfeeding and getting her divine blessings. But what she fed was poisonous. Krishna was also one of the children but little did Putana know what she was up against.

He sucked the life out of her. When Putana realised his powers, it was already too late. Krishna had brought her true form out and had taken her life.

Soon, Mathura became a home to miracles. Kansa's relentless attempts at assassination only increased his fame and glory.

And a time came when even demi gods envied the power of a mortal. People started "Govardhan Pooja" (worshipping of mountain Govardhan) instead of "Indra Pooja" (worshipping of demi God Indra, the King of Gods and the God of rain and thunder) on the advice of Krishna. And soon, Indra, offended with Krishna, flooded the entirety of Mathura. Krishna giving birth to another miracle lifted the whole Govardhan mountain on his little finger while he played his flute to calm the people. Humiliated by his own fragile ego, Indra gave up knowing the true form of Vishnu in the mortal body of Krishna.

After several years, finally, the time for the prophecy to bear fruit came. Kansa, finally having recognized Krishna as his slayer invited him and Balarama to Mathura on Dhanu yatra. When Krishna left, all gop-gopis, children and elders, his parents pleaded for him to stay. Radha, the beloved of Krishna lost her sanity and Yashoda, his mother wailed for her son. But Dharma beckoned Krishna. The end of Kansa had to come.

Initially Kansa planned to get them killed by Chanura and Mushtika, the two best wrestlers of Mathura. But having failed, Kansa decided to put the lives of innocents on stake to rile Krishna up. In the midst of a thunderstorm, Kansa got beheaded in a creepy silence. And with that, the back up army of Jarasandha, the ruler of Magadha that worked under Kansa had no choice but to obey the new ruler. 

Soon, Dharma reigned over Aryavarta again as all the kingdoms afraid of Kansa started allying up with Dwarka, the new kingdom of the Yadavas. It wasn't long before words spread out about Krishna's amazing statesmanship and the Narayani army that was personally trained by him. The golden city of Dwarka soon became home to traders, merchants, diplomatic kingdoms and transformed into one of the most powerful kingdoms ever. 

The entirety of Aryavarta that had known Magadha, Hastinapur, Kalinga and Panchal started taking the name of Dwarka. And since that day on, the rule of Dharma began. 

"After you established dharma in Dwarka, there still a war in the future?" I ask, coming back to present time. He didn't smile nor did he look angry. He merely looked at me with...dead eyes. Eyes whose coldness could chill anyone's spine but I could see a slight flicker of pain, remorse, guilt, terror and wariness in them. 

"It's only the beginning of the end, sakhi. You'll never know what fate has in the store for you." He said in a deep voice with an emotion I couldn't quite place my finger on.