This episode of Mahabharata begins with Krishna and Balaram preparing to depart Sandipani’s ashram forever, when an unexpected guest arrives to send them off. It is Sage Parashuram and he has brought Krishna a special gift.
Parashuram tells Krishna that he has enjoyed himself long enough, and now his real work begins. Parashuram says that Kshatriyas in general have once again started to become despotic and tyrannical, so to fight them, Krishna is given his signature weapon - the Sudarshan Chakra, an omnipotent spinning disk spell that originates at Krishna’s pointer finger. Parashuram informs Krishna that King Jarasandh of Magadh has invaded Mathura.
We then cut to a battle scene where King Ugrasen of Mathura is struggling to hold against Jarasandh’s onslaught. Cue Krishna and Balaram to the rescue. Balaram mows down enemy soldiers with his plough for a bit, then Krishna deploys the awesome power of his Sudarshan Chakra. The disk floats to the center of the battle, hovers there and emits a light. The light leaves enemy soldiers transfixed, giving friendly soldiers the opportunity to annihilate them. With his army annihilated, Jarasandh flees for his life.
Back at the palace, all members of the Yadav clan have a discussion. Jarasandh is attacking because Krishna killed Kansa, who had married Jarasandh’s sisters. Therefore It's Personal. Balaram and some others advocate invading Magadh kingdom and going to war, but Krishna dissuades them. He says that war is a terrible thing that will bring only misery and suffering to all parties involved, and must therefore only be resorted to when all other options of dealing with a foe have failed. And as of now, Mathura still has options available to it.
Since Jarasandh is after the Yadav clan and Krishna specifically and has no interest in Mathura and its resources in itself, Krishna advocates that the Yadav clan vacate themselves from Mathura territory completely. He suggests that Vishvakarma, the Divine Architect construct for them an island city of Dwarka in the middle of the ocean. Should the Yadav clan go there, Jarasandh can never reach them due to the ocean being an unassailable barrier; and thereby Mathura is spared. Over Balaram’s protestations about this being cowardly, the Yadav clan agree and depart for Dwarka. Once they are settled there, Satyaki, Krishna’s cousin who was visiting Hastinapur as their emissary comes bearing troubling news - that internal tensions are building up over Yudhistir possibly being named Crown Prince over objections by Dhritharashtra, Duryodhan and Shakuni. When Krishna asks why Bhishma doesn’t do anything about this, Satyaki mentions Bhishma’s oath. When Krishna asks why Dronacharya and Kripacharya aren’t doing anything, Satyaki has no answer. Krishna muses that those two are displaying moral cowardice.
Back at the palace of Hastinapur, Dhritharashtra has Shakuni take a poll of the citizens to gauge the level of support for Duryodhan. Already angsty over Duryodhan’s loss to Drupad earlier, Dhritharashtra gets even more despondent when this poll shows overwhelming support for Yudhistir. A furious Duryodhan asks “Why should I be punished by taking away what I’m entitled to, just because of my father’s blindness?” When Dhritharashtra poses this question in court, the army general warns that there’ll be a revolt if Duryodhan is anointed. Bhishma says that since he isn’t a father and he willingly abdicated his heirdom, he cannot objectively answer the question. Dronacharya and Kripacharya weasel out of answering, claiming that it isn’t their “place” to do so. But Vidhur responds by saying that while a son has an absolute right to his father’s property, a kingdom is not the king’s private property for him to pass on as he wishes. A kingdom belongs to the citizens and the king is the one entrusted with the responsibility of protecting and governing it. So, only the one who demonstrates ability to handle the responsibility should be afforded it.
Tropes found here are
- Armor-Piercing Question: Duryodhan asks “Why should I be punished by taking away what I’m entitled to, just because of my father’s blindness?”
- Armor-Piercing Response: Vidhur’s answer to Dhritharashtra asking the above question on Duryodhan’s behalf is “A kingdom is not property that a king’s son can inherit from his father. The kingdom belongs to the citizens, so only one who is capable of protecting and governing them should be made the royal heir.”
- Big Damn Heroes: Krishna and Balaram show up to annihilate Jarasandh’s invading force.
- Carry a Big Stick: Balaram’s weapon is a plough. He will switch to a mace much later.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Krishna inflicts this on Jarasandh’s army with his disc. See below.
- Deadly Disc: Krishna gets Vishnu’s Sudarshan Chakra. Justified as Krishna is an avatar of Vishnu.
- Island Base: A rare heroic example. Dwarka the island city is specifically constructed by the gods to be one for Krishna and his clan.
- Reluctant Warrior: Krishna reveals himself as one.
- Revenge: Jarasandh wants to kill Krishna to avenge his brother-in-law Kansa.
- Take a Third Option: Instead of being sucked into a Forever War with Jarasandh, or surrendering, the Yadav clan relocate from Mathura to a more fortified entrenched location that Jarasandh is physically incapable of attacking.
- War Is Hell: Why Krishna thinks all other options must be exhausted before resorting to warfare.
