BARGARH: With demon King Kansa forcibly taking over the reins from Ugrasen and imprisoning his sister Devaki and her husband Basudev after a celestial voice warned him of death by the eighth child of the couple, the day two of Dhanu Yatra began today with the birth of Lord Krishna.
However, aware of the threat to the newborn from Kansa, in the dead of the night Basudev embarks on a journey to Ambapali which turns into Gopapur during the festival. With the guards at the prison in deep slumber, Basudev sneaks out carrying baby Krishna on his head to Gopapur - an act more popularly known as “Basudev’s Gopapur Gamana”. En route Basudev meets Ugrasen. Basudev returns to Mathura with ‘Bijuli Kanya’, who replaces Lord Krishna in the lap of Devaki. When Kansa tries to kill Bijuli Kanya, thinking her as the eighth child of Devaki and Basudev, she slips out of his hands and warns Kansa that he would meet his nemesis at the hands of the baby growing up in Gopapur. The scene shifts to Gopapur tomorrow and visitors will have to walk down to Ambapali to enjoy the festival. It was a festive ambience at Ambapali as the homes were mopped with cow dung and ‘rangolis’ at the entrances and walls painted to welcome Lord Krishna. This year Saswat Birtia and Prayas Ranjan Birtia, students of Class V, are donning the roles of Lord Krishna and Lord Balaram respectively.
However, Mathura witnessed ‘Nagar Parikrama’(tour) by King Kansa atop a caparisoned elephant. He pulled up people for their wrongdoings. Revenue Divisional Commissioner (ND) Jamil Ahmed Khan today inaugurated the ‘Ranga Mahal’, the second stage of the festival. Another attraction of the day two was the inauguration of Pallishree Mela, being organised by ORMAS.