The Unthinkable — Kamsa Kills Six Newborns
True to his word — and burdened by the weight of his impossible promise — Vasudeva handed over their first-born son to Kamsa. The Bhagavatam records this moment with restrained grief: Vasudeva, with trembling hands and tear-filled eyes, placed his newborn child in the arms of a tyrant, hoping against hope that Kamsa might show mercy. But Kamsa, now fully consumed by paranoid cruelty, dashed the infant against the stone floor of the prison. The first child of Devaki and Vasudeva was dead.
This scene repeated itself five more times. Each pregnancy brought Devaki a brief season of hope — the sacred stirring of life within her, the fleeting dream that perhaps this child might be spared. And each birth brought the same devastating conclusion: the arrival of Kamsa's guards, the wrenching of the infant from Devaki's arms, and the sickening silence that followed. Six sons — Kirtiman, Sushena, Udayin, Bhadrasena, Rijudasa, and Bhadradeha — were murdered by Kamsa one after another.
The Srimad Bhagavatam (10.1.56-57) identifies these six children as the Sad-garbhas — six demigods who had been cursed by Hiranyakashipu in a previous age. They were originally the sons of Marichi who had been cursed for laughing at Brahma, and their souls were destined to pass through Devaki's womb and be killed by Kamsa as part of their karmic redemption. While this theological context provides cosmic justification, it does nothing to diminish the very human agony that Devaki experienced as a mother.
What makes Devaki's story so profoundly moving is the persistence of her faith through this ordeal. Lesser souls would have cursed the gods, abandoned dharma, or surrendered to despair. But Devaki, even in the depths of her grief, continued to pray. She continued to believe that the divine plan — however incomprehensible its cruelty appeared — would ultimately bring justice. Her faith was not passive resignation; it was an active, conscious choice to trust in a higher order even when every material evidence suggested otherwise.
