Krishna Janmashtami, the birthday of Lord Krishna brings to our mind all his stories – especially those of his childhood. He was famous for the pranks he played and the miracles he performed. One class act of his was 'stealing' butter. All of us have at some time or the other, wondered why he had to resort to stealing and popularize himself as 'makhan chor' or 'butter thief'.
Did you know the reason behind this? Like everything that Krishna did in his lifetime, this too had a reason and purpose.
Kansa, the maternal uncle of Krishna, was the king at that time. He was known for his cruelty. He ruled in the neighbouring city of Mathura. Nandgao or Brijbhoomi where Krishna lived was known for its many cows. Rearing cows and trade of milk and milk products fetched the main revenue for the small town. With the intention of raising his own economy, at the cost of paralyzing that of Nandgao, Kansa ordered all the milk, butter and other milk products to be sent to Mathura. Not only did the town get poorer, but all the calves and little children there became weak without their share of milk and butter. Krishna whose father was also a cowherd, could not tolerate this exploitation. He felt that the first right to the milk and the butter from that town was that of the children.
So, in order to assert his right, he rebelled by 'stealing' the butter for his friends and himself and made sure that very little was left to send to Mathura.
Many years later, Gandhiji too asserted his rights by 'going against the law' in his own quiet, non-violent, peaceful and strong way. When the British tried to weaken our economy by forcing us to buy salt and clothes from them, he led the march in Dandi to make salt and spun his own cloth on the 'charkha'. Again it was his belief in not fighting for what is rightfully ours that drove the British away from our country without any bloodshed.
The instances of these two 'rebellions' on this Janmashtami and not long after our Independence Day should surely inspire all of us to be aware of our rights, and the necessity to establish our assertion of them.