Samba (Krishna's son)

Samba
Prince Samba battling with Kshemadarsi
Information
Spouse(s)	Lakshmanaa

Samba was a son of Krishna, the Hindu god, and Jambavati. His half-brother was Pradyumna. His actions, caused by anger, brought an end to the Yadu dynasty.

In the 1st century BC, there seems to be evidence for a worship of five Vrishni heroes (Balarama, Krishna, Pradyumna, Aniruddha and Samba), due to an inscription found at Mora near Mathura, which apparently mentions a son of the great satrap Rajuvula, probably the satrap Sodasa, and an image of Vrishni, "probably Vasudeva, and of the "Five Warriors". The Brahmi inscription can be seen on the Mora stone slab, now in the Mathura Museum.

The Mahabharata and the Devi Bhagavata Purana narrate the story of the birth of Samba. Jambavati was unhappy when she realized that only she had not borne any children to Krishna while all other wives were blessed with many children. She approached Krishna to find a solution and to be blessed with a son like the handsome Pradyumna, Krishna's first-born son from his chief wife Rukmini. Then Krishna went to the hermitage of the sage Upamanyu in the Himalayas and as advised by the sage, he started to pray to the god Shiva. He did penance for six months in various postures; once holding a skull and a rod, then standing on one leg only in the next month and surviving on water only, during the third month he did penance standing on his toes and living on air only. Pleased with the austerities, Shiva finally appeared before Krishna as Samba, (Ardhanarishvara) the half-female, half-male form of the god, asked him to ask a boon. Krishna then sought a son from Jambavati, which was granted. A son was born soon thereafter who was named as Samba, the form Shiva had appeared before Krishna. Krishna wanted his son to be exactly like Shiva. Shiva's main function is to destroy creation. For his son to be like Shiva meant that the boy would be the cause of the destruction of his entire race. This was what Krishna precisely wanted because the Yadus could not be defeated by anybody. Immortality for humans is out of question therefore at the end of the Yuga the Yadus would destroy each other. Later Samba played an instrumental role in this.