{"id":3177,"date":"2025-05-26T14:18:42","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T08:48:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/?p=3177"},"modified":"2025-05-26T14:18:45","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T08:48:45","slug":"who-was-shishupal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/who-was-shishupal\/","title":{"rendered":"Who was Shishupal?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Shishupal<\/strong> was a prominent character in the Indian epic, the Mahabharata<\/strong>. He was the king of Chedi<\/strong>, a cousin of Lord Krishna, and is best known for his enmity with Krishna<\/strong>, which ultimately led to his death at Krishna\u2019s hands during the Rajasuya Yagna of King Yudhishthira.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite being related, Shishupal harbored deep animosity toward Krishna, which stemmed from multiple reasons including Krishna\u2019s role in marrying Rukmini, who was initially promised to Shishupal. His story is a blend of royal pride, karmic destiny, and divine intervention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key Facts About Shishupal<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Attribute<\/strong><\/strong><\/td>Details<\/strong><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Name<\/strong><\/td>Shishupal (also spelled Shishupala or Sishupala)<\/td><\/tr>
Kingdom<\/strong><\/td>Chedi<\/td><\/tr>
Parents<\/strong><\/td>King Damaghosha (father) and Shrutashrava (mother)<\/td><\/tr>
Relation to Krishna<\/strong><\/td>Cousin (Shrutashrava was Krishna\u2019s aunt \u2013 sister of Vasudeva)<\/td><\/tr>
Notable Trait<\/strong><\/td>Intense hatred for Krishna<\/td><\/tr>
Deformities at Birth<\/strong><\/td>Born with three eyes and four arms<\/td><\/tr>
Prophecy<\/strong><\/td>He would be killed by the person who caused his extra limbs to fall off<\/td><\/tr>
Death<\/strong><\/td>Slain by Krishna after exceeding the limit of insults during Rajasuya Yagna<\/td><\/tr>
Rebirth Theory<\/strong><\/td>Believed to be a reincarnation of Jaya<\/strong>, gatekeeper of Lord Vishnu<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Story of Shishupal in Brief<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At birth, Shishupal had physical deformities\u2014three eyes and four arms<\/strong>. An oracle predicted that these anomalies would vanish when he was held by the person destined to kill him. When Krishna held the baby, the extra limbs disappeared, confirming the prophecy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite knowing the prophecy, Shishupal\u2019s mother (Krishna\u2019s aunt) pleaded with Krishna to spare her son. Krishna promised to forgive 100 offenses<\/strong> from Shishupal before taking action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the Rajasuya Yagna<\/strong> of the Pandava king Yudhishthira, Krishna was chosen as the chief guest, which enraged Shishupal. He launched into a tirade against Krishna, insulting him over 100 times<\/strong>. Upon crossing the limit, Krishna used his Sudarshana Chakra<\/strong> to behead Shishupal on the spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is believed that Shishupal’s soul merged with Krishna<\/strong>, as he was a reincarnation of Jaya<\/strong>, one of the two gatekeepers of Lord Vishnu who had been cursed to be born as demons due to an earlier incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also Read:
What did bhikkhus mean?<\/a><\/strong>
What breed is a pocket dog?<\/a><\/strong>
Who is called the Sarpanch?<\/a><\/strong>

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shishupal was a prominent character in the Indian epic, the Mahabharata. He was the king of Chedi, a…\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":3179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3177","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-history","8":"category-social-science"},"yoast_head":"\nWho was Shishupal?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover who Shishupal was in Indian mythology. Explore his origins, role in the Mahabharata, and why Lord Krishna had to kill him. Uncover the story behind this intriguing character.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/who-was-shishupal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Who was Shishupal?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Discover who Shishupal was in Indian mythology. Explore his origins, role in the Mahabharata, and why Lord Krishna had to kill him. Uncover the story behind this intriguing character.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/who-was-shishupal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Questions & Answers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-26T08:48:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-26T08:48:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anurag Sharma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anurag Sharma\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Who was Shishupal?","description":"Discover who Shishupal was in Indian mythology. Explore his origins, role in the Mahabharata, and why Lord Krishna had to kill him. Uncover the story behind this intriguing character.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/who-was-shishupal\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Who was Shishupal?","og_description":"Discover who Shishupal was in Indian mythology. Explore his origins, role in the Mahabharata, and why Lord Krishna had to kill him. Uncover the story behind this intriguing character.","og_url":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/who-was-shishupal\/","og_site_name":"Questions & Answers","article_published_time":"2025-05-26T08:48:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-05-26T08:48:45+00:00","author":"Anurag Sharma","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Anurag Sharma","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/who-was-shishupal\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/who-was-shishupal\/"},"author":{"name":"Anurag Sharma","@id":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/#\/schema\/person\/781a47e01a4738f9334d6df20cabe34b"},"headline":"Who was Shishupal?","datePublished":"2025-05-26T08:48:42+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-26T08:48:45+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/who-was-shishupal\/"},"wordCount":358,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/who-was-shishupal\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogassets.leverageedu.com\/media\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/05\/26141827\/Who-was-Shishupal.avif","articleSection":["History","Social Science"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/who-was-shishupal\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/who-was-shishupal\/","url":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/who-was-shishupal\/","name":"Who was Shishupal?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/who-was-shishupal\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/who-was-shishupal\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogassets.leverageedu.com\/media\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/05\/26141827\/Who-was-Shishupal.avif","datePublished":"2025-05-26T08:48:42+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-26T08:48:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/#\/schema\/person\/781a47e01a4738f9334d6df20cabe34b"},"description":"Discover who Shishupal was in Indian mythology. Explore his origins, role in the Mahabharata, and why Lord Krishna had to kill him. Uncover the story behind this intriguing character.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/who-was-shishupal\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/who-was-shishupal\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/who-was-shishupal\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blogassets.leverageedu.com\/media\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/05\/26141827\/Who-was-Shishupal.avif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogassets.leverageedu.com\/media\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/05\/26141827\/Who-was-Shishupal.avif","width":1024,"height":640,"caption":"Who was Shishupal"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/who-was-shishupal\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Who was Shishupal?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/#website","url":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/","name":"Questions & Answers","description":"We Help Build Awesome Careers","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/#\/schema\/person\/781a47e01a4738f9334d6df20cabe34b","name":"Anurag Sharma","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c27dbd7e9b2e280b640496bebed1fad0643b86092c862925f17e70d6fdc8d894?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c27dbd7e9b2e280b640496bebed1fad0643b86092c862925f17e70d6fdc8d894?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c27dbd7e9b2e280b640496bebed1fad0643b86092c862925f17e70d6fdc8d894?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Anurag Sharma"},"url":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/author\/anurag\/"}]}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/86"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3177"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3178,"href":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3177\/revisions\/3178"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leverageedu.com\/questions-answers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}