Chitralekha (deity)

Chitralekha
Mahabharata character
Chitralekha

Chitralekha (चित्रलेखा) was a friend of Usha and daughter of minister of Banasura who ruled the present-day central Assam with his capital at Sonitpur (present-day Tezpur, Assam). She was a talented lady who helped Usha to identify the young man seen in the dream of Usha. Usha was daughter of Banasura, a thousand-armed asura and son of Bali. Banasur was a powerful and terrible asura. When Usha became young, number of proposals came for her marriage but Banasur accepted none and kept inside the Agnigarh located in Tezpur, Assam where fire is burining around. Usha one day saw a young man in her dream and fell in love with him. He was Aniruddha, the grandson of Lord Krishna. Chitralekha through supernatural powers abducted Aniruddha from the palace of Krishna and brought him to Usha. When Krishna knew it he came with a huge army and attacked Banasura. There was a severe battle.Banasura had got a powerful boon by Lord Shiva that he will always protect him in any circumstances.When banasura came to know that he will be defeated by the enormous powers of Lord Krishna he asked Lord Shiva to come in battlefield and help him.So, Shiva reluctantly helped Banasura by infecting the army of Krishna, thereby incapacitating Krishna's soldiers with fever. Krishna, in turn, restored his army by curing Shiva's disease.

References

• Krishna.com. Glossary
• Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend ( ISBN 0-500-51088-1) by Anna Dhallapiccola
• Acharya Chandra Shekhar Shastri: Puranon ki Anmol Kahanian, 2006 ISBN 81-902258-6-3