MythQuest 12: Banasura: The Thousand-Armed Asura

Anu Kumar

This is the story of Banasura, the evil asura with a thousand arms who terrorized humans, battled with the gods and ultimately came to a sorry end. 'Banasura used his thousand arms to good effect, wielding five hundred bows that sent off a storm of arrows towards Krishna...' Although he was the generous asura king Mahabali's son, he shared nothing in common with his father. Banasura was fierce to look at with his thousand arms wielding a thousand different weapons. He had an equally fierce personality, whereby he terrorized humans, gods and even imprisoned his own daughter to prevent her from getting married. He waged the greatest battle of his life against Lord Krishna and despite his boons, ultimately faced a humiliating defeat. Read about his unmatched weapons of war...