Chitralekha (deity)

Chitralekha (चित्रलेखा) (Assamese language: চিত্ৰলেখা) 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).

Chitralekha
Chitralekha
TextsBhagavat Purana, Mahabharata

Legend

Chitralekha 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 was young, a number of proposals came for her hand in marriage but Banasur accepted none and kept her inside Agnigarh located in Tezpur, Assam with a fire burning around the place. One day, Usha 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 got to know about it, he came with a huge army and attacked Banasura. There was a severe battle. Banasura received a powerful boon from 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 on the 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


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