The story of the king of Magadha, Raja Jarasandha, is well known. The Mahabharata gives details of his stand against Vasudeva-Krsna and the Pandavas, and finally his death in the hands of Bhima.
While the face-off and fight are well known, the focus remains away from the giantess or ogress Jara who had attached the two halves of King Brihadratha’s newborn baby and had given the baby his life back.
Story of Jarasandha
The story says that King Brihadratha had two wives but no son as heir, despite the various pujas and ritualistic sacrifices made by him. Finally, rishi Candakaushika gave Brihadratha a fruit, which the two queens divided equally and each ate one-half of the fruit. Soon the two queens gave birth, but one child (a son) came out in two fragments, each producing two halves of the child’s body parts. The two halves were thrown away, which came to the notice of Jara, who then took the two halves and joined them, bringing the baby back to life. From this Jara, the child was named Jara-Sandha, which when translated means ‘united by Jara.’
While speaking to Brihadratha, Jara describes herself in the Mahabharata as a Raksashi who can change forms (Kamarupini).
She is worshiped both by the royal family and the common people as ‘Grihadevi’ (the devi of households), and she describes herself as being depicted on the house and palace walls as a young woman surrounded by children. As Jara says, blessed are the households that paint her in this form on their house walls, and those that don’t are cursed with poverty and unhappiness (Mahabharata II. 18, 1-6). Raksasi Jara was worshiped in two ways: by painting or sculpting her figure along with her children on the walls of houses; or, by offering incense, flowers, and food to her. She was the city goddess of Magadha and a protector of children
