Kamsa was the king of Mathura
and he was killed by Bhagavan Sri Krishna. His story is found in the
Mahabharata, Srimad Bhagavad Purana, and other Puranas and in numerous other Hindu
scriptures. He was the son of Ugrasena of Mathura. He was also uncle of Sri Krishna and therefore he is popularly known as Kans Mama.
As per Vishnu Purana, Kamsa was in his previous birth an
asura named Kalanemi who was killed by Bhagvan Vishnu.
Upon becoming powerful, Kamsa put Ugrasena in prison and
became the ruler of Mathura .
To expand his kingdom and become powerful, Kamsa married Asti and Prapti, the daughters of King Jarasandha of Magadha .
There is also a legend that Kamsa was born after a Gandharva
named Dramila violated Ugrasena’s wife. Thus he was not really the son of King
Ugrasena. The story suggests that even his mother hated him and she had cursed
him that he will be killed by a member of Ugrasena’s family.
An important event in Kamsa’s life happened during the
marriage of his sister. Kamsa was driving his sister Devaki after her marriage
in a chariot and a voice from the sky predicted that Devaki’s eighth son would
kill Kamsa.
Kamsa wanted to kill Devaki then itself. But Vasudeva,
husband of Devaki, assured Kamsa that he would hand over to him all sons born
to Devaki.
Kamsa then put Devaki and Vasudeva in prison and killed the
first six sons, but the seventh and eighth, Balarama and Sri Krishna, escaped
and later they together killed Kamsa and reinstated Ugrasena as the king of Mathura .
Kamsa had also appointed several of his ministers and
assistants to kill baby Krishna but all of
them were killed.