Krishna recounts Shishupala's past crimes to the assembly
In response to Shishupala's challenge, Krishna does not roar back. Instead, he speaks softly to the assembled kings, listing the long history of crimes Shishupala has committed against him and his people—arson, theft, abduction—crimes he has pardoned until now.
Shishupala's roar echoed away. All eyes turned to Krishna.
Krishna heard the words. In the presence of all the kings and the Pandavas, he did not raise his voice. He replied softly, turning not to Shishupala, but to the assembly itself.
"O kings," he began, making them his witnesses. "This son of a lady of the Satvata lineage is a great enemy of the Satvata clan." He established the relationship first: Shishupala was his father's sister's son, his own cousin. "Though we have never done him harm, the cruel-minded one always seeks to injure us."
Then he began the accounting. It was not a list of insults, but of actions.
He told them how, when Krishna and his people had gone to the city of Pragjyotisha, Shishupala had come and burnt down Dvaraka, their home. He described how, when the royal ones from Bhoja were sporting on Mount Raivataka, Shishupala had killed and captured them, taking them to his own city. With evil in his heart, Shishupala had wished to obstruct Krishna's father's sacrifice and had stolen the horse of the ashvamedha (horse sacrifice), though it was surrounded by guards.
The crimes were personal and predatory. The famous Babhru's wife-to-be was travelling to the Souvira region to be married. Shishupala, "out of delusion and desire," had abducted her. He had been cruelly disposed towards his own maternal uncle, the ascetic Karusha, and used his powers of maya (illusion) to abduct Bhadra of Vishala.
"For the sake of my father's sister," Krishna said, referring to Shishupala's mother and his own aunt, "I have borne a great deal of unhappiness." The patience had been for family. "However, it is fortunate that this is happening before all these kings. You are now witness to the malevolence he bears towards me. Know also the deeds that he has performed secretly."
The conclusion was inevitable. "I can no longer pardon his offence today. He deserves to be killed only because of his insolence in front of this assembly of kings." He added one final, cutting detail about Shishupala's character: "Desiring a speedy death, this fool once offered himself to Rukmini. But the fool did not obtain her, the way a shudra cannot hear the Vedas."
Having heard this soft-voiced indictment, all the assembled kings began to censure the king of Chedi.