Krishna beheads Shishupala with his chakra
Shishupala meets Krishna's accusations with scornful laughter and a final taunt about manhood. In response, Krishna's anger manifests. He slices off Shishupala's head with his chakra, and a wondrous spiritual energy emerges from the fallen king to merge with Krishna himself.
Shishupala listened to Krishna's list of his crimes. His response was not contrition, but scornful laughter.
"O Krishna!" he said. "Are you not ashamed to recount this, especially before all these kings?" He seized on the mention of Rukmini, the princess Krishna had won. "Rukmini was mine first. O Madhusudana! No self-respecting man but you will admit before respectable ones that his wife had been someone else's first."
It was a taunt designed to wound pride. Then he dismissed the threat entirely. "O Krishna! Pardon me. Whether you pardon me or whether you show me respect, whether you bear friendship or enmity towards me, what can you possibly do to me?"
While he was still talking in this way, the illustrious Madhusudana, the destroyer of his enemies, acted. His anger, held in check until now, found its form. He sliced off Shishupala's head with the chakra (discus).
The mighty-armed king of Chedi fell down like a mountain struck by the vajra (Indra's thunderbolt).
Then the kings saw something they could not explain. A terrible energy rose up from the body of the dead king. It was like the sun rising in the sky. That blazing light then paid homage to the lotus-eyed Krishna, worshipped by the worlds, and entered his body.
The sight was extraordinary. The cloudless sky poured forth rain. The earth trembled. Blazing lightning struck.
In the sabha, the lords of the earth were struck dumb. Some did not speak a word, only staring at Janardana. Others angrily rubbed one hand with the tip of another. Some bit their lips, losing their senses in anger. But there were other kings who privately praised Varshneya. The assembly was split—some angry, others neutral, many in awe.
The maharshis (great sages) were delighted. They went to Keshava and praised him. So did the great-souled brahmanas and the immensely powerful kings. The act of violence had been followed by a miracle, and the judgment of the wise was clear.