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7/ The Meeting of Usa and Aniruddha

The meeting of Aniruddha and Usa, which caused a great fight between
Lord Krsna and Lord Siva, is very mysterious and interesting. Maharaja
Pariksit was anxious to hear the whole story from Sukadeva Gosvami, and
thus Sukadeva narrated it. “My dear King, you must have heard the name
of King Bali. He was a great devotee who gave away in charity all that he
had—namely, the whole world—to Lord Vamana, the incarnation of Visnu
as a dwarf brahmana. King Bali had one hundred sons, and the eldest of all
of them was Banasura.””

This great hero Banasura, born of Maharaja Bali, was a great devotee of
Lord Siva and was always ready to render service unto him. Because of his
devotion, he achieved a great position in society, and he was honored in
every respect. Actually, he was very intelligent and liberal also, and his
activities are all praiseworthy because he never deviated from his promise
and word of honor; he was very truthful and fixed in his vow. In those
days, he was ruling over the city of Sonitapura. By the grace of Lord Siva,
Bandsura had one thousand hands, and he became so powerful that even
demigods like King Indra were serving him as most obedient servants.

Long ago, when Lord Siva was dancing in his celebrated fashion called
tandava-nrtya, for which he is known as Nataraja, Banasura helped Lord
Siva in his dancing by rythmically beating drums with his one thousand
hands. Lord Siva is well-known as Aégutosa, very easily pleased, and he is
also very affectionate to his devotees. He is a great protector for persons
who take shelter of him and is the master of all living entities in this
material world. Being pleased with Banasura, he said, “‘Whatever you desire
you can have from me because I am very much pleased with you.”
Banasura replied, “‘My dear lord, if you please, you can remain in my city
just to protect me from the hands of my enemies.”

Once upon a time, Banasura came to offer his respects to Lord Siva. By

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