Khatu ShyamKatha

The story begins in the Dvapara Yuga, in the family of the Pandavas. Barbarika was the son of Ghatotkacha (the great Asura warrior) and the grandson of Bhima — second of the five Pandava brothers. His mother, Ahilavati, was a princess of the Naga lineage.

From childhood Barbarika studied the warrior arts, but he learned them not only from his elders. He performed long penance to the goddess (some traditions say to Devi Durga, others to Goddess Vijaya), and as boon she granted him three arrows of imperishable power. Each arrow could complete an entire campaign by itself: one to mark every target, one to destroy every marked target, one to save anyone marked for protection.

Because of these three arrows, Barbarika became known as Tin-Baan-Dhari — "He of the Three Arrows" — and was widely considered the greatest archer the world had seen, capable single-handedly of deciding any war.

When the Mahabharata war was about to begin, Barbarika resolved to fight. But he had taken a vow to his mother: to always join the side that was losing. He set out for Kurukshetra to keep that vow.

On his way to Kurukshetra, Barbarika met a Brahmin who asked him about his power and his vow. The Brahmin, who was Krishna in disguise, smiled and asked Barbarika to demonstrate his archery — could he, with a single arrow, mark every leaf on a particular peepal tree?

Barbarika began. The first arrow rose and marked every leaf on the tree. But then it hovered — because Krishna had hidden one leaf under his foot. The arrow could not return until that leaf was also marked. When Krishna finally lifted his foot, the arrow pierced the hidden leaf and returned to Barbarika's quiver.

Krishna understood now that with such an archer, the war would be over in moments. And given Barbarika's vow to fight on the losing side, he would constantly be switching sides — meaning the war would never finish, and that ultimately the Pandavas would not win the dharma-war that had been ordained.

Krishna asked for a gift, charity-style, in keeping with the Kshatriya code. Barbarika promised to give whatever was asked. Krishna asked for his head.

Without hesitation, Barbarika cut off his own head and offered it. But before he died, he asked one favour — that he might witness the great war. Krishna placed his head on a high hill, and from that height Barbarika watched all eighteen days of the Mahabharata. Pleased with his devotion, Krishna gave him a final boon: in the Kali Yuga, he would be worshipped not as Barbarika but as Shyam — Krishna's own name and form, in his own role.

Centuries passed. The Mahabharata ended; the Kali Yuga began. Krishna's promise to Barbarika waited.

In the small village of Khatu, in the Sikar district of Rajasthan, the local king Roop Singh Chauhan had a dream one night. A divine being came to him and said: "My head lies buried beneath your land. Bring it forth."

At the same time, in the same village, a strange thing was happening to a cow. Each day, at the same spot in the field, the cow would stop and pour milk from her udder into the earth. The cowherd watched this for many days, marvelling. When the king's dream was reported and matched the cowherd's spot, the king ordered the earth there to be dug.

Just below the surface, they found a head — radiant, smiling, beautiful. The very head Krishna had received from Barbarika in the Mahabharata, kept hidden through all the ages, now revealed to the Kali Yuga as Krishna had promised.

King Roop Singh built a small shrine at the spot. Centuries later, the wealthy Marwari merchant Seth Abeerchand Kothari had his own dream of Shyam Baba and devoted his entire fortune to building the major temple that stands at Khatu today. The Phalgun Shukla Ekadashi — the day of the Pragatya — became the great Lakhi Mela, drawing millions every year.

And the central name by which all these devotees know him remains the one Krishna gave at the moment of the gift: Hare ka Sahara — the refuge of the vanquished.