Before I begin, I would like my readers to have a glimpse at these pictures below:-

These are a few statues from ancient India, before the invasion of the Mughals.

Can you guess who the trio is?
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The trio is none other than Sri Krishna, Devi Ekanamsa and Sri Balram.

Yes, Devi Ekanansa.

Yes, most of us aren't aware of this mysterious Goddess who was earlier worshipped with Krishna and Balram.

You'll know the story of how Krishna is replaced with a baby girl in the prison right?

You guessed it right! She's none other than Ekanamsa, the sister of Sri Krishna, who was born in Yashoda's womb. Vasudev replaces the baby girl with Krishna at Yashoda's home and brings her back to the prison. Kamsa, fearful that she is the eighth child of Devki Vasudev, tries to kill her, but she miraculously transforms herself into a Goddess who warns Kamsa of his destined end.

And as shown in cartoons, she just disappears in thin air.

Well, that's not how the authentic texts show her to just "vanish" away. No.

As per Harivamsha, the most reliable resource and which forms a prelude to the Mahabharat, mentions her existence. She was secretly reared by Vasudev, taught weapons and was taken care of like their daughter. Yes, she later went to reside in the Vindhya hills as Vindhyavasini.

Ekanamsa is considered to be the illusion of Vishnu, or maya. She's popularly referred to as Yogmaya and as per the texts she was referred to as a Goddess amongst the Yadavas. They worshipped her whenever she came to visit them, and so did Krishna and Balram.

There is a reference of Ekamamsa's independent existence right from Harivamsa--

Ekanamsa comes to visit Dwarka and is cheerfully greeted by Krishna, Balram and the Yadavas. In fact, even Indradev accepts her as his sister, since Sri Krishna is often referred to as Indra's brother. 

Even Arjun is shown to be her ardent devotee, though this reference is mostly mentioned in KMG where there is a Durgastuti for her done by Arjun. 

Now the question is, how did this Goddess, revered by all, almost fade away from everyone's memory?

Well, there is no clear answer to this, but we have made a few assumptions.

It is mostly due to the invasions done by Mughals, followed by the British. The Mughals as you know has been responsible for destroying many of our temples, and the Britishers for diluting our scriptures every now and then.

One more reason is Ekanamsa's identity has been confused with Subhadra, who is Abhimanyu's mother because of the fact that both the women were younger to Krishna Balram and their sisters.

But yes, the common misconception that Subhadra is the reincarnation of Ekanamsa Yogmaya is completely FALSE.

Subhadra and Ekanamsa exist independently during the same timeline. And Harivamsa confirms the credibility or Ekanamsa as Yogmaya rather than Subhadra.  Subhadra is ofcourse, younger to Ekanamsa and her original name was Chitra as per the texts.

YES, BOTH ARE DIFFERENT ENTITIES!

The way that they are often mistook as one is like I said, because of dilution of retellings.

No version of Mahabharat nor the earlier Puranas refer Subhadra as Yogmaya but Ekanamsa.

In fact, the name Subhadra is derived from two words, Su-Bhadra which means the best of women. It's also an umbrella term like 'Lakshmi'. Even Sachi is labeled as Swarga Lakshmi, Shesghnaag's wife is referred as Lakshmi as well. So Ekanamsa is also titled as Subhadra because she's the source of all power. And Arjun's wife Subhadra, was originally Chitra was called so endearingly by her family.

Hence, the confusion probably...

Chitra Subhadra's incarnation isn't mentioned in the authentic Harivamsa or BORI/KMG or any other unabridged versions of Mahabharat.

Her incarnations vary in the Puranas, and according to a few Puranas, she's Manu's wife, Devi Shatrupa. But a few other texts convey that Shatrupa is Devi Saraswati.  And such variations continue. But one can assume Subhadra as Shatrupa as per Pauranic beliefs.

But Ekanamsa's identity as Yogmaya has been preserved in the authentic texts and nothing can change that.

The saddest part is most of us chose to deny the existence of Ekanamsa and not recognize her dues, and many aren't aware of her existence which is painful.

The only thing we can do now is recognize this Goddess and her sacrifices, without whom Sri Krishna's leela was incomplete.

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A/N

Had to come up with this after a few requests.

Kyuki log jab Mahabharat padhte hai to aankhe bandh karke padhte hai after burying their logical brain in the cemetery 👁👁