Samba was the son of Lord Krishna and the bear princess Jambavati (the daughter of the bear king Jambavan of the Ramayana ). The Padma Purana tells the story of Samba, who looked exactly like his father. Taking advantage of this resemblance, he would impersonate his father and play dangerous pranks in the palace and display impudent behaviour. When Krishna learnt of this, he cursed his son that his face would be covered with skin lesions enabling everyone to distinguish the true Krishna from the false one. Samba begged forgiveness for his behavior after which Krishna advised him to worship the sun-god to get rid of the skin lesions. That is why sun temples around India such as Konark and Arsavalli trace their origin to Samba, the son of Lord Krishna. As advised by his father, Samba performed hard penance for 12 years at Konark and was redeemed of the curse by the grace of the sun-god.
Samba once dressed up as a pregnant woman and asked a group of sages if he would bear a son or daughter. The sages divined that this was a prank by Krishna’s son to test their powers. Annoyed by this display of immaturity, they declared that in the bundle of clothes that made Samba look pregnant was an iron mace that would be instrumental in destroying the entire race of Yadavas. The scared prince alongwith his friends then rushed to Lord Krishna begging to be freed from the curse. Krishna said, “You have done something unpardonable, What can I do? All right, grind the mace into a powder. It will take a very, very long time. When it is fully powdered, you must throw the powder into the sea.”
With utmost enthusiasm and zeal, the young men started grinding the mace. But after some time, they lost patience and simply threw the broken bits into the sea. They did not grind the mace into powder, as Krishna had told them to do.
One of the pieces of iron was swallowed by a fish. This fish while being sold, was bought by an archer called Jaraa. While cleaning the fish he found this piece of iron in its belly. He used it to fashion an arrow for his hunting. And this was the arrow that he aimed at the beautiful left foot of Lord Krishna (while the Lord was resting under the shade of a peepal tree in the forest of Bhalka near the river Hiren), mistaking it to be the eye of a deer. And there ended the Yadava race.
Samba comes across as an impatient,spoilt brat, someone who takes advantage of his father’s position and someone who cannot handle the pressure of being a great man’s son. Had he patiently ground the mace, it would probably have taken ages to do so by which he could probably then have rescued his race from extinction. These mythological stories and legends, an integral part of our rich culture and tradition, always carried a moral. This one clearly tells devotees that Krishna is divine but his offspring need not be divine. In family businesses, the one who starts the business and his offspring many times assume that business acumen and genius are hereditary, and this assumption can work to the detriment of the business.
