Mahabharata was not just the end of Kauravas, but it was the beginning of the annihilation of Lord Krishna, the Yadava clan and Pandavas. Many of us have either read or heard about the curse of Queen Gandhari which led to the death of Lord Krishna, but no one knows that even today one pivotal part of his body remains on Earth.
On the last day of Mahabharata, the battle had come to an end and Pandavas were not rejoicing their win. They had lost not only their own sons and cousins, but several innocent warriors. The devastation was such that it left even Lord Krishna stunned and speechlessFrom far away, both Pandavas and Lord Krishna could hear a wailing shriek and in no time they realized it was none other than Queen Gandhari. As she came near the lifeless body of her first born, Duryodhana, she cried her heart out and bent over to hold her son’s body one last time.
Gandhari said "You, the King of Dwaraka, who I worshipped every day, as the avatar of the supreme godhead Vishnu, Are'nt you ashamed of your doings? Should’nt you have averted this war with your divine will and power?Is this what you do to your own creation? I have requested you, each and every day in the past troubled times to avert this disaster. Is this how you answer my prayers? Ask yor mother, Devaki, the pain of losing a child. She had seven of her children being killed at birth and now I have seen a hundred sons of mine being butchered to death."Lord Krishna with a gentle laugh tried to console her by saying that he indeed cautioned Duryodhana, and his brothers of the destruction. This even ranged her more and she cursed him saying, "If my years of Vishnu Bhakthi have been true, and if my Pathi Bhakthi since my marriage has been unshaken and strong, then, may you die in 36 years from today."
She continued, "May Dwaraka be flooded and may every one of your Yadava kin perish by killing each other, just as you made the kins of Kuru kill one another. Since the Yadavas cannot be killed by any other race, they will die at each other’s hands. May the Yadavas die out. may the Yadavas die out"One day all the men of the Yadava clan gathered on the banks of Prabhas River for a merry night. They drank all night and got intoxicated. Satyaki and Krithavarma, who were also present and highly intoxicated, started fighting over the acts of each other during Mahabharata war. All the men were divided into two groups- Satyaki’s and Krithavarma's. They began pouncing on each other, and soon a war ensued.
When Lord Krishna was sitting in grief over how it all ended, he was struck by a harpoon, pointed on him by the fisherman, who thought it was a deer. Knowing of what he had done, he apologized and cried in front of dying Krishna, who consoled him and made him remember that in their previous births they were Lord Rama and Bali.When Arjuna had arrived to help with the rest of Pandavas, they saw both Balrama and Krishna dead. Quietly, they cremated them both, while Balrama’s mortal remains were burnt to ashes, Lord Krishna body too turned into ashes, except his heart, which still kept burning. Following the rituals, Arjuna washed their ashes and the burning heart in the river.And after Pandavas left, taking along all the women and children to Hastinapur; entire Dwarka submerged under the sea, and with it everything was swept away including the burning heart of Lord Krishna, which by now was turned into a soft iron rod.
King Indradyumna was a devout worshipper of Lord Vishnu, and incessantly asked him to pay him a visit. One night in his dream, he was told of that he will find his lord in the form of Nila Madhava. Next morning he ordered a search of Nila Madhava. When he located it, he brought it back with him and setup Lord Jagannath temple.While bathing in the river, one day, King Indradyumna was astonished to see a soft iron rod floating. When he picked it, he was whispered by Lord Vishnu, who told him that it is his heart that would remain on land forever. Indradyumna immediately rushed with it to the Lord Jagannath idol and discreetly placed it inside him. He banished anyone to ever touch or see this rod ever.