Banasura
Bana is described as an ancient king of Sonitpur in several Hindu Puranic scriptures. Bana was a thousand-armed Asura king, and the son of Mahabali. Some other sources say that since Banasur, son of Asura King Mahabali who is believed to be a central character in the mythology and culture of Kerala inherits his kingdom from his father and is believed to have ruled from Kerala. There is a hill named "Banasur Hill" and a dam, "Banasur Sagar Dam" dedicated to the memory of their great ruler's son Bana. Legend. Banasura, a mighty asura, once ruled over  a large kingdom, Sonitpur. His influence was so strong and fierce that all the kings – and even some of the devas – shuddered in front of him. Banasura used to worship a Rasalingam given to him by Vishvakarman, on instruction from Vishnu. As an ardent devotee of Shiva, he used his thousand arms to play the Mridanga when Shiva was performing the tandava dance. Shiva gave Banasura a boon and the latter requested Shiva to be his protector: therefore, Banasura became invincible. As time passed, he became even more cruel and arrogant. He locked up his daughter, Uṣā, in a fortress  called Agnigarh, because many young suitors had come to him asking for her hand. One day, Usha saw a young man in her dream and fell in love with him. Chitraleka was a friend of Usha and daughter of Kumbhanda, Minister of Banasura. Chitralekha was a talented artist who helped Usha to identify the young man seen in her dream by sketching various portraits. She had dreamt of Aniruddha, the grandson of Krishna. Chitralekha, through her supernatural powers, abducted Aniruddha from the palace of Krishna and brought him to Shonitpur. The ground-breaking battle went on for days and created  typhoons and whirlwinds so intense that men couldn't have their feet keep touching the ground. Finally, Krishna placed Shiva to sleep using Jurumnastra, whereby Shiva fell into a deep slumber, allowing the Yadava forces to destroy the Asura forces. Seeing that Bana summoned his mother like presiding deity, who came as Kotara (or Kotari), a nude women with dishevelled hair and fought with Krishna. Meanwhile Bana fled away, Shiva regained consciousness. Shiva summoned his goblin assistant - Trisira(three headed) Jvara(fever). Krishna successfully defeated him. Bana returned to the battlefield. Krishna, then summoned the blazing Sudarshan Chakra and cut Bana's  thousand arms systematically, like the branches of a huge tree. As a last resort, he pleaded to Lord Shiva for life. True to the plight of his devotee, Shiva arose from his slumber at and approached Krishna to ask for his devotee's forgiveness to which Krishna gladly accepted . He then married his grandson Aniruddha to Bana's daughter Usha and the war ended on a happy note, who later gave birth to Vajra, grandson of Pradyumna and the great-grandson of Krishna and Rukmini. Banasura practiced tapasya and obtained a boon from Lord Brahma that he could only be  killed by an adolescent unmarried girl. With this powerful boon, he became fearless and wreaked havoc on the entire world. He went on to conquer and oust Lord Indra from his throne. He banished all the devas from there. The devas who were the personification of the basic natural elements, Agni (fire), Varuna (water), Vayu (air) went uncoordinated and havoc spread in the universe, because Indra (ether) was not able to administer and coordinate the Pancha mahabhoota. It is believed that Bhagvati, the unbiased Prakriti, can only bring order because she is the nature within which everyone lives and hence  is unbiased. Bhagavati manifested herself in the Southern tip of Bharatkhanda, to kill Banasura and recur the balance of nature. According to the scriptures, Banasura tried to approach and lure the goddess when she was in penance without realizing who she was. The infuriated Bhagvati, who was the Bhadrakali herself, slaughtered Bana at once. Moments before his death Bana realized that the one before him was Shakti, the Almighty itself. He prayed her to absolve him of his sins. Family. The genealogy of Banasura is as follows: Banasura's story has been narrated in Indian epic Mahabharata and Bhagavata Purana . His story as the rejected suitor for goddess Shakti is present in Tamil Sangam literary works "Manimekalai" and "Puranaanooru"; Bhattavataar's "Banasura Katha".