A demoniac king of the Bhoja dynasty and maternal uncle of Krishna. Kamsa, son of Ugrasena imprisoned his father and became the King of Mathura.

At the time of the marriage of Vasudeva and Devaki, a voice from the sky foretold that the couple’s eighth son would kill King Kamsa, Devaki’s evil brother. Kamsa therefore imprisoned Vasudeva and Devaki and placed guards to watch over them closely.

Later, sage Narada visited Kamsa and informed him that in his past life he had been killed by Vishnu and that the prediction of the child who would kill him referred to Lord Vishnu, who was to take birth as the son of Devaki.

Kamsa then decided to imprison both Devaki and Vasudeva. Within the prison shackled in chains, Vasudeva and Devaki gave birth to a male child year after year, and Kamsa, thinking each of the babies to be the incarnation of Vishnu, killed them one after another.

Lord Krishna was born as the eighth son of Devaki and Kamsa was killed by Krishna and Ugrasena was reinstalled on the throne.