Oka

Oka is the divine discus — the Sudarshana Chakra — wielded by Lord Krishna, and it stands at the very heart of Mahakavi Premanand's celebrated seventeenth-century Gujarati narrative poem *Okhaharan*. The title of the work itself derives from this weapon: "Okha" being a folk rendering of the discus, and "haran" meaning its abduction or theft. The story turns on the mischievous act of Usha, daughter of the demon king Banasura, who steals the sacred chakra and sets in motion a chain of cosmic consequences that draws Krishna, Aniruddha, and the armies of heaven into dramatic conflict.

Premanand handles the oka not merely as a plot device but as a living symbol of divine sovereignty and protective grace. Its loss signals disorder in the celestial order; its recovery restores righteous balance. Throughout the cantos, the discus appears in vivid descriptive passages that showcase Premanand's gift for ornate imagery and his deep familiarity with Puranic tradition, particularly the *Bhagavata Purana*. For readers of classical Gujarati poetry, tracing the oka across the poem offers a rewarding lens through which to appreciate both the theological depth and the storytelling brilliance of this beloved work.