Can an Indian national open an account @ Kraken with Indian bank account and purchase coins paying with Rupees?
As explained above, it's not possible. An alternative would be to use Unocoin or WazirX. I haven't tried either of them but there are some good reviews online.
Both of them are P2P Exchange, not direct exchange like Kraken so one cannot deposit INR on Unocoin and WazirX too.