Chapter 11 – Krishna Leela

I take this opportunity to Thank #Talk Media ( Vadapalani Talk ) to have published my Mahabharat blog and helped reach out to a wider audience.

Back to Krishna’s story – At Gokulam, everyone was celebrating the birth of Krishna. Meanwhile Kamsa ordered all the Rakshashas to kill the eighth child of Devaki.

One day, a beautiful lady came to Gokulam when Krishna was an infant. She was actually a Rakshashi named Bhoodhagi who tried to kill Krishna with poisoned milk, but Krishna killed her in turn. Similarly many Rakshashas came to Gokulam in different forms. They were Sakadasura, who came in the form of a cart; Thirunavardhan who came in the form of a storm and Thenugasuran who came in the form of a donkey. But Krishna killed them all with his magical powers.

Krishna and Balarama grew up together in Gokulam. Krishna was a good shepherd who loved eating butter and playing flute. The entire village loved his music and were drawn by his tunes. There are a lot of stories of Krishna and his mischiefs at Gokulam. However everyone loved Krishna at Gokulam.

One day, everyone was celebrating a thanksgiving festival for Indra, Lord of the Devas , who always gave them rains. But Krishna stopped them and told them to worship the Govardhan mountain, which provided them with their livelihood. Then, when everyone did as they were told, Lord Indra got angry and sent heavy rains which flooded the village. But Krishna lifted the whole mountain and gave shelter to all people. After a long time, Indra revealed himself before Krishna and asked him for forgiveness. This story got Krishna the name , Govardhanadhari.

There was a big lake in Gokulam where a snake named Kalinga lived which ate the humans and animals that passed by. One day, even though stopped by his friends, Krishna entered the lake. Kalinga trapped Krishna. But Krishna overpowered Kalinga and told him to vacate the lake immediately. And out came Krishna, dancing on the snake’s head and the whole village saw its beauty. This dance is popularly called Kalinganarthanam.

Such was the childhood of Krishna at Gokulam.

Previous Chapter 10 – Birth of Krishna

Next Chapter 12 – Death of Kamsa