Govinda Abhisheka

For seven days and nights Kṛshṇa held Mount Govardhana on his hand to protect Gokula from Indra’s storm. After that, Indra came down in humility and offered a stotra (hymn of praise) of surrender. The divine cow Surabhi, who is Kāmadhenu herself, then bathed Kṛshṇa with her milk and named him Govinda: the protector of cows, the upholder of the earth, and the one made known through the Vedas.

The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa tells this in Chapters 25 to 27 of the tenth Skanda. The Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa tells it in Chapters 11 and 12 of its Pañcamāṃśa.

Kṛshṇa lifts Govardhana (Chapter 25)

Indra’s anger broke over Gokula. It came with the Sāṃvartaka clouds, which bring the rains of the dissolution, with fierce winds and with thunderbolts. The whole settlement faced ruin. Trees were torn up. The rain fell in torrents mixed with hailstones. Lightning struck again and again. Cold, wind and darkness together brought the gopas, gopīs, cattle and animals close to death. The community ran to Kṛshṇa for shelter and cried out his name.

Kṛshṇa answered at once. He saw clearly what Indra meant. It was an act of wounded pride, the pride of the king of the devas, who could not bear that his yearly pūjā had been cancelled and given to a hill. Kṛshṇa decided to put things right by a show of divine power that would settle, once and for all, where supreme rule rests.

He walked to Govardhana. As a child picks up a small stone, he lifted the whole mountain with his left hand and held it up. He did not strain or struggle. The mountain rested on his raised hand the way a mushroom might rest on a child’s palm. He called to the whole community: “Come, enter quickly! Here is your shelter.” Every gopa, gopī, child, cow, calf, dog and creature of Gokula went into the space under the mountain. For seven days and seven nights the community sheltered under Govardhana, while Kṛshṇa stood as its pillar with the mountain balanced on his raised hand.

The Bhāgavata records the look on Kṛshṇa’s face during those seven days. It was easy, calm and even playful, as if he were only passing the time.

Indra’s pride is broken (Chapter 26)

The storm raged on, but every weapon of Indra failed. His rain spent itself in vain on the umbrella of Govardhana. His lightning was swallowed up. His armies of Maruts grew tired. Indra was bewildered. He remembered the words of Brahmā, who had warned him earlier that a divine being beyond his understanding had taken birth in Gokula. The community under the mountain came to no harm, and Kṛshṇa stayed calm.

After seven days Indra ordered the clouds to withdraw and the storm to stop. The sky cleared. The community came out, full of joy. Kṛshṇa gently set Govardhana back in its place. Nanda and Yaśodā embraced him, and so did the gopas and gopīs.

In the days after, the people of Gokula talked in wonder about what had happened. Nanda remembered what Gargācārya had told him privately at the nāmakaraṇa (naming ceremony). Garga had said that this child had been white, then red, then yellow in earlier yugas, and had now taken a dark form. He had said the child was in truth the Paramātmā, the refuge of all beings, who had come down into the Yadu line to protect the righteous. The gopas wondered: who is this child who has held a mountain for seven days without effort?

Indra’s surrender stotra (Chapter 27)

Indra came down from his chariot and stood before Kṛshṇa with joined palms and bowed head. He was ashamed of what he had done. In a fit of pride he had sent destruction on innocent cowherds. He offered a stotra of surrender. The stotra acknowledges Kṛshṇa as beyond the three guṇas and as the witness who upholds all the worlds. It acknowledges that even Indra’s office works only by Kṛshṇa’s will. Indra said that by Kṛshṇa’s grace he had been saved from the delusion of rule, the delusion that the rains and the power of the devas were independent powers and not servants of the supreme will.

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa received Indra with grace. He did not shame him further. He reminded Indra that pride (mada) is the enemy of wisdom, and that Bhagavān Kṛshṇa uses episodes like this to cut away the pride of those he loves. He told Indra that he had not cancelled the pūjā out of disrespect but to teach: “You are still Indra. Your office remains. Go and rule your realm, knowing that all rule is mine alone.”

Indra left with his pride broken and his bhakti (devotion) lit.

The Govinda Abhisheka by Surabhi and Indra (Chapter 27)

Before Indra left, a ceremony of great importance for all the worlds took place. Surabhi, the divine cow, Kāmadhenu herself and the mother of all cows, came before Kṛshṇa together with Indra. Surabhi was glad that the master of cows had come to earth. He had just shown his full protection of all cow-kind by sheltering every cow of Gokula for seven days. She said she would perform his abhisheka (ceremonial bath).

Surabhi bathed Kṛshṇa with streams of her own milk, the divine and cleansing milk that feeds the universe. Indra bathed him with water from the divine Gaṅgā, drawn by his elephant Airāvata. The gandharvas sang, the apsarases danced, flowers rained from the sky and divine drums sounded.

In this ceremony Surabhi named Kṛshṇa Govinda. The name has three meanings at once:

• Go (cow) and vinda (one who finds or protects): the protector of the cows. Kṛshṇa had just shown this by sheltering every cow of Gokula for seven days.
• Go (earth) and vinda (one who upholds): the upholder of the earth. Kṛshṇa had shown this by lifting Govardhana, a piece of the earth, on his hand.
• Go (Vedic words) and vinda (one who is known through): the one known through the Vedas as Parabrahman, now shown in human form.

The abhisheka by Surabhi and Indra together set up Kṛshṇa’s rule over Gokula and over the three worlds, in the most public and cosmic way possible.

The Vishṇu Purāṇa account: the Sudharmā Sabhā and Arjuna

The Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Pañcamāṃśa, Chapter 12, gives two details that the Bhāgavata account does not.

The Sudharmā Sabhā sent through Vāyu. After the abhisheka and Indra’s surrender, Indra gave the Sudharmā Sabhā to Kṛshṇa. This is the divine assembly hall in which those who sit are free from old age and the effects of time. The Vishṇu Purāṇa says the gift was sent through Vāyu, the wind deva, who served as the go-between. The Sudharmā Sabhā became the great court of Dvārakā. Ugrasena presided there, and the Yādavas gathered there for all great assemblies. Its place in Dvārakā marked the divine standing of the city.

Arjuna as Indra’s aṃśa. In Chapter 12 the Vishṇu Purāṇa says that Arjuna is an aṃśa (partial manifestation) of Indra. Arjuna would become Kṛshṇa’s closest companion, his charioteer and his devotee in the Mahābhārata, and would receive the Bhagavad Gītā.

Sources

• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapters 25–27
• Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Pañcamāṃśa, Chapters 11–12