Kāliya Mardana (Bhāgavata Purāṇa)

The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa tells of Kāliya Mardana, how Bhagavān Kṛshṇa subdued the great poisonous serpent Kāliya, who had made the Yamunā full of venom. The account also tells why Kāliya lived in one bend of the Yamunā, the fight in the deep whirlpool, the dance of Kṛshṇa on the hoods of Kāliya, the stotra (hymn of praise) of the wives of Kāliya, the nāgapatnīs, and how Kṛshṇa let Kāliya go to his old home on Ramaṇaka Dvīpa.

When Kāliya left, the water of the Yamunā became pure and as sweet as amṛta (the drink of life).

Kāliya’s poison and the Yamunā

Kāliya was a huge serpent with many heads and terrible power. His venom was beyond measure. He lived in a deep kuṇḍa (pool) in the Yamunā, a spot where the water did not flow out into the main stream. From this pool his venom spread through the water and the air above it. The heat of the poison made the water boil. Birds that flew over it died and fell into the poisoned water. Animals on the bank breathed the venom in the air and died where they stood. Trees on the bank dried up and turned brown. The whole stretch of the Yamunā near this pool had become a place of death.

Source of this section: Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 16.

Saubhari’s śāpa and Kāliya’s refuge

Kāliya had chosen this one bend of the Yamunā for a reason. The ṛshi Saubhari had once done hard tapas under the water of the Yamunā at this very spot. Garuḍa, the divine eagle, had come there to catch and eat the fish. Saubhari’s meditation was broken by the death of a large fish, whose family was in grief at its killing. Saubhari gave a śāpa (a curse): “Any Garuḍa who comes to this place in the Yamunā to take fish shall die.”

Kāliya lived in constant fear of Garuḍa, the enemy of all serpents. He learned of this śāpa and took shelter in the pool of Saubhari, knowing that Garuḍa could not follow him there.

Source of this section: Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 16.

The gopa boys are in danger

One hot afternoon Kṛshṇa and the gopa boys came back from the grazing grounds, very thirsty. They drank from the Yamunā near the pool of Kāliya, not knowing the danger. One by one the boys and cows that had drunk the water fell down as if dead, overcome by the venom. The settlement of Gokula was struck with alarm when it saw the boys and cattle lying without motion.

Kṛshṇa looked at the fallen boys and cattle, and then at the poisoned pool. He understood what had happened. He turned his glance on the fallen ones. By that glance, full of compassion, all the boys and cows that had drunk the poison came back to life and stood up, fully well. Then Kṛshṇa turned his attention to the cause of the trouble.

Source of this section: Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 16.

The leap into the pool

Kṛshṇa tied his waistcloth firmly and climbed a tall kadamba tree that grew near the bank. He gave a great leap, with a loud slap of his palm on his arm, and dived into the poisoned pool. The splash was huge, and the venomous water was thrown in every direction. Kāliya felt that someone had come into his place, and he rose from the depths. He saw a beautiful dark boy swimming in his pool without fear, and he was filled with rage.

Kāliya attacked. He wound his huge body around Kṛshṇa and bit him again and again on the neck, the arms and the chest. For a short time, less than an hour, Kṛshṇa lay still in the coils of the serpent, as if without motion. The gopas on the bank saw this and were in terrible grief. Nanda, Yaśodā and all the people of Gokula ran to the bank in despair. Yaśodā tried to enter the water to reach her son, and the gopīs had to hold her back. Balarāma alone knew the true nature of Kṛshṇa, and he watched calmly.

Source of this section: Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 16.

The dance on the hoods

Then the body of Kṛshṇa began to grow. Kāliya felt his grip weaken as the form inside his coils grew in size and force. The pain in his hoods could not be borne. He let go. Kṛshṇa leapt onto the hoods of Kāliya.

Standing on the one hundred and one great hoods of Kāliya, Kṛshṇa began to dance. The Bhāgavata tells it in vivid words. Any hood that Kāliya would not bend was trampled by the feet of Kṛshṇa. When Kāliya raised a new hood, that too was trampled. In the sky above, the devas, caraṇas, gandharvas, apsarases and siddhas gathered to watch. They played drums (dundubhi), sang, danced and showered flowers. The red feet of Kṛshṇa shone even brighter against the gems on the hoods of Kāliya. He looked as if he were decorated with red flowers, as though Kāliya himself were worshipping Bhagavān Kṛshṇa with red petals.

The strength of Kāliya failed. Blood poured from his mouths. He vomited venom and fell into a swoon. He lay dying under the dance.

Source of this section: Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 16.

The nāgapatnī stotra

The wives of Kāliya, the nāgapatnīs, saw their husband near death. They put their children in front of them and came to Kṛshṇa in complete surrender. They bowed before him with folded hands. They offered a stotra of great depth, and addressed Bhagavān Kṛshṇa as:

• Sarvātman, the ātman of all beings, including this serpent.
• Parabrahman, whose punishment is itself grace: “Your punishment removes the pāpa (sin) of the wicked. Even your anger is a form of anugraha (grace).”
• The one whose foot-dust (pāda-dhūli) is sought by Lakshmī herself, who did great tapas and gave up all enjoyments for the sake of that dust.
• Nārāyaṇa, in three senses: the support (āśraya) of the jīvas, the one who sets the jīvas in motion (pravartaka), and the witness-consciousness (sākshi-caitanya) within the jīvas.
• Vāsudeva, Saṅkarshaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha, the fourfold Vyūha form.
• The form of Time (kāla-rūpa), the instrumental and material cause (nimittopādāna-kāraṇa) of the universe, the witness of the world (jagat-sākshī).
• The one whose māyā cannot be crossed by created beings born in tamo-guṇa, and whose grace alone can give moksha: “Release from the wheel of saṃsāra is gained by even a single moment of his compassion.”

They prayed: “We are your sevikās (women servants). Command us. He who faithfully obeys your command is truly freed from the fear of saṃsāra.”

Source of this section: Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 16.

Kāliya’s words and his release

When Kṛshṇa stepped back from his hood, the senses of Kāliya slowly came back. Kāliya said: “O Prabhu Kṛshṇa! We are serpents, born with fierce anger and tamo-guṇa as our nature. It is very hard for living beings to give up their own nature (svabhāva). We are caught in māyā-moha (the delusion of māyā) and cannot rise above our nature by ourselves. You are the one who made this varied world of sattva, rajas and tamas, and in it we serpents are born angry by nature. What should we do? Command us.”

Kṛshṇa told Kāliya: “Leave this place. Take your wives, children and relatives and go without delay to the ocean, to your old home at Ramaṇaka Dvīpa. This river belongs to the cows and the people. Let it be given back. As for Garuḍa, since you carry my footprints on your hoods, Garuḍa will no longer touch you.”

Kāliya was filled with joy. He honoured Kṛshṇa with fine garments, garlands, jewels, precious ornaments, divine perfumes and a great lotus garland. He walked around Kṛshṇa (pradakshiṇā), bowed (namaskāra), and left with all his family and followers for Ramaṇaka Dvīpa. At the very moment he left, all the venom went out of the water of the Yamunā. The river became pure and as sweet as amṛta.

Source of this section: Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 16.

The Vishṇu Purāṇa account

The Pañcamāṃśa of the Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 7, gives several things that the Bhāgavata does not stress.

The teaching of Balarāma. Kṛshṇa lay still in the coils of Kāliya for a time, seemingly without motion, and the gopas on the bank were in terrible distress. Nanda got ready to enter the water, and Yaśodā was held back from leaping in. Then Balarāma spoke. The gopas and gopīs were weeping as if they were watching a death. He reminded them of a truth: what they saw as danger to the child was not what it seemed. “This one whom you think is trapped,” said Balarāma, “is the Paramātmā, who holds all the worlds within himself. The serpent who has wound himself around him holds not a child but the whole cosmos. Let your grief turn into wonder.”

The stotra of the wives of Kāliya. The Vishṇu Purāṇa keeps the stotra of the nāgapatnīs in its own form. It speaks of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa as the antarātmā (inner self) of Kāliya himself. So even when Kāliya attacked Kṛshṇa, Bhagavān Kṛshṇa was within him, present both in the one who attacked and in the one who was attacked.

The protection from Garuḍa. The Vishṇu Purāṇa tells how Kṛshṇa protected Kāliya from Garuḍa when he went to the ocean. While Kṛshṇa danced on the hoods, the marks of his feet were left on them. Garuḍa would never touch anything that carries the footprint of Bhagavān Vishṇu, and so he would turn away. In this way Kāliya and his family could go back safely to Ramaṇaka Dvīpa.

Source of this section: Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Pañcamāṃśa, Chapter 7.

Sources

• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 16
• Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Pañcamāṃśa, Chapter 7