Kāliya Mardana (Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa)
In the forests of Vṛndāvana, the great serpent Kāliya lived in a deep pool (hrada) of the Yamunā river. His poison spoiled the water and brought fear to the land around. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa jumped into the pool, danced on the hoods of Kāliya, beat him down and sent him away to the ocean. The Yamunā became pure again, and the gopas (cowherds) and the land were free of fear. This account is told in the Vishṇu Parva of the Harivaṃśa Purāṇa, chapter 13.
Kṛshṇa enters the pool
One day Kṛshṇa stood on the bank of the Yamunā, full of joyful purpose. He climbed to the top branch of a kadamba tree. He pulled his waistcloth tight, hung from the branch, and plunged into the pool with a great noise. The force of his jump churned the waters, and the thunder of the splash reached Kāliya’s home far below. (Vishṇu Parva, chapter 13)
The serpent rises in anger
Kāliya was disturbed and furious. He rose from the depths with red eyes, his five hoods swaying and his tongue flicking. His body blazed like fire in colour and filled the whole pool. His anger heated the very waters of the Yamunā, which seemed to flow backward in fear. Flames came out of his mouths. His sons, his wives and the serpents who served him crowded round Kṛshṇa. They bound the boy with their coils and struck him with their poisonous fangs. (Vishṇu Parva, chapter 13)
The gopas in grief
Kṛshṇa stood as still as a mountain and made no attempt to resist, even as the serpents bit him with their terrible fangs. Nothing could break his stillness. The gopālakas (young cowherds) were terrified. They ran weeping to Vraja and told everyone that the serpent king had seized Kṛshṇa in the pool. Nandagopa heard the news like a thunderbolt and rushed to the bank of the pool. Children, women, the old and the young Saṅkarshaṇa came with him. They all stood on the bank crying, struck with shame, wonder and grief. The women cried that Yaśodā had lost her life, since she saw her son in the grip of the serpent king. (Vishṇu Parva, chapter 13)
Balarāma’s call
Saṅkarshaṇa, that is Balarāma, saw the people of Vraja crushed with grief and called to Kṛshṇa: “O joy of the gopas! Kṛshṇa! Kill this king of serpents whose weapon is poison. These kinsmen of ours mourn you as if you were an ordinary mortal.” When Kṛshṇa heard Balarāma’s words, he broke free from the serpent’s coils. He struck the serpent with a blow of his arm, seized the body with his feet, bent the hood down and held it with his hand. Standing on the hoods of Kāliya, wearing fine armlets, Bhagavān Kṛshṇa began to dance. (Vishṇu Parva, chapter 13)
The dance on the hoods
Crushed and beaten by Kṛshṇa’s dance, Kāliya grew tired. He vomited blood from his mouths and was overcome with fear. He said: “O Kṛshṇa! I showed my anger out of ignorance. I have been punished, and now I am in your power. With my wives, sons and kinsmen, I wait for your command. Protect my life.” (Vishṇu Parva, chapter 13)
Kāliya is sent to the ocean
Kṛshṇa saw the serpent with all five hoods bowed in surrender, and his anger was gone. He said to the serpent king: “You shall not stay here. Go into the ocean with your wives and kinsmen. From now on, if any servant or son of yours appears in this pool, I will kill him at once. Let the waters here be auspicious. Go into the ocean. I will not kill you. Since the marks of my feet are on your hoods, Garuḍa, called Garutmān, will not kill you when he sees you in the ocean.” Kāliya went out of the pool with the footprints of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa on his hoods, and he vanished from sight while the gopālakas looked on. Kāliya was sent to Ramaṇaka dvīpa. (Vishṇu Parva, chapter 13)
Joy in Vraja
With the serpent beaten, the gopālakas praised Kṛshṇa and walked round him in wonder. They said that Nandagopa was the most blessed of men. From that day on, they declared, Kṛshṇa alone would protect the gopas, the cows and the cow-pens in every danger. The Yamunā, now free of poison, became auspicious again, and the cows walked happily along her banks. The gopas went back to Vraja in a joyful procession, like the devas returning to Kubera’s garden Caitraratha. (Vishṇu Parva, chapter 13)
Sources
- Harivaṃśa Purāṇa, Vishṇu Parva, chapter 13