Dhenukāsura

Dhenukāsura was an asura who had taken the form of a great ass. He had made the Tālavana his home. This was a grove of palm trees, rich with fruit, near Gokula. By terror he kept the gopas (cowherds) and everyone else out, so that no one could enjoy its fruit.

When young Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma came to the Tālavana with the cowherd boys, Balarāma caught Dhenukāsura by the legs and whirled him round. He hurled him into the treetops, and Dhenukāsura was killed. His companions, other asuras in the form of asses, also attacked. Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma killed them all.

In his praise of Kṛṣṇa at the Rājasūya, Bhīṣma names the killing of Dhenukāsura among the childhood līlās (divine deeds) of Kṛṣṇa.

The Tālavana

The Tālavana was a grove of tall palm trees. Its ripe fruit was fragrant and sweet, and the cowherd boys wanted it. But Dhenukāsura had made the grove his own, and no one dared to go near.

Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma came with the boys. Balarāma shook the trees to bring down the fruit. The noise and the falling fruit woke Dhenukāsura, and he attacked.

Balarāma caught the ass-asura by his hind legs. He whirled him fast in the air and hurled him into the treetops, and Dhenukāsura died. The other ass-asuras rushed in to avenge him. Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma together killed them in the same way, until the grove was free of them.

The Tālavana was then open to all. The gopas enjoyed its fruit freely.

In Bhīṣma’s praise of Kṛṣṇa

Bhīṣma names the killing of Dhenukāsura as one of the deeds in the life of Kṛṣṇa as an avatāra (a descent of Bhagavān Viṣṇu). He speaks of it at the Rājasūya.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Sabhā Parva, dākṣiṇātya prati (southern recension), Chapter 38