Vyomāsura
Vyomāsura · vyoma-asura, “the asura of the sky”
Vyomāsura, also called Vyoma, was a rākshasa, the son of Maya and a great māyāvī (master of illusion). Disguised as a gopa boy, he joined the boys of Gokula at their game on the slopes of Govardhana, carried them off one by one and shut them in a mountain cave. Śrī Kṛshṇa, the protector of the good, saw what he was doing, seized him as a lion seizes a wolf, and slew him, and brought the boys out of the cave. The Bhāgavata Purāṇa calls his end, with Keśī‘s, an uddhāra (deliverance).
The game on Govardhana
Śuka tells Parīkshit that after Govinda had slain Keśī, he tended the cattle with the gopālas. One day, as they grazed the cows on the level lands of Govardhana mountain, the boys played a game of hiding: some acted as goats, some as thieves and some as guards, and they wandered about knowing no fear.
Vyoma, son of Maya, joined them in the guise of a gopāla, and many times in the game he took the part of the thief. In this way he carried off many of the boys who were acting as goats. The strong rākshasa hid each boy he carried off in a mountain cave and closed its mouth with a rock, until only four or five boys were left outside.
His end
Śrī Kṛshṇa knew what Vyomāsura was doing. As the rākshasa was carrying off the boys, he seized him firmly, as a lion seizes a wolf. Strong as he was, the rākshasa was in agony in that grip. To free himself he took on his true form, like a huge mountain, but even so he could not get free. Śrī Kṛshṇa held him tight with both hands, threw him to the ground, and stopped his breath, as an animal is killed. Then he broke the rock that closed the cave and brought the gopa boys out of danger, and, praised by the devas and the gopālas, he entered Gokula.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 37
How he is remembered
Brahmā, telling Nārada of the līlās of Śrī Kṛshṇa, says that when Vyomāsura, son of Maya, hid the gopālas in caves, Śrī Kṛshṇa freed them.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapter 7
In the Gopī-gīta, the gopīs sing that Śrī Kṛshṇa protected them from every fear, from Vyomāsura, son of Maya, among them.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 31
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapter 7; Skandha 10, Chapters 31, 37