Nalakūbara

Nalakūbara was one of the two sons of Kubera, the lord of wealth and of the yakshas. The ṛshi Nārada gave him a śāpa (a curse): he had to spend a time as a tree, an arjuna (also called maddī) tree, in the courtyard of Nanda in Gokula. His brother was Maṇigrīva.

The śāpa ended when the infant Kṛshṇa dragged a wooden mortar between the two trunks and uprooted both trees. Nalakūbara then appeared in his divine form, sang a stotra (a hymn of praise) to Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, and went to his own realm.

The event at the Mandākinī

Nalakūbara and his brother Maṇigrīva, the two sons of Kubera, were beings of the devas’ realm, of great wealth and pride. They were playing, drunk with the pride of their high place, in the river Mandākinī near Kailāsa. The Bhāgavata tells of this through Nārada, in Chapter 9, at the time when Kṛshṇa is tied to the mortar.

They were with gandharva women and showed no sense of what was proper. Nārada passed by. They did not try to cover themselves or to give the ṛshi the respect that was due.

Nārada saw that wealth and beauty had filled them with ahaṃkāra (pride of self). He spoke his śāpa as an act of grace: “You are like trees. You have eyes (knot-holes) but you cannot see. Your wealth has made you blind to others, so you shall truly be trees. But this is also a vara (a boon). In that form you will hear the divine presence of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa when he appears among you, and his touch will set you free.” This is from Chapter 9 of the Tenth Skandha.

Life as trees

The two brothers stood as twin arjuna trees (maddī trees) in the courtyard of Nanda’s house in Gokula. They were tall, full-grown trees close together. They stayed there for the length of the śāpa. Inside the trees they were aware but could not move. This is from Chapter 9.

Freedom

The infant Kṛshṇa was still tied to the wooden mortar from the Dāmodara episode. He crawled between the two trees and dragged the mortar after him. The mortar stuck between the trunks. As Kṛshṇa kept moving, both trees were pulled up with a mighty crash.

Nalakūbara and Maṇigrīva were freed together. Their bright divine forms came out of the falling trees and stood before Kṛshṇa with folded hands.

They offered a stotra to the infant Kṛshṇa. They spoke of him as Parabrahman, who had come in the form of a child for the good of the world. They thanked Nārada for the śāpa that had brought them such great fortune: freedom from the hand of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa himself. After the stotra they walked around Kṛshṇa in respect and went north to their own realm. This is from Chapter 10.

Sources

• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Tenth Skandha, Chapters 9–10