A History of Indian Literature v1.c9.s8.16

v1.c9.s8.16

After seven years had elapsed, the boys grew tired of the cowherds' station. So Kṛṣṇa caused innumerable wolves to issue from his body, which frightened the cowherds so much that they decided to wander further. They wandered with their flocks to the Vṛndā-forest. Here the boys now run happily through the forest. But one day Kṛṣṇa strolls alone—now playing now singing, now whistling on a leaf, now blowing on the cowherd's flute—along the banks of the river Jumnā, and reaches the deep lake in which the snake-king *Kāliya* dwells, who, with his retinue, poisons the water of the Jumnā and makes the whole neighbourhood unsafe. With swift determination, Kṛṣṇa plunges into the lake, in order to overcome the frightful dragon. Soon the five-headed, fire-breathing monster appears, and a host of snakes rush furiously upon the youthful hero, surrounding and biting him. But he soon frees himself, presses the heads of the monster on the ground, and jumps with force on to the middle head, so that the dragon confesses himself conquered and retreats into the deep with the whole brood of snakes.