Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c8.1189

c8.1189

3) The curse of Nārada. Nalakūbara and Maṇigrīva, the sons of Kubera were playing with celestial maidens in the Ganges in nudity, when Nārada came by that way. The hermit was returning after visiting Viṣṇu. The moment the celestial maids saw Nārada they put on their clothes and stood aside bowing before Nārada. Nalakūbara and Maṇigrīva did not see Nārada. They ran here and there, playing with no clothes on. At this, Nārada got angry and cursed them that they would become two "Marutu" trees (Terminalia alata) on the earth. They became very sad and requested for liberation from the curse. Nārada told them they would get liberation from the curse when they saw Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the incarnation of Viṣṇu. Accordingly Nalakūbara and his brother took birth near the house of Nandagopa in Ambāḍi, as double "Marutu" trees. It was the period of the childhood of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Once Śrī Kṛṣṇa swallowed mud, and Yaśodā tied him to a mortar. The child dragged the mortar to the Marutu tree and got himself between the double trees. Immediately the trees regained the original forms of Nalakūbara and Maṇigrīva. They paid homage to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who blessed them, and both of them returned to Vaiśravaṇapuri. (Bhāgavata, Skanda 10).