Krishna Story 16     

THE  DANCE ON A SNAKE
by J.K. Sivan

The  rivers are always enchanting to look at,and especially in the evenings.   if one has a chance to sit on the river sand facing the running water with friends to talk about on interesting subjects, while  munching ground nuts and baked peas, in  cool breeze, there is nothing equal to it, is n’t it?  In summer particularly, such an opportunity is pleasant,  quite enjoyable and most welcome.

At one time, it was not so with the river Yamuna, because people considered it  dangerous to enter the river, or drink its water. Why so, because Yamuna always had clean crystal clear waters with facilities for people to bathe and enjoy drinking its water?   The reason for fear of nearing Yamuna was not very difficult to understand.  A  big poisonous snake  had now taken Yamuna as its refuge and turned the waters deadly poisonous and killed the animals, birds and innocent beings entering Yamuna.  Even plants too were not growing near the river!  This happened all of a sudden recently.  Heretofore  it was a paradise for the children of  Vrindhavan to swim and play in Yamuna.

The snake which now occupied Yamuna was known as Kaleeyan. He was in fight with Garuda, the eagleking, his arch enemy,   for long and escaped the attacks of Garuda by taking refuge in the deep Yamuna.  Why Kaleeyan chose Yamuna because there was a curse by a Rishi on Garudan that  if he entered Brindhavan he will meet with his death.  So Garudan cannot threaten the life of Kaleeyan if he is in Yamuna in Brindhavan!!  But  Kaleeyan posed a threat to others in Brindhavan by his presence!

There was a big  jamboo tree on the banks of Yamuna  which was very old , Its branches were over hanging the river and the boys used to climb the tree and jump into the river from the low branches above the river.

Krishna and the boys were always playing there but were prevented by elders and others not to go near the river now because of Kaleeyan’s  presence in the river.

That evening  Krishna and his friends were playing a stick game.  Everyone had a long stick with which  they will have to  hit the stick held  high by the loser  in the game.  The boy has to run and pick up his stick hit away by others, and touch the nearest one whose turn it will be to hold the stick to be hit by others.  The game was interesting for the boys and they were engrossed in it.  Suddenly Krishna lost the game and he had to hold the stick to be hit by others.  Balarama  the strongest boy  hit the stick held high above his head by Krishna.   The  boys were playing on the river bank and Krishna was standing with his back to the river.  When Balarama  hit the stick of Krishna, it fell deep into the river behind him.  Krishna has to chase the boys only after picking up his stick.  He  did not hesitate even for a moment.  He  immediately jumped into the river without caring for the warnings of others.

Other boys  shouted  "Krishna  don’t  enter the water, it is poisonous. come ashore.  Remember  the huge snake in it which will kill you" 

Krishna did not care and jumped into the water and swam towards the floating stick which was carried away by the river’s current beyond his reach.  Krishna was swimming against the current which pushed him away from his target.  Krishna  hesitated for a minute.  The stick was floating somewhere in the mid river. He  saw  a low branch of the old jamboo tree above the water level. He  caught  hold of it  and heaved himself up  and climbed the tree.  He  slowly moved through another branch to the exact place from where he could jump into the river to pick up his stick. 

Some of the boys in the meantime ran away to their homes and alerted the elders.  Within a few minutes there were many on the banks wondering what do do and how to save Krishna.  Kaleeya,  who was hungry that day with nothing to eat, was very happy to find  a  boy in the river to be his lunch. 

Dear Children, I forgot to tell you that Kaleeyan was not an ordinary snake,  He  had many heads with big hoods well spread like umbrellas. 

When Krishna jumped into the deep mid river from the tree branch, Kaleeya  was directly under him under the water.  In no time, he caught hold of Krishna, encircled and coiled him with his long tail and began crushing him.  Krishna realized that he was in a fix now and had to act fast to get rid of the huge snake.   Kaleeyan  was busy to spit the poison on Krishna to kill him and  swallow him. 

Krishna  suddenly began gaining  strength and twisted the snake away and extricated from its clutches.  The grip with which he  twisted it made Kaleeyan feel the pain and he began spitting the venom on Krishna. Krishna cleverly avoided the snake’s  efforts and decided to press its head down and jump on its spreaded hoods atop its heads. 

Before long, Krishna was now on top of Kaleeyan’s heads thumping and jumping on the spreaded hoods applying  crushing weight  and pressure to break the skulls of the snake and damage the brains of  Kalyeeyan.  Those standing in awe looking at  Krishna  imagined that Krishna  was joyously jumping and dancing on Kaleeyan’s head, holding his tail in one hand and playing his flute which he always kept in the waist bound by a cloth. The  impact of Krishna’s increased weight and force  slowly made  Kalyeen lose his consciousness and he was about to die.  His  wives who heard the  painful cries of Kaleeyan,  surfaced up from down the river and prayed to Krishna to spare the life of Kaleeyan showing mercy on him for their sake.

Kaleeyan  also begged   "Krishna”, please forgive me for my stupid act done without knowing who you are and please  show mercy on me. I will not do any harm to anyone hereafter”  Krishna took a pledge from him to leave the Yamuna river before night to some other place without harming anyone in future"

Krishna then jumped from Kaleeyan’s  heads to the tree branch and landed ashore,  amidst the  delightful  shoutings of the boys and appreciation of the elders who were witness to this marvelous feat of Krishna.

I read somewhere  Kaleeyan thereafter  moved to some river or ocean near Fiji islands.  But we have not heard anymore about Kaleeyan and need not worry about entering Yamuna for bathing and worshipping Krishna thanking him for the redemption of the beautiful and holy river for us.

Children! we  all enjoy snake dance by young girls in groups  in many dance programmes, but whenever we see the picture of Krishna dancing on Kaleeya’s hooded heads, kept and  worshipped in our Pooja rooms  we can enjoy the beautify of his beaming face having no fear. Remember when Krishna is in our minds there will be no fear at all!

The  rivers are always enchanting to look at and especially in the evenings if one has a chance to sit on the riversand facing the running water with friends to talk about on interesting subjects, munching ground nuts and baked peas, enjoying the cool breeze, there is nothing equal to it, is n’t it?  In summer particularly, such an opportunity is heavenly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The author can be reached at: jksivan@gmail.com