9 While those two were playing their games, they arrived, at the usual time, at the Bhāndīra, the prize banyan tree rich in thick branches. 10 There they stood next to each other and practised their forward and backward moves, and the methods of combat, and throwing stones. 11 Having fun with the other cowherds, those two practised the various methods of combat to their hearts’ content, as bold as lions.
12 While those two were enjoying themselves like this, the great demon Pralamba approached. He was after them, and he was trying to identify the weaknesses of the group, and of those two in particular. 13 Decorating himself with forest blossoms, disguising himself as a cowherd, and charming the two heroes with his jokes and games, 14 the great non-human Dānava Pralamba took on human form and plunged fearless into their midst. 15 All the cowherds played with that enemy of the gods, thinking from his cowherd form that he was a relative of theirs.
16 Looking for an opening or a weakness, Pralamba in the form of a cowherd cast his nasty gaze upon Krishna and the son of Rohinī. 17 The great Dānava judged that Krishna was extraordinarily powerful and unconquerable, so he concentrated his efforts on killing the son of Rohinī.
18 Then they all played a children’s game called the deer game. One pair after another jumped against each other. 19 Krishna jumped against Shrīdāma, the son of a cowherd, and faultless Sankarshana jumped against Pralamba. 20 It was one team of cowherds against the other team of cowherds, two by two, and they rushed forwards with quick steps, trying to climb onto each other. 21 Krishna beat Shrīdāma, Rohinī ’s son beat Pralamba, and Krishna’s team of cowherds beat the other team of cowherds.
22 The quick ones made the other ones carry them. They made the trunk of the Bhāndīra their goal, and they headed back excitedly towards it. 23 But the Dānava suddenly hoisted Sankarshana onto his shoulder and headed off speedily in the other direction, looking like a raincloud with the moon above it. 24 However, like a raincloud overpowered by the moon, he soon found himself unable to bear the weight of Rohinī ’s clever son, and so he expanded, making his body massive. 25 The great Dānava Pralamba thus showed his own body, which looked like Bhāndīra the banyan tree, or like a mound of charred kohl. 26 The Daitya looked like a raincloud pressed down by the sun, as his face shone beneath a golden crown that was fitted with five tassels. 27 He was enormous and ferocious, with a huge mouth, a huge neck, and eyes like cartwheels. He looked like the god Death, and he made the earth sink down with his footsteps. 28 Dressed in dangling clothes and decorated by a garland with a dangling ribbon, bold Pralamba the Dangler moved along like a raincloud dangling water, 29 and that great demon quickly carried off the son of Rohinī, just as the god Death carries off the whole world after it’s been inundated by the ocean.
30 As young Sankarshana was being carried off by Pralamba like the moon being carried off by a single black cloud, 31 he considered himself to be at some risk. So, from his position upon the Daitya’s shoulder, glorious Sankarshana said to Krishna:
32 Krishna, I’m being carried off by a Daitya who looks like a towering mountain, and who’s demonstrated the great skill of assuming human form. 33 This Pralamba is evil-minded, double-bodied, and swollen with pride. He must be punished, but how can I do it?
34 Krishna, who was familiar with the power and deeds of Rohinī ’s son, smiled and addressed him with soft but rousing words:
35 Aha! You’ve clearly accepted the human condition! You’re a secret that contains the whole world, but now you’ve become even more secret than a secret. 36 Remember, brother, that after the worlds are destroyed, you are their body. Use that self of yours to recall what you’re like after the oceans have merged into one. 37 Remember your primordial form, and remember that the ancient gods, and Brahmā, and the waters were brought about through your activity.
38 Your head is the sky, your form is water, your patience is the earth, your mouth is fire, your breath is the wind, the life of the world, and it’s on your behalf that the Manu creates intelligence. 39 You have a thousand mouths, a thousand limbs, a thousand feet, a thousand eyes, and you have a thousand-petalled lotus in your navel. You are the sun with a thousand rays, the slayer of the foe. 40 When the heavenly gods see something in the world, it’s because you’ve made it visible. And if there’s something you’ve never mentioned, who is there that can even look for it? 41 What can be known in the world is what you’ve spoken about. But what you alone know, even the gods don’t know.
42 The heavenly gods don’t see your true and authentic form in the sky, but they do praise the form you’ve adopted. 43 The gods can’t see any end to you, and that’s why you’re known as Ananta the Endless. You’re intangible, huge, unique, and inaccessible even to other intangible beings. 44 Held down by the mountains, the eternal immovable earth, repository of living creatures, bears everything that moves—but she rests on you alone. 45 Your coils are the four oceans, you know what separates the four social classes, you oversee the worlds’ four ages, and when the four types of priest do a ritual, you get the benefit. 46 And in my view, whatever you are for the sake of the worlds, I am too. The two of us have a single body, but we’ve been divided in two for the earth’s sake. 47 You are of course Shesha the Remainder, the ancient and eternal god of the worlds, and the earth is supported by our body alone, in two different ways. 48 What I am you are too, and what you are so am I, the eternal one. For although we’re divided into two, we’re the two mighty bodies of the single one.
49 So why are you lying there like an idiot? The first thing is to bash that Dānava enemy of the gods on the head, god, with a fist like a thunderbolt.
50 When Krishna reminded him of his antiquity, Rohinī ’s son became filled with the strength that lives in the innards of the triple-world, 51 and consequently that strong-armed hero bashed the villain Pralamba on the head with a well-clenched fist like a thunderbolt. 52 His skull was smashed, his head disappeared into his body, and he fell via his knees onto the ground, dead. 53 There on the ground lay the body of Pralamba, who was broken apart like a cloud that’s broken apart in the sky. 54 His head was shattered, and blood streamed from his body like the water that streams down from a mountain peak, thick with red chalk.
55 After he’d killed Pralamba, Rohinī ’s glorious son withdrew his own true strength and gave Krishna a good hug. 56 And after the Daitya had been killed, Krishna, and the cowherds, and the gods stationed in the heavens praised the strongman with cheers of victory. 57 The indefatigable child (bāla) had killed the Daitya using his strength (bala), and so the gods (devas) stationed in the heavens announced that his name was now Baladeva. 58 After that Daitya dangerous even to the gods had been killed, people on earth knew about Baladeva’s strength from that deed.
59. Description of Autumn
1 Vaishampāyana said:
While Krishna and Bala were carrying on like this, roaming the woods, the two months of the monsoon season passed by. 2 Then the two heroes returned to the cattle station. In the cattle station they heard that the Shakra festival was at hand, and that the cowherds were looking forward to the festivities.
3 Out of curiosity, Krishna asked: What is this thing called the Shakra festival that you’re so excited about?
4 One cowherd, the oldest there, replied:
My boy. Listen to the reason why the feast of Shakra is held.
5 Krishna, destroyer of enemies. Shakra the world-guardian is lord of the gods and lord of the clouds, and his rite has always taken place. 6 He impels the clouds and decorates them with his weapon: it’s at his bidding and his alone that they make the grain grow with their fresh waters. 7 When he’s happy, the glorious and much-invoked smasher of citadels gives rain from the clouds and refreshes the whole world. 8 We, and the other people who eat the grain he provides, must act to keep it coming. We must keep the gods happy.
9 The god rains on the worlds, then the grain grows, and when the broad earth has been refreshed, the world seems full of nectar. 10 The cows are happy when they’re rich
in milk and rich in calves, and it’s because of him that the cows and bulls thrive, nourished by the grasses. 11 There are no cows without grain and no cows without grass, and a place where you can’t see any people afflicted by hunger is a place where you can see rain-bearing clouds. 12 Shakra milks the sun’s cows, the celestial sunbeams rich in milk, and they yield the strong new milk that’s stored in the banks of cloud. 13 He makes a terrific noise in the clouds, and the noise descends, travelling swiftly on the wind. People say it’s him growling. 14 As he’s being borne along by the wind-drawn clouds, the noises he makes are like thunderbolts breaking impassable mountains apart. 15 Shakra liberates the waters in the sky with the blows of his thunderbolt. As a master treats his servants, so he treats the many impulsive clouds: 16 the ones that have a stormy look about them, the ones that form a water-bearing blanket, and the thick ones that make the sky sparkle with pearly raindrops. 17 In this way, Parjanya the water-giver milks the sun’s cows and rains the milk down onto the earth for the good of all worlds. 18 And that’s why, at the end of the monsoon, all kings joyfully praise Shakra, the lord of the gods, with festivals—as do we, and other people.
19 Dāmodara listened to the old cowherd’s speech about the worship of Shakra, and then, despite knowing Shakra’s power, he spoke as follows:
20 Cowherd. We roam the forests, herding cows, living off our wealth of cows. You should understand our deities to be the cows, the mountains, and the forests. 21 Ploughing is the livelihood of agriculturists, commerce is the livelihood of traders, but our ultimate livelihood is the cow. Those are said to be the three vaishya livelihoods, and when a person is engaged in one of those specialisms, that’s their highest deity. 22 But a person who does someone else’s holy duties and enjoys someone else’s rewards suffers two disappointments, one in this world and one in the next.
23 Beyond the ploughed land are what are known as the margins, and beyond the margins is what’s known as the forest, and beyond the forest are all the mountains. And that’s our path immemorial. 24 In this forest, mountains are even known to take on any form they like. They take on various bodies one after another, and enjoy themselves in their own highlands. 25 They become lions with great manes and tigers with great claws, and they protect their own groves, terrorising those who cut down trees. 26 When any people living in their forests cause damage, they kill just the guilty ones, by eating them.
27 Brahmins focus on sacrificing with Vedic formulae, agriculturists offer sacrifices to the furrow, and we cowherds offer sacrifices to the mountain. The mountain in the forest is what we should venerate. 28 I’d be happy for us cowherds to set up a nice place by a tree, or on a hillside, and offer sacrifice to the mountain in the forest. 29 Once the sanctuary has been set up and made ready, we must slaughter some pure animals there and offer up all the milk that the community can muster. Why discuss it further?
30 All the cows should reverently process around the supreme mountain wearing crowns of autumn flowers, and then go off into the forest again. 31 For the gladsome and glorious autumn is surely here, the refuge after the rainclouds have gone. Her grasses are sweet and strong, with nutrients for the cows.
32 The forest is resplendent, stiff with grass, in places pale with kadam flowers, in places dark with thickets of reeds. There are no more cries from the peacocks. 33 The clouds moving across the sky are like bull elephants whose musth period has passed: they’re bright clouds with no rain, no lightning, and no flamingoes flying in front of them. 34 All the trees that were shaken up by the harsh winds and clouds of the monsoon season have cheered up and are thick with masses of leaves. 35 The sky seems to be being anointed king, since it’s wearing a pale-coloured turban of clouds and is being fanned by a chowry of goose-wings under the parasol of the spotless full moon. 36 Now that it’s autumn and the clouds have gone, all the lakes have shrunk, and it’s as if they’re chuckling with geese. They ring with the cries of the water-birds. 37 The rivers, with brahminy ducks as the slopes of their breasts, sandbanks as the curves of their hips, and geese as their characteristic laughter, make their way down to their husband the ocean. 38 The water with the night-lilies in bloom is like the sky bright with stars—at night, it’s as if they’re smiling at each other. 39 The woods are a delight to delve into, pale with unripened rice and full of the cries of amorous cranes. They make the heart sing.
40 The lotus-ponds sparkle with light, and so do the pools and reservoirs, and the lakes blooming with water-lilies, and the water meadows, and the streams. 41 The lotuses that grow in the mud love the light coming off the water, and so do the other flowers, the white and the blue water-lilies. 42 The peacocks with the white at the corners of their eyes have finished their frenzies, the winds are blowing gently, the sky is cloudless, the restless ocean of the world is calm. 43 The peacocks’ feathers, loosened by the turning of the seasons, have fallen out now that the dancing is done, and they make the earth look as if she has lots of eyes. 44 The River Yamunā flows within her banks, which are dirty with her own mud, crowded with creepers, kans grass, and flowers, and scattered with geese and cranes.
45 Birds that eat grain and birds that eat fish sing excitedly amid the corn and unripened rice, and in the water meadows and groves.
46 The showers of water that the clouds shed during the monsoon have actually been solidified—they’ve turned into grown grass. 47 The moon has taken off the clouds that used to clothe it and now dwells delighted in a clear sky, bright with its autumnal features. 48 The cows have twice as much milk, the bulls are twice as amorous, the woodlands are twice as beautiful, the broad earth is rich with grains, 49 the stars and planets aren’t hidden behind clouds, the ponds are full of lotuses, and human beings are actually able to achieve peace of mind. 50 In a sky free of clouds, the sun with its fiery beams sends out streams of shining energy, drying out the gleaming autumn. 51 Desiring victory, the kings who rule the earth lustrate their troops and sally forth, heading for each other’s kingdoms.
52 The mind lingers on the lovely bright woodland tracts, red with clumps of noon-flowers now that the mud has dried out. 53 The trees that grace the glades glitter in the woodlands: there are crocodile-bark trees, seven-leaved blackboard trees, orchid trees in bloom, 54 arrow-name trees, danti bushes, kadam trees, golden svarnaka trees, srimara trees, meyna trees, and screwpine trees all around.
55 In cattle stations in particular, where the gurgling of churns sounds like laughter, the beautiful autumn wanders around the cowpens like a woman open to public view. 56 It’s at this time that those who dwell in heaven rouse the god with the bird on his standard, who’s been spending the monsoon season happily in the realm of the thirty gods.*
57 Now that the rains have finished and autumn with her grains has arrived in this way, we must honour the mountain god—and more particularly we must honour the cows, 58 by fitting them with peacock-feather crowns, and dangling bells, and autumn flowers, and garlands on their horns. 59 For our own good, we must honour the cows and sacrifice to the mountain. Shakra can be worshipped by the thirty gods, but we must worship the mountain. 60 Since you’re all fond of me, and since we’re friends, I’m going to make this cow festival happen, no doubt about it, even if I have to force it to. 61 For cows must always be worshipped, and not one of you has any doubt about it, so you should follow my suggestion without hesitation. You should do it willingly, as a pleasure, and for the sake of your own glory.
60. The Mountain Festival
1 Vaishampāyana said:
When they heard Dāmodara’s speech—his words that were spoken nectar—the cowherds were delighted, and without a second thought they replied as follows:
2 Child, this idea of yours is a great one. It’s making the cowherds excited. It really thrills us all, and it’ll benefit humanity.
3 You’re our path, you’re our pleasure, you’re our witness, you’re our refuge, you deliver us from danger in times of crisis, and you’re a friend to us, your friends. 4 Because of what you’ve done, Krishna, this
whole herding community lives in peace. Since its herds are happy and its enemies neutralised, it has effectively gone to heaven. 5 Ever since you were born, our minds have been amazed by the celestial feats you’ve performed that are rare on earth, and by your evident self-confidence. 6 With your surpassing strength, splendour, and daring you’re supreme among mortals just as Indra the smasher of citadels is supreme among gods; 7 with your beauty, grace, kindness, and your smiling face you’re supreme among mortals just as the moon is supreme among gods; 8 and with your costume, your form, and your childhood adventures there’s no spear-bearing human warrior who could match you.
9 Master, who could possibly disregard the suggestion you’ve put forward for a mountain sacrifice? That would be like disregarding the shore of the great ocean. 10 Shakra’s festival is traditional, Krishna boy, but today you’ve proposed this glorious mountain festival for the cowherds. And for the good of the cows, it must be held.
11 Fetch things to eat, and milky treats. Fill up the best pots at the wells. Fetch broad and deep tubs for the delicious rice pudding. 12 Bring all the food we need to eat or drink. Pack up dishes of meat and rice. Take everything anyone in the community will need for three days and nights. 13 Kill the animals we need for food, beginning with the buffaloes. The ritual must take place with every single cowherd crowded there!
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