Enjoy reading stories with videos of little Krishna, the beloved child of Yashoda killing Putana, Trinavarta, Aghasura and Bakasura.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead appeared on this planet Earth for two reasons: to protect the devotees and to annihilate the demons. Krishna was to slay Kamsa, who was the demoniac king in the Yadu dynasty. Kamsa knew that Krishna would be the cause of his death and hence to kill Krishna, Kamsa sent many demons. Krishna killed all those demons exhibiting His extraordinary strength. There is no difference between the Lord’s activities of protecting the devotees and annihilating the demons since both of them are on a transcendental plane. Actually demons who are killed by Krishna are awarded Sayujya liberation i.e., merging into the impersonal Brahman effulgence of the Lord. During His kaumara age (0-5 years), Krishna killed Putana, Trinavarta, Aghasura and Bakasura.
Table of Contents
Putana – the Witch
Kamsa instructed Putana to kill Krishna who was still a baby. Putana was a witch who knew the black art of killing small children by ghastly sinful methods.
Putana entered the county of Gokula, dressing herself just like a beautiful woman, and entered the house of mother Yashoda. The innocent cowherd women thought that she had come to see Krishna. Because of her exquisite beauty, no one checked her movement, and therefore she freely entered the house of Nanda Maharaja. Putana, found baby Krishna lying on a small bed.
Putana came to take Krishna on her lap and offer her breast milk to be sucked by Him. When Putana was taking baby Krishna on her lap, both Yashoda and Rohini were present, they could not understand that she was a sword within a decorated case. Putana had smeared a very powerful poison on her breasts, and immediately after taking the baby on her lap, she pushed her breastly nipple within His mouth. She was hoping that as soon as He would suck her breast, He would die. But baby Krishna very quickly took the nipple in anger. He sucked the milk-poison along with the life air of the demon.
As Krishna pressed her breast extremely hard and sucked out her very breath, Putana fell down on the ground, spread her arms and legs and began to cry, “Oh, child, leave me, leave me!” She was crying loudly and perspiring, and her whole body became wet. As she died screaming, there was a tremendous vibration on the earth and in the sky, on the upper and lower planets and in all directions, and people thought that thunderbolts were falling. Thus the nightmare of the Putana witch was over, and she assumed her real feature as a great demon. She opened her fierce mouth and spread her arms and legs all over. The long hair on her head was scattered all over her body. Her fallen body extended up to twelve miles and smashed all the trees to pieces, and everyone was struck with wonder upon seeing this gigantic body.
When the gopis saw little Krishna fearlessly playing on Putana’s lap, they very quickly came and picked Him up. Mother Yashoda, Rohini and other elder gopis immediately performed the auspicious rituals by taking the tail of a cow and circumambulating His body.
After this, all the residents of Vraja cut the gigantic body of Putana into pieces and piled it up with wood for burning. The smoke emanating from the fire created a good aroma of aguru. This aroma was due to her being killed by Krishna. This means that the demon Putana was washed of all her sinful activities and attained a celestial body.
The occasion was Krishna’s first birthday and there was a jubilant celebration. At that time, a servant of Kamsa’s known as Trinavarta, as instructed by Kamsa, appeared there in the shape of a whirlwind. He picked the child up on his shoulders and raised a great dust storm all over Vrindavana, covering everyone’s eyes. Within a few moments the whole area of Vrindavana became so densely dark that no one could see himself or anyone else. During this great catastrophe, mother Yashoda could not see her baby, who was taken away by the whirlwind, and she began to cry very piteously.
The Trinavarta demon went high into the sky with baby Krishna on his shoulder, but the baby assumed such a weight that suddenly he could not go any further, and he had to stop his whirlwind activities. Baby Krishna made Himself heavy and began to weigh down the demon, catching hold of his neck. Trinavarta felt the baby to be as heavy as a big mountain, and he tried to get out of His clutches, but he was unable to do so, and his eyes popped out from their sockets. Crying very fiercely, he fell down to the ground of Vrindavana and died. The demon fell exactly like Tripurasura, who was pierced by the arrow of Lord Shiva. Trinavarta hit a stone slab, and his limbs were smashed. His body became visible to all the inhabitants of Vrindavana.
Aghasura – the Snake Demon
When Lord Krishna was enjoying His childhood pastimes with His boyfriends, one Aghasura demon became very impatient. The demon Aghasura appeared before Krishna and His friends. Aghasura happened to be the younger brother of Putana and Bakasura, and he thought, “Krishna has killed my brother and sister. Now I shall kill Him along with all His friends and calves.” Aghasura was instigated by Kamsa, so he had come with determination.
Aghasura expanded himself up to eight miles and assumed the shape of a very fat serpent. Having attained this wonderful body, he stretched his mouth open just like a mountain cave. Desiring to swallow all the boys at once, including Krishna and Balarama, he sat on the path.
The demon in the shape of a big fat serpent expanded his lips from land to sky; his lower lip was touching the ground, and his upper lip was touching the clouds. His jaws appeared like a big mountain cave, without limitation, and his teeth appeared just like mountain summits. His tongue appeared to be a broad traffic way, and he was breathing just like a hurricane. His eyes were blazing like fire. At first the boys thought that the demon was a statue, but after examining it they saw that it was a big serpent lying down on the road and widening his mouth. The boys began to talk among themselves: “Dear friends, this figure appears to be a great animal, and he is sitting in such a posture just to swallow us all. Just see—is it not a big snake that has widened his mouth to eat all of us?”
Then they further consulted among themselves: “If we all at one time entered into the mouth of this great serpent, how could it possibly swallow all of us? And even if it were to swallow all of us at once, it could not swallow Krishna. Krishna will immediately kill him, as He did Bakasura.” Talking in this way, all the boys looked at the beautiful lotus like face of Krishna, and they began to clap and smile. And so they marched forward and entered the mouth of the gigantic serpent.
While Krishna was planning how to stop the destruction of His intimate friends, all the boys along with their cows and calves entered the mouth of the serpent. But Krishna did not enter. The demon was awaiting Krishna’s entrance, and he was thinking, “Everyone has entered except Krishna, who has killed my brother and sister.”
Krishna then began to consider how He could kill the demon and at the same time save the boys and calves. Finally, after some deliberation, He also entered the mouth of the demon.
While the demon was trying to smash Krishna and His companions, Krishna immediately began to expand Himself within the throat of the demon. Although he had a gigantic body, the demon choked by the expanding of Krishna. His big eyes moved violently, and he quickly suffocated. His life air could not come out from any source, and ultimately it burst out of a hole in the upper part of his skull. After the demon was dead, Krishna, with His transcendental glance alone, brought all the boys and calves back to consciousness and came with them out of the mouth of the demon.
Bakasura – The Stork Demon
One day, when all the cowherd boys were sitting on the bank of the Yamuna river after watering their calves, they saw a huge animal which looked something like a heron and was as big as a hill. Its top was as strong as a thunderbolt. When they saw that unusual animal, they became afraid of it. The name of this beast was Bakasura, and he was a friend of Kamsa’s. He appeared on the scene suddenly and immediately attacked Krishna with his pointed, sharp beak and quickly swallowed Him up. When Krishna was thus swallowed, all the boys, headed by Balarama, became almost breathless, as if they had died. But when the Bakasura demon was swallowing up Krishna, he felt a burning, fiery sensation in his throat. This was due to the glowing effulgence of Krishna. The demon quickly threw Krishna up and tried to kill Him by pinching Him in his beak. Krishna caught hold of the great gigantic heron by the two halves of his beak and, before His cowherd boyfriends, bifurcated his mouth, just as a child very easily splits a blade of grass.
Demons Killed by Krishna – Part 2
Demons Killed by Krishna – Part 3
