Putana
Created by Jijith Nadumuri at 25 Jul 2011 10:50 and updated at 25 Jul 2011 10:50
VISHNU PURANA NOUN
vp.5.4 | Kansa, much troubled in mind, summoned all his principal Asuras, Pralamba, Kesin, and the rest, and said to them, "O valiant chiefs, Pralamba, Kesin, Dhenuka, Putana, Arishta, and all the rest of you, hear my words. The vile and contemptible denizens of heaven are assiduously plotting against my life, for they dread my prowess: but, heroes, I hold them of no account. What can the impotent Indra, or the ascetic Hara, perform? or what can Hari accomplish, except the murder of his foes by fraud? What have we to fear from the adityas, the Vasus, the Agnis, or any others of the immortals, who have all been vanquished by my resistless arms? Have I not seen the king of the gods, when he had ventured into the conflict, quickly retreat from the field, receiving my shafts upon his back, not bravely upon his breast? When in resentment he withheld the fertilizing showers from my kingdom, did not my arrows compel the clouds to part with their waters, as much as were required? Are not all the monarchs of the earth in terror of my prowess, and subject to my orders, save only Jarasandha my sire 1? Now, chiefs of the Daitya race, it is my determination to inflict still deeper degradation upon these evil minded and unprincipled gods. Let therefore every man who is notorious for liberality (in gifts to gods and Brahmans), every man who is remarkable for his celebration of sacrifices, be put to death, that thus the gods shall be deprived of the means by which they subsist. the goddess who has |
vp.5.5 | Nanda returns with the infants Krishna and Balarama to Gokula. Putana killed by the former. Prayers of Nanda and Yasoda. |
vp.5.5 | Some time after they were settled at Gokula, the female fiend Putana, the child killer, came thither by night, and finding the little Krishna asleep, took him up, and gave him her breast to suck 2. Now whatever child is suckled in the night by Putana instantly dies; but Krishna, laying hold of the breast with both hands, sucked it with such violence, that he drained it of the life; and the hideous Putana, roaring aloud, and giving way in every joint, fell on the ground expiring. The inhabitants of Vraja awoke in alarm at the cries of the fiend, ran to the spot, and beheld Putana lying on the earth, and Krishna in her arms. Yasoda snatching up Krishna, waved over him a cow tail brush to guard him from harm, whilst Nanda placed dried cow dung powdered upon his |
vp.5.5 | head; he gave him also an amulet 3, saying at the same time, "May Hari, the lord of all beings without reserve, protect you; he from the lotus of whose navel the world was developed, and on the tip of whose tusks the globe was upraised from the waters. May that Kesava, who assumed the form of a boar, protect thee. May that Kesava, who, as the man lion, rent with his sharp nails the bosom of his foe, ever protect thee. May that Kesava, who, appearing first as the dwarf, suddenly traversed in all his might, with three paces, the three regions of the universe, constantly defend thee. May Govinda guard thy head; Kesava thy neck; Vishnu thy belly; Janarddana thy legs and feet; the eternal and irresistible Narayana thy face, thine arms, thy mind, and faculties of sense. May all ghosts, goblins, and spirits malignant and unfriendly, ever fly thee, appalled by the bow, the discus, mace, and sword of Vishnu, and the echo of his shell. May Vaikuntha guard thee in the cardinal points; and in the intermediate ones, Madhusudana. May Rishikesa defend thee in the sky, and Mahidhara upon earth." Having pronounced this prayer to avert all evil, Nanda put the child to sleep in his bed underneath the waggon. Beholding the vast carcass of Putana, the cowherds were filled with astonishment and terror. |
vp.5.6 | a great passion, she said to him, "Now, you naughty boy, get away from hence if you can." She then went about her domestic affairs. As soon as she had departed, the lotus eyed Krishna, endeavouring to extricate himself, pulled the mortar after him to the space between two Arjuna trees that grew near together: having dragged the mortar between these trees, it became wedged awry there, and as Krishna pulled it through, it pulled down the trunks of the trees. Hearing the crackling noise, the people of Vraja came to see what was the matter, and there they beheld the two large trees, with shattered stems and broken branches, prostrate on the ground, with the child fixed between them, with a rope round his belly, laughing, and shewing his white little teeth, just budded. It is hence that Krishna is called Damodara, from the binding of the rope (dama) round his belly (udara) 3. The elders of the cowherds, with Nanda at their head, looked upon these circumstances with alarm, considering them as of evil omen. "We cannot remain in this place," said they; "let us go to some other part of the forest; for here many evil signs threaten us with destruction; the death of Putana, the upsetting of the waggon, and the fall of the trees without their being blown down by the wind. Let us depart hence without delay, and go to Vrindavana, where terrestrial prodigies may no more disturb us." |
vp.5.15 | AFTER these things had come to pass, Arishta the bull demon and Dhenuka and Pralamba had been slain, Govarddhana had been lifted up, the serpent Kaliya had been subdued, the two trees had been broken, the female fiend Putana had been killed, and the waggon had been overturned, Narada went to Kansa, and related to him the whole, beginning with the transference of the child from Devaki to Yasoda, Hearing this from Narada, Kansa was highly incensed with Vasudeva, and bitterly reproached him, and all the Yadavas, in an assembly of the tribe. Then reflecting what was to be done, he determined to destroy both Krishna and Rama whilst they were yet young, and before they had attained to manly vigour: for which purpose he resolved to invite them from Vraja, under pretext of the solemn rite of the lustration of arms, when he would engage them in a trial of strength with his chief boxers, Chanura and Mushtika, by whom they would assuredly be killed. "I will send," he said, "the noble Yadu, Akrura the son of Swaphalka, to Gokula, to bring them hither: I will order the fierce Kesin, who haunts the woods of Vrindavana, to attack them, and he is of unequalled might, and will surely kill them; or, if they arrive here, my elephant Kuvalayapida shall trample to death these two cow boy sons of Vasudeva." Having thus laid his plans to destroy Rama and Janarddana, the impious Kansa sent for the heroic Akrura, and said to him, Lord" of liberal gifts 1, attend to my words, and, out of friendship |
vp.5.20 | from the elephant, whom, when goaded upon them by his driver, they had slain, and armed with his tusks, Balabhadra and Janarddana confidently entered the arena, like two lions amidst a herd of deer. Exclamations of pity arose from all the spectators, along with expressions of astonishment. "This then," said the people, "is Krishna! this is Balabhadra! This is he by whom the fierce night walker Putana was slain; by whom the waggon was overturned, and the two Arjuna trees |
vp.5.29 | sAKRA, the lord of the three worlds, came mounted on his fierce elephant Airavata to visit sauri Krishna() at Dwaraka. Having entered the city, and been welcomed by Hari, he related to the hero the deeds of the demon Naraka. "By thee, Madhusudana, lord of the gods," said Indra, "in a mortal condition, all sufferings have been soothed. Arishta, Dhenuka, Chanura, Mushtika, Kesin, who sought to injure helpless man, have all been slain by thee. Kansa, Kuvalayapida, the child destroying Putana, have been killed by thee; and so have other oppressors of the world. By thy valour and wisdom the three worlds have been preserved, and the gods, obtaining their share of the sacrifices offered by the devout, enjoy satisfaction. But now hear the occasion on which I have come to thee, and which thou art able to remedy. The son of the earth 1, called Naraka, who rules over the city of Pragjyotisha 2, inflicts a great injury upon all creatures. Carrying off the maidens of gods, saints, demons, and kings, he shuts them up in his own palace. He has taken away the umbrella of Varuna, impermeable to water, the jewel mountain crest of Mandara, and the celestial nectar dropping earrings of my mother Aditi; and he now demands my elephant Airavata. I have thus explained to you, Govinda, the tyranny of the Asura; you can best determine how it is to be prevented." |
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