Ramanaka

Created by Jijith Nadumuri at 25 Jul 2011 10:58 and updated at 25 Jul 2011 10:58

VISHNU PURANA NOUN

vp.5.7

ONE day Krishna, unaccompanied by Rama, went to Vrindavana: he was attended by a troop of cowherds, and gaily decorated with wild flowers. On his way he came to the Yamuna, which was flowing in sportive undulations, and sparkling with foam, as if with smiles, as the waves dashed against the borders. Within its bed, however, was the fearful pool of the serpent Kaliya, boiling with the fires of poison 1; from the fumes of which, large trees upon the bank were blighted, and by whose waters, when raised by a gale into the air, birds were scorched. Beholding this dreadful lake, which was like another mouth of death, Madhusudana reflected that the wicked and poisonous Kaliya, who had been vanquished by himself (in the person of Garuda), and had been obliged to fly from the ocean (where he had inhabited the island Ramanaka), must be lurking at its bottom, and defiling the Yamuna, the consort of the sea, so that neither men nor cattle could slake their thirst by her waters. Such being the case, he determined to dislodge the Naga, and enable the dwellers of Vraja to frequent the vicinage without fear; for it was the especial purpose he considered of his descent upon earth to reduce to subjection all such violators of law. "Here," thought he, "is a Kadamba tree, which is sufficiently near; I can climb up it, and thence leap into the serpent s pool." Having thus resolved, he bound his clothes tightly about him, and jumped boldly into the lake of the serpent king. The waters, agitated

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