Krishnavatara I: The Magic Flute by Munshi K. M

Author:Munshi K. M [K. M, Munshi]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
Published: 2020-10-11T00:00:00+00:00

22. KALIYA OF THE POISONOUS POOL

In search of new pastures, Krishna and Balarama now took the herd to graze near Mount Govardhan where the grass was rich and luxuriant and the shade of the trees spread wide. It was during those wanderings in the forest that Krishna developed a new sense of exaltation.

From the first, he had fallen in love with the tulsi or vrinda plants which grew there in abundance and which gave their name to the village. Their fresh pungent aroma filled him with new vigour. Now he also grew fond of resting open-eyed under the kadamba trees and gazing at their lovely flowers as if they were so many twinkling stars. He had always been fond of other flowers such as the champak, ketki and kunti. Their shape, their colour and their smell satisfied his longing for the beautiful. And he loved to stick them in his head-dress or above his ears, or use them as garlands.

He loved trees as if they were his dear friends. Sometimes, drifting away from the other gopas, he would wander by himself along the shady avenues of ancient trees. Then the spirit of peace and silence would enter his soul, and sometimes, he would talk to them endlessly. Sometimes he would play his flute so that its notes mingled mysteriously with the breeze as it blew through their waving leaves.

Above all, he loved Mount Govardhan, which was a thing of beauty. Its sides were covered with trees, whose ample foliage danced in the breeze. Flowers of every variety and hue studded them. Little streamlets gurgled by. All over the hill, friendly peacocks strutted with their mates and treated him as one of themselves. In the lake, the swans, swimming with unperturbed majesty in inseparable pairs, would listen to his call and sail towards him as towards a friend. Wild birds often flew overhead while he climbed the Mount, and rabbits shyly peeped out of their little holes while waiting for him to play his flute.

Krishna wandered over this beloved hill, often with his friends, sometimes alone. And when alone, he loved to climb to the top and stand gazing at the luxuriant view below or at the distant horizon. And then he would feel a strange kinship with men and cattle, with beasts and birds, with trees and flowers, with the running streams, and above all, with the Mount, and a sense of unity, his consciousness widening so as to encompass them all.

It was impossible to instill fear into little Krishna. He could always see the danger and with undisturbed foresight meet it.

Once, gazing the cattle in a sequestered part of the forest which he had never visited before, he came across a heron guarding her eggs. The disturbed mother began to squawk frantically, and when the boys laughed and clapped because of the funny noise she made, she rushed at them with her beak open and pecked at Shridama fiercely. The boys ran away in fright. Krishna alone stood his ground.

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