From the Bhagavata Purana, Book 10, Chapter 11
The eleventh chapter of the tenth book of the Bhagavata Purana opens in the aftermath of the fallen trees. The cowherds find the child still tied to the mortar, two ancient Arjuna trees shattered on the ground, and cannot explain what happened. The boys say Krishna dragged the mortar between the trunks. The adults cannot believe it.
The chapter then shifts to a domestic interlude — Krishna playing in the village, dancing for the gopi women, carrying a stool when told, filling the fruit-seller's basket with jewels — before the elder Upananda warns that too many demons have come to Gokula. The cowherds pack their carts, gather their cattle, blow their horns, and migrate to Vrindavan. There, in the beautiful forest by the Yamuna, Krishna and Balarama grow from crawling toddlers into calf-herding boys.
Two demons come. The first, Vatsasura, disguises himself as a calf and slips into the herd. Krishna spots him, seizes him by the hind legs and tail, whirls him overhead, and flings his dead body into a wood-apple tree. The second, Bakasura — a massive crane like a broken mountain peak — swallows Krishna whole. But the child burns in his throat like fire, and the demon spits him out. When Baka lunges again with his beak, Krishna catches both halves and tears him apart like a blade of grass. The gods rain flowers. The boys, who had stood frozen like senses without breath, embrace him.
This is a Good Works Translation from the Sanskrit text of the Bhagavata Purana as published by GRETIL (Göttingen Register of Electronic Texts in Indian Languages), with reference to the vedabase.io IAST edition. The chapter follows directly from the Liberation of Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva (chapter 10) and opens the demon-slaying cycle of Krishna's childhood.
Shuka spoke:
The cowherds — Nanda and the others — heard the sound of the two trees crashing to the ground. They ran to the place, O best of the Kurus, shaken with fear, thinking it was thunder.
They found the two Arjuna trees fallen on the earth. But they could not understand the cause — no wind, no visible reason for the fall.
Then they saw the child, still tied to the mortar by a rope, dragging it behind him. Who could have done this? How? What strange omen? They were bewildered.
The boys said: He did it. He dragged the mortar sideways between the trees. We even saw two people come out of them.
But the elders did not accept the children's account. How could a small boy uproot two trees? Some doubted. Some were uneasy.
Nanda, seeing his own son tied to the mortar and dragging it behind him, laughed — his face breaking into a smile — and set him free.
Sometimes, urged on by the gopi women, the Lord would dance like any small child. Sometimes he would sing — innocent, entranced — as though he were a wooden puppet moved by their strings.
Sometimes, when told, he would carry the low stool, or the measuring cup, or a pair of shoes — waving his arms — filling his family with delight.
Showing the world how the Supreme submits himself to those who love him, the Lord filled the people of Vraja with joy through his childhood play.
"Buy some fruit!" — hearing the fruit-seller's cry, the imperishable one grabbed a handful of grain and ran out to trade for fruit, the one who gives the fruit of all things.
The fruit-seller looked at his two small fists. The grain had already fallen through his fingers. But she filled his hands with fruit anyway — and found her basket filled with jewels.
One day, when Krishna had gone to the bank of the river — the Arjuna trees now broken — Rohini called for him and for Rama, who was playing wildly with the other boys.
But the two would not come when called. They were too caught up in play. So Rohini sent Yashoda, who loved her children fiercely.
Yashoda called for Krishna — her son playing beyond all bounds with his elder brother among the boys — her breasts wet with milk from tenderness for him.
Krishna, Krishna, lotus-eyed one, come, darling, drink from the breast. Enough playing — you are thin with hunger, worn out from running. Come, little one.
Rama, come quickly, dearest, and bring your younger brother with you, pride of our family. You ate at dawn and have not eaten since. Come, you must eat now.
Dashārha, the lord of Vraja is waiting for you. He will not eat without you. Come, make us both happy. And you other boys — go home to your own houses.
Your body is covered in dust, son — come and bathe. Today is your birth-star. Give cows to the brahmins. Be clean.
Look, look at your friends — bathed and dressed by their mothers, wearing their ornaments. You too — come, bathe, eat, and play in your finery.
Thus Yashoda, taking that child who is the crown of all beings — thinking him merely her son, her mind bound by love, O king — took him by the hand along with Rama, brought them home, and performed the rituals of the day.
Shuka spoke:
The elder cowherds of Gokula — Nanda and the others — had seen too many terrible omens in Bṛhadvana. They gathered together to discuss what should be done.
There an old cowherd named Upananda spoke — wise, knowing the truth of time and place and purpose, and dear to both Rama and Krishna.
We must leave this place, he said, all of us who wish Gokula well. Great disasters keep coming here, aimed at killing the children.
That boy was saved from the child-killing demoness only by some miracle. By the grace of Hari alone, the cart did not crush him when it fell.
He was carried up into the sky by the whirlwind demon and dropped on a stone — yet was protected by the lords of heaven.
And now — that a child could pass between two trees and not be killed — this too can only be the protection of the imperishable one.
Before some new omen of destruction falls upon Vraja, let us take the children and go elsewhere. All of us together.
There is a forest called Vrindavan — green pastures, new groves, fit for cows and cowherds and cowherd women alike, blessed with hills and grass and creeping plants.
Let us go there today. Yoke the carts. Do not delay. Drive the cattle ahead. If you agree, let us go.
When they heard this, the cowherds were of one mind. Good, good! they said. They loaded their own carts and departed, packed and ready.
They placed the old people, the children, and the women in the wagons with all their goods. The cowherds went armed, bows strung.
They drove the cattle ahead, filling every direction with the sound of horns. They went with a great blast of trumpets and drums, their priests beside them.
The cowherd women rode on new carts, their breasts radiant with fresh saffron, dressed in fine clothes, gold necklaces shining. They sang the deeds of Krishna as they went, filled with love.
Yashoda and Rohini rode on the same cart, and they shone — lit by the presence of Krishna and Rama — eager to hear more stories of them.
They entered Vrindavan — a place of happiness in all seasons — and there they made their camp, the carts drawn in a half-moon.
Seeing Vrindavan and Govardhana hill and the sandy banks of the Yamuna, both Rama and Madhava were filled with the deepest joy.
And so, filling the people of Vraja with delight through their child-play, their sweet half-words — in time, the two became old enough to tend the calves.
Not far from the village, the two went out with the cowherd boys, herding the calves, carrying all manner of playthings.
Sometimes they played flutes. Sometimes they threw balls. Sometimes they tied bells to their ankles and danced. Sometimes they fought with toy bulls.
They bellowed and wrestled with each other, imitating the bulls. They roamed about imitating the cries of animals, playing as ordinary boys play.
One day, on the bank of the Yamuna, while Krishna and Balarama were grazing the calves with their friends, a demon came to kill them.
He had taken the form of a calf and slipped in among the herd. Krishna saw him. He pointed him out to Balarama. Then, slowly, as though still an innocent child, he approached.
He seized the demon by the hind legs and tail. He whirled him overhead. He flung the dead body to the top of a wood-apple tree. The demon fell — huge in his true form — bringing the fruit down with him as he crashed.
The boys saw it and were astonished. Beautiful! Beautiful! they cried. And the gods, filled with satisfaction, rained flowers from the sky.
These two — who had become calf-herders though they were the sole protectors of all the worlds — went out each morning, ate their breakfast, and grazed the calves as they wandered.
One day, after all the boys had led their calves to drink at a pool and had drunk the water themselves, they saw a great creature standing there — enormous, like a broken peak of a mountain struck by a thunderbolt.
He was a great demon named Baka. He had taken the form of a crane. He rushed at Krishna suddenly and swallowed him whole — this powerful one, with his sharp beak.
Seeing Krishna swallowed by the great crane, the boys — Rama and the others — stood paralyzed, like senses without life-breath, emptied of consciousness.
But the child burned the demon's palate like fire — the cowherd's son, who was the father of the teacher of all worlds. Baka spat him out at once, unharmed. Then the demon attacked again with his beak, lunging to kill.
Krishna caught both halves of the beak in his two hands — this friend of Kamsa, this crane — and tore him apart with ease, as a child tears a blade of grass. The lord of the righteous, before the eyes of all the boys, brought joy to the gods.
Then the dwellers of heaven showered him — the slayer of Baka — with flowers from the gardens of paradise, while the drums and conches of the gods sounded his praise. The cowherd boys looked on in wonder.
Seeing him freed from the crane's mouth, the boys — Rama and the rest — were like the senses rejoining the life-breath. They ran to him, embraced him in their joy, gathered the calves, and went home to the village, where they told the whole story.
The cowherds heard it and were amazed. The cowherd women, overcome with love and wonder, looked at Krishna with eyes unblinking — as though he had returned from the dead.
How many deaths this child has faced! And yet, though those terrible ones come to destroy him, they cannot touch him. They come to him meaning to kill, and they perish — like moths flying into fire.
Truly, the words of those who know Brahman are never false. Everything Garga the wise one spoke has come to pass — exactly as he said.
And so Nanda and the cowherds, telling and retelling the stories of Krishna and Rama in their joy, playing and laughing together, did not feel the pain of worldly existence.
Thus the two spent their childhood in Vraja — playing at hiding, building dams, jumping like monkeys — and their boyhood passed.
Colophon
The eleventh chapter of the tenth book of the Bhagavata Purana is the hinge between two eras of Krishna's childhood. In Gokula, the infant performed miracles while lying on his back or crawling — killing Putana from the breast, overturning the cart, surviving the whirlwind, and toppling the trees while tied to a mortar. In Vrindavan, the child walks, runs, herds calves, and kills demons with his own hands. The migration between the two places is the migration between infancy and boyhood.
The chapter's domestic interlude (verses 7–20) is among the warmest passages in the Bhagavata. Krishna dances when urged, carries a stool when told, trades fistfuls of grain for fruit. Yashoda calls him in for lunch with the specificity of any mother: you are covered in dust, today is your birth-star, look at your friends all dressed up, come and bathe. The infinite submits to the mundane — and the mundane becomes infinite.
The two demon-slayings that close the chapter are swift and brutal. Vatsasura is whirled and flung — dead before he hits the tree. Bakasura swallows the Lord whole and is burned from within, then torn apart like grass. The boys' response is the theological point: they stood like senses without breath, and when Krishna emerged alive, they embraced him like life returning to the body. The simile is not decorative. It is the Bhagavata's teaching: without the divine presence, consciousness itself is inert.
This is a Good Works Translation from the Sanskrit text as published by GRETIL (Göttingen Register of Electronic Texts in Indian Languages), University of Göttingen, with reference to the vedabase.io IAST edition. Translated by the New Tianmu Anglican Church (Agni, with Claude), 2026. The gospel register is used throughout. The English is independently derived from the Sanskrit source text in IAST transliteration.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text
Vatsāsura-Bakāsura-vadha — Bhagavata Purana 10.11
Sanskrit source text in IAST transliteration from the GRETIL digital edition of the Bhagavata Purana (Bhagavata-Purana 10), Göttingen Register of Electronic Texts in Indian Languages, with reference to the vedabase.io IAST edition. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
śrī-śuka uvāca
gopā nandādayaḥ śrutvā
drumayoḥ patato ravam
tatrājagmuḥ kuru-śreṣṭha
nirghāta-bhaya-śaṅkitāḥ
bhūmyāṃ nipatitau tatra
dadṛśur yamalārjunau
babhramus tad avijñāya
lakṣyaṃ patana-kāraṇam
ulūkhalaṃ vikarṣantaṃ
dāmnā baddhaṃ ca bālakam
kasyedaṃ kuta āścaryam
utpāta iti kātarāḥ
bālā ūcur aneneti
tiryag-gatam ulūkhalam
vikarṣatā madhya-gena
puruṣāv apy acakṣmahi
na te tad-uktaṃ jagṛhur
na ghaṭeteti tasya tat
bālasyotpāṭanaṃ tarvoḥ
kecit sandigdha-cetasaḥ
ulūkhalaṃ vikarṣantaṃ
dāmnā baddhaṃ svam ātmajam
vilokya nandaḥ prahasad-
vadano vimumoca ha
gopībhiḥ stobhito 'nṛtyad
bhagavān bālavat kvacit
udgāyati kvacin mugdhas
tad-vaśo dāru-yantravat
bibharti kvacid ājñaptaḥ
pīṭhakonmāna-pādukam
bāhu-kṣepaṃ ca kurute
svānāṃ ca prītim āvahan
darśayaṃs tad-vidāṃ loka
ātmano bhṛtya-vaśyatām
vrajasyovāha vai harṣaṃ
bhagavān bāla-ceṣṭitaiḥ
krīṇīhi bhoḥ phalānīti
śrutvā satvaram acyutaḥ
phalārthī dhānyam ādāya
yayau sarva-phala-pradaḥ
phala-vikrayiṇī tasya
cyuta-dhānya-kara-dvayam
phalair apūrayad ratnaiḥ
phala-bhāṇḍam apūri ca
sarit-tīra-gataṃ kṛṣṇaṃ
bhagnārjunam athāhvayat
rāmaṃ ca rohiṇī devī
krīḍantaṃ bālakair bhṛśam
nopeyātāṃ yadāhūtau
krīḍā-saṅgena putrakau
yaśodāṃ preṣayām āsa
rohiṇī putra-vatsalām
krīḍantaṃ sā sutaṃ bālair
ativelaṃ sahāgrajam
yaśodājohavīt kṛṣṇaṃ
putra-sneha-snuta-stanī
kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇāravindākṣa
tāta ehi stanaṃ piba
alaṃ vihāraiḥ kṣut-kṣāntaḥ
krīḍā-śrānto 'si putraka
he rāmāgaccha tātāśu
sānujaḥ kula-nandana
prātar eva kṛtāhāras
tad bhavān bhoktum arhati
pratīkṣate tvāṃ dāśārha
bhokṣyamāṇo vrajādhipaḥ
ehy āvayoḥ priyaṃ dhehi
sva-gṛhān yāta bālakāḥ
dhūli-dhūsaritāṅgas tvaṃ
putra majjanam āvaha
janmarkṣaṃ te 'dya bhavati
viprebhyo dehi gāḥ śuciḥ
paśya paśya vayasyāṃs te
mātṛ-mṛṣṭān svalaṅkṛtān
tvaṃ ca snātaḥ kṛtāhāro
viharasva svalaṅkṛtaḥ
itthaṃ yaśodā tam aśeṣa-śekharaṃ
matvā sutaṃ sneha-nibaddha-dhīr nṛpa
haste gṛhītvā saha-rāmam acyutaṃ
nītvā sva-vāṭaṃ kṛtavaty athodayam
śrī-śuka uvāca
gopa-vṛddhā mahotpātān
anubhūya bṛhadvane
nandādayaḥ samāgamya
vraja-kāryam amantrayan
tatropānanda-nāmāha
gopo jñāna-vayo-'dhikaḥ
deśa-kālārtha-tattva-jñaḥ
priya-kṛd rāma-kṛṣṇayoḥ
utthātavyam ito 'smābhir
gokulasya hitaiṣibhiḥ
āyānty atra mahotpātā
bālānāṃ nāśa-hetavaḥ
muktaḥ kathañcid rākṣasyā
bāla-ghnyā bālako hy asau
harer anugrahān nūnam
anaś copari nāpatat
cakra-vātena nīto 'yaṃ
daityena vipadaṃ viyat
śilāyāṃ patitas tatra
paritrātaḥ sureśvaraiḥ
yan na mriyeta drumayor
antaraṃ prāpya bālakaḥ
asāv anyatamo vāpi
tad apy acyuta-rakṣaṇam
yāvad autpātiko 'riṣṭo
vrajaṃ nābhibhaved itaḥ
tāvad bālān upādāya
yāsyāmo 'nyatra sānugāḥ
vanaṃ vṛndāvanaṃ nāma
paśavyaṃ nava-kānanam
gopa-gopī-gavāṃ sevyaṃ
puṇyādri-tṛṇa-vīrudham
tat tatrādyaiva yāsyāmaḥ
śakaṭān yuṅkta mā ciram
godhanāny agrato yāntu
bhavatāṃ yadi rocate
tac chrutvaika-dhiyo gopāḥ
sādhu sādhv iti vādinaḥ
vrajān svān svān samāyujya
yayū rūḍha-paricchadāḥ
vṛddhān bālān striyo rājan
sarvopakaraṇāni ca
anaḥsv āropya gopālā
yattā ātta-śarāsanāḥ
godhanāni puraskṛtya
śṛṅgāṇy āpūrya sarvataḥ
tūrya-ghoṣeṇa mahatā
yayuḥ saha-purohitāḥ
gopyo rūḍha-rathā nūtna-
kuca-kuṅkuma-kāntayaḥ
kṛṣṇa-līlā jaguḥ prītyā
niṣka-kaṇṭhyaḥ suvāsasaḥ
tathā yaśodā-rohiṇyāv
ekaṃ śakaṭam āsthite
rejatuḥ kṛṣṇa-rāmābhyāṃ
tat-kathā-śravaṇotsuke
vṛndāvanaṃ sampraviśya
sarva-kāla-sukhāvaham
tatra cakrur vrajāvāsaṃ
śakaṭair ardha-candravat
vṛndāvanaṃ govardhanaṃ
yamunā-pulināni ca
vīkṣyāsīd uttamā prītī
rāma-mādhavayor nṛpa
evaṃ vrajaukasāṃ prītiṃ
yacchantau bāla-ceṣṭitaiḥ
kala-vākyaiḥ sva-kālena
vatsa-pālau babhūvatuḥ
avidūre vraja-bhuvaḥ
saha gopāla-dārakaiḥ
cārayām āsatur vatsān
nānā-krīḍā-paricchadau
kvacid vādayato veṇuṃ
kṣepaṇaiḥ kṣipataḥ kvacit
kvacit pādaiḥ kiṅkiṇībhiḥ
kvacit kṛtrima-go-vṛṣaiḥ
vṛṣāyamāṇau nardantau
yuyudhāte parasparam
anukṛtya rutair jantūṃś
ceratuḥ prākṛtau yathā
kadācid yamunā-tīre
vatsāṃś cārayatoḥ svakaiḥ
vayasyaiḥ kṛṣṇa-balayor
jighāṃsur daitya āgamat
taṃ vatsa-rūpiṇaṃ vīkṣya
vatsa-yūtha-gataṃ hariḥ
darśayan baladevāya
śanair mugdha ivāsadat
gṛhītvāpara-pādābhyāṃ
saha-lāṅgūlam acyutaḥ
bhrāmayitvā kapitthāgre
prāhiṇod gata-jīvitam
sa kapitthair mahā-kāyaḥ
pātyamānaiḥ papāta ha
taṃ vīkṣya vismitā bālāḥ
śaśaṃsuḥ sādhu sādhv iti
devāś ca parisantuṣṭā
babhūvuḥ puṣpa-varṣiṇaḥ
tau vatsa-pālakau bhūtvā
sarva-lokaika-pālakau
saprātar-āśau go-vatsāṃś
cārayantau viceratuḥ
svaṃ svaṃ vatsa-kulaṃ sarve
pāyayiṣyanta ekadā
gatvā jalāśayābhyāśaṃ
pāyayitvā papur jalam
te tatra dadṛśur bālā
mahā-sattvam avasthitam
tatrasur vajra-nirbhinnaṃ
gireḥ śṛṅgam iva cyutam
sa vai bako nāma mahān
asuro baka-rūpa-dhṛk
āgatya sahasā kṛṣṇaṃ
tīkṣṇa-tuṇḍo 'grasad balī
kṛṣṇaṃ mahā-baka-grastaṃ
dṛṣṭvā rāmādayo 'rbhakāḥ
babhūvur indriyāṇīva
vinā prāṇaṃ vicetasaḥ
taṃ tālu-mūlaṃ pradahantam agnivad
gopāla-sūnuṃ pitaraṃ jagad-guroḥ
caccharda sadyo 'tiruṣākṣataṃ bakas
tuṇḍena hantuṃ punar abhyapadyata
tam āpatantaṃ sa nigṛhya tuṇḍayor
dorbhyāṃ bakaṃ kaṃsa-sakhaṃ satāṃ patiḥ
paśyatsu bāleṣu dadāra līlayā
mudāvaho vīraṇavad divaukasām
tadā bakāriṃ sura-loka-vāsinaḥ
samākiran nandana-mallikādibhiḥ
samīḍire cānaka-śaṅkha-saṃstavais
tad vīkṣya gopāla-sutā visismire
muktaṃ bakāsyād upalabhya bālakā
rāmādayaḥ prāṇam ivendriyo gaṇaḥ
sthānāgataṃ taṃ parirabhya nirvṛtāḥ
praṇīya vatsān vrajam etya taj jaguḥ
śrutvā tad vismitā gopā
gopyaś cātipriyādṛtāḥ
pretyāgatam ivotsukyād
aikṣanta tṛṣitekṣaṇāḥ
aho batāsya bālasya
bahavo mṛtyavo 'bhavan
apy āsīd vipriyaṃ teṣāṃ
kṛtaṃ pūrvaṃ yato bhayam
athāpy abhibhavanty enaṃ
naiva te ghora-darśanāḥ
jighāṃsayainam āsādya
naśyanty agnau pataṅgavat
aho brahma-vidāṃ vāco
nāsatyāḥ santi karhicit
gargo yad āha bhagavān
anvabhāvi tathaiva tat
iti nandādayo gopāḥ
kṛṣṇa-rāma-kathāṃ mudā
kurvanto ramamāṇāś ca
nāvindan bhava-vedanām
evaṃ vihāraiḥ kaumāraiḥ
kaumāraṃ jahatur vraje
nilāyanaiḥ setu-bandhair
markaṭotplavanādibhiḥ
Source Colophon
Sanskrit text of the Bhagavata Purana, Skandha 10, Chapter 11, in IAST transliteration. Based on the GRETIL (Göttingen Register of Electronic Texts in Indian Languages) digital edition of the Bhagavata Purana critical text, University of Göttingen, with reference to the vedabase.io IAST edition. Converted to Unicode (UTF-8). GRETIL texts are provided for reference purposes under the terms of use established by the GRETIL project.
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