Playing with Krishna - God as Child in Art and Mythology

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Playing with Krishna - God as Child in Art and Mythology

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A beautiful young woman, in the full bloom of her femininity,

once entered the residential premises of a provincial chief of

cowherds. Dressed attractively, she appeared very comely, what

with her raised hips, nicely swollen breasts, earrings, and the

heavily scented flowers in her hair. The thin waist added in no

small measure to her allure. Her smiling face captivated the

hearts of everyone present and she found it easy to glide in to

the innermost chambers where the chief's wife was resting along

with her newborn infant son. Approaching the adoring mother, she

offered to suckle the young one from her own breasts. There was

no question of refusing the request. The lady accepted the child

into her open arms and held him to her bosom. The baby took one

breast in his little hands and started sucking. Then a strange

thing happened. From the look of a strange triumph, the woman's

expression first transformed into one of surprise and shock and

then into agony, and finally her features contorted into a mask

of anguish and shrieks of pain escaped her lips. Her efforts to

take away the breast from his soft grip were futile. Her cry was

so intense that both sky and the earth reverberated with its

echo. As the child pressed her breast extremely hard and sucked

out her very life, she fell to the ground. With her arms and legs

spread, she began to cry, "Oh, child, leave me, leave me!"

Suddenly, as she entered the spasms of death, her beautiful

appearance disappeared, revealing a monstrous personality

beneath.

 

Illustration : http://www.exoticindia.com/artimages/dd04.jpg

 

The above narrative describes a famous episode from the annals of

Indian mythology. The little one is of course the beloved god

Krishna, most popularly celebrated as a child deity. The lady in

question is Putana, an ogress who had been assigned the job of

killing him.

 

According to the Hindu belief, there are seven different kinds of

women who have to be venerated as mothers:

 

1). The real mother.

 

2). The wife of a teacher.

 

3). The wife of a king.

 

4). The wife of a Brahmin.

 

5). The cow.

 

6). The woman who nurses.

 

7). Mother Earth.

 

Since Putana offered milk from her bosom to Krishna, she fell

into the sixth category and was duly accepted by him as such. It

remains another matter that she had smeared the tips of her

breasts with poison. True to the Indian ideal, there is a deeper

purpose to the above happening rather than a mere motive to

annihilate a new born infant, who was perceived as a threat by

the king of the land. According to the Brahmavaivarta Purana, in

one of her earlier lives Putana was born as the princess

Ratnamala. Having laid her eyes on the Vamana avatar

(incarnation) of Vishnu, so enraptured was she by his enchanting

beauty that she wondered if he had been her son, how gratifying

it would have been to suckle him. Now Krishna was a later

incarnation of Vishnu too, and thus by offering himself up for

suckling he fulfilled Putana's desire, which had remained

unfulfilled for ages.

 

According to another text (Adi Purana), Putana, in one of her

previous births, was the wife of an accomplished sage. A slave of

physical desire, she once committed the sin of establishing

physical relations with another male even though she was bound by

the sacred ties of marriage. Her husband, when he came to know of

her affair, cursed her to be reborn as an ugly ogress. On her

pleading to lighten the sentence, the heart of the kindly sage

melted and he prophesized that when Vishnu would incarnate on

earth as Krishna he would extract the poison of her sin from her

body. The Bhagwata Purana elaborates with devotional clarity:

'Putana, who was an ogress, was killed by the Lord. He had drunk

of her breast and all her sins had been sucked out of her. She

had become purified since she had touched the Lord and he had had

touched her with his lips.'

 

An important parallel is drawn with the festival of Shivaratri, which

commemorates the occasion when Shiva consumed the poison generated

from the cosmic ocean and thus saved the world. Similarly did Krishna

suck out the poison from Putana's breasts and redeem the world. The

festival of Holi celebrates Krishna's this very victory over Putana,

and

an effigy is ceremoniously burnt on the night before, replicating her

funeral pyre.

 

 

Krishna's Dance over the Serpent

 

Within the river Yamuna there was a great lake, and in that lake

the black and venomous serpent Kaliya used to live. Due to the

poisonous vapors emanated by him, the surrounding area was so

contaminated that no living being would dare venture near the

place. The cattle after drinking the water fell sick, the trees

around the pond dried up, and the birds were asphyxiated just by

the fumes rising out of the water.

 

In the chapters 10, 15-17 of the Bhagvata-Purana, there is an

account of how Krishna as Kaliya-damana ("he who subdues the

cobra") forced the serpent demon into submission:

 

'Krishna, the adventurous seven year old, came to this dangerous

place and curiously peered into the depths. He brooded, "I shall

vanquish this king of serpents and release the inhabitants of the

country from their continual dread."

 

The boy then girded his loins, made his way up a tree, and jumped

with great leap into the depths. Swimming about like a great

strong elephant, he made a tumultuous sound which rattled Kaliya.

Understanding it to be an attack upon himself, the mighty serpent

immediately charged towards Krishna. For over two hours Krishna

remained in the grip of the serpent, but then he freed himself

and began to expand his body. When the serpent tried to hold on

to Krishna, he felt an enormous strain, on account of which his

coils slackened, and he had to loosen his hold. Grabbing the

opportunity, Krishna pounced upon him as does Garuda swoop upon a

snake. He leaped high into the sky and, landing on Kaliya's

outspread hoods, began to dance.

 

Illustration : http://www.exoticindia.com/artimages/zl79.jpg

 

By rhythmically stamping his feet on the serpent's heads he

trampled Kaliya into submission. The waters of the pool lashed

against the shore to provide the music and the waves kept pace

with the beat. Finally, under the relentless pounding of

Krishna's feet, Kaliya, gravely wounded, accepted defeat.'

 

The manner in which Krishna subdues Kaliya has a fascinating

quality about it. The dance to victory, the effortless rhythm of

the Almighty's pace of creation and destruction, the ease, the

grace, the sheer play in the manifestations of the Lord's will,

to which wind and water provide enchanted accompaniment, are

beautifully brought out in the narrative. Indeed, this is the

first inkling in textual material of Krishna as 'natwar' (the

dancer).

 

Illustration : http://www.exoticindia.com/artimages/bg08.jpg

 

Figuratively, the image of Krishna dancing over the serpent is a

motif symbolizing the inverted tree of life with the outstretched

hoods signifying its roots. Such a tree is mentioned in the

Bhagvad Gita (15.1) "The universe (or human body) may be compared

to an eternal tree that has its origin (or root) in the Supreme

Being and its branches below in the cosmos. The Vedic hymns are

the leaves of this tree. One who understands this tree is a

knower of the Vedas."

 

The human body, a microcosmic universe or world, may be also

compared to a beginningless and endless tree. Karma is the seed;

the countless desires are its roots; five basic elements are its

main branches; and the ten organs of perception and action are

its sub-branches. Three modes of material nature (goodness,

passion and ignorance) provide the nourishment, and sense

pleasures are its sprouts. This is the terrestrial tree of life.

 

Thus, while the earthly tree derives its sustenance from the

material world, the heavenly tree of life, the knowledge of which

is the goal all the spiritual quest, subsists on the nourishment

it derives from the sacred realm. By putting the spotlight on

Kaliya's outreaching hoods, Krishna provided a potent motif

signifying the restoration of cosmic order in the world. Indeed,

this is the reason why Lord Vishnu incarnates himself

periodically.

 

There is no ready experience in this world of such a tree.

Nevertheless it can be perceived. It can be found for example

beside a reservoir of water. We can see that the trees on the

bank reflect upon the water with their branches down and roots

up. In other words, the tree of this material world is only a

reflection of the heavenly tree. Thus is our earthly sojourn but

a reflection of our heavenly lives.

 

Additionally, Kaliya's name is derived from 'kala,' the word for

time in Sanskrit, making this a dance of victory over time and

death as well, or in other words, the triumph of the eternal over

the transient.

 

Another endearing and simple image, with profound philosophical

consequences, is that of the baby Krishna sucking his toe, lying

on a banyan leaf. On a first glimpse, such a composition presents

no extraordinary significance. It is just an ordinary adorable

infant. But lo, when it is observed that the leaf, on which lies

Krishna, is floating on a turbulent sea, do we realize that there

is much more here than that meets the eye.

 

Illustration : http://www.exoticindia.com/artimages/wb39.jpg

 

The legend behind such a conception is recounted in the

Markandeya Purana:

 

'Before the beginning, there was an end: the end of the old era.

.. . Black clouds obstructed the sun and hurled lightning in every

direction. Unrelenting rains lashed the ground. The seven rivers

began to swell and the four oceans started to overflow. Waves as

high as mountains drowned the earth. This was pralaya, the final

dissolution of the world, before its regeneration. The sole

witness to this deluge was Manu, the primordial man.

 

Suddenly, amongst all the confusion, Manu noticed a banyan leaf

floating on the ocean, tossed by the waves. On this unlikely raft

lay a chubby and adorable child, suckling his right toe,

unperturbed by the calamity that had befallen the world. It was

Krishna as Balaji, the newborn cosmic child.

 

The infant's heavenly smile negated the brutality of the pralaya

(cosmic deluge). His compassionate glance reassured Manu that

life would go on, convincing him that the world never ends, but

only changes.

 

The infant then sucked Manu into his body. Inside Manu saw the

entire universe and all that had been consumed by the deluge -

the skies, the seas, the earth, gods, demons, humans, animals and

plants. Manu thus realized that the child was none other than the

cosmic man (Narayana) who had withdrawn the world into himself.

Chanting the blessed name of Narayana, Manu became one with his

savior and awaited rebirth in the new world. Thus was the whole

manifested world consumed by Lord Vishnu, only to be recreated.

 

Relevant to our purpose here is the fact that Krishna is sucking

his toe even while he is contemplating the creation of the world.

Almost satirical in tone, it pokes fun at the serious strivings

we indulge in to achieve our goals. As says Deepak Chopra:

"Nature's intelligence functions with effortless ease and

abandoned carefreeness. If you observe nature at work, you will

see that least effort is expended. Grass doesn't try to grow, it

just grows. Fish don't try to swim, they just swim. Flowers don't

try to bloom, they bloom. Bird's don't try to fly, they fly. This

is their intrinsic nature. The earth doesn't spin on its own

axis; it is the nature of earth to spin with dizzying speed and

to hurtle through space. It is the nature of the sun to shine. It

is the nature of the stars to glitter and sparkle. And it is

human nature to make our dreams manifest into physical form,

easily and effortlessly." Lao Tzu sums it up beautifully: " An

integral being knows without going, sees without looking, and

accomplishes without doing."

 

A child naturally exhibits an unconcerned transcendental

aloofness from the world, which is similar to God's utter

self-absorption and self-delight. God as an infant does not

govern the world from a majestic throne, but makes the world his

playground and even while enjoying himself maintains the cosmic

order. A child too seeks only to amuse himself, expressing his

essential nature in every action.

 

The theophany of the child god also reveals that as an infant and

a child, Krishna is approachable, and can be doted upon and

coddled. He can be approached with the intimacy with which a

parent approaches a child. Such a god invites man to dispense

with cumbersome formality and come to him openly, delighting in

him intimately. The adorable, beautiful babe, so beloved all

over, does not demand servitude and pomp. His simplicity, charm,

and infant spontaneity, invite an affectionate and tender

response.

 

Illustration : http://www.exoticindia.com/artimages/rb45.jpg

 

According to David Kinsley: "For the divine to become embodied as

a child is eminently suitable, for they behave in similar ways.

Each belongs to a joyous realm of energetic and erratic activity

that is pointless but not insignificant; aimless, but imaginative

and rich, and therefore creative. In play, the mind can go wild;

the imagination is set free to conjure and conquer. With the

world of necessity left behind, the imagination takes over,

eagerly populating a world that knows no limit whatsoever. So it

is with the play of children, and so it is with the activity of

the gods."

 

In the Harivansha Purana, Krishna's play is said to be "like the

fire in the cremation ground," leaping and flickering, erratic

and vigorous. The brash and indomitable spirit of the young

Krishna makes the world around him sparkle with aliveness. His

youthful play lights up the world like a blazing fire illuminates

the darkness. The playful actions of Krishna burst forth to

tumble and romp like the wind in the trees, unpredictable and

free. We have here a description of the other realm where things

are as they are meant to be, where life goes on joyously and

unhampered, where no thought is given, or need be given, to the

future, where life is lived to the fullest every moment.

Krishna's playful realm is a description of the heavenly world of

gods which is ever fresh, instinctive, and intuitional.

 

Conclusion:

 

Krishna removes the poison of evil from this world while he

joyously feeds on a mother's bosom. Similarly, he restores the

cosmic order, symbolized by the inverted tree of life, while

dancing, and if that were not enough, he creates the world while

sucking on his toe. These activities can easily be observed in

any ordinary infant. Thus is it rightly observed: "The smallest

children are nearest to God, as the smallest planets are nearest

the sun" (Richter). Wordsworth put it eloquently when he said:

"Heaven lies about us in our infancy." Indeed, all other

incarnations of god that descended on earth illustrate the divine

aspect of the human personality, but Krishna's incarnation

represents the human dimension of the divine.

 

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References and Further Reading:

 

Chopra, Deepak. The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: New Delhi,

2000.

 

Daljeet, Dr, and Jain, P.C. Krishna Rag se Virag Tak (in Hindi):

New Delhi, 2002.

 

Kinsley, David R. The Sword and the Flute: Delhi, 1995.

 

Pal, Pratapaditya (ed). Dancing to the Flute (Music and Dance in

Indian Art): Sydney, 1997.

 

Pandit, Bansi. The Hindu Mind: New Delhi, 2001.

 

Pattanaik, Devdutt. Vishnu an Introduction: Mumbai, 1999.

 

Sahi, Jyoti. The Child and the Serpent (Reflections on Popular

Indian Symbols): London, 1990.

 

Swami Prabhupada, A.C. Bhaktivedanta. Krishna The Supreme

Personality of Godhead: Mumbai, 1999.

 

Varma, Pavan K. Krishna The Playful Divine: New Delhi, 1993.

 

Zimmer, Heinrich. Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and

Civilization: Delhi, 1990.

 

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Nitin G.

http://www.exoticindia.com