Kalinga Narthanam
The Victory Of Krishna Over Kalinga, the Serpent
One day, when Lord Krishna was barely five years old, he told his cowherd friends that they should take the cattle to a place along the river, Yamuna. Nobody dared to go near this place due to the presence of a terrible serpent Kalinga in the river. Here, the water was blue and boiling hot and bubbling constantly. The steam that arose formed a cloud above the pool which gave off poisonous fumes. In the past, the people who had breathed the fumes, had instantly died. Any birds that flew over the pool got poisoned by the fumes and fell down dead into the bubbling water.
However, none of this scared Lord Krishna in the least. When Krishna’s friends came to know about Krishna’s plans, they pleaded with him requesting him not to go to this god forsaken place. Krishna was undeterred and was determined to go along with his cowherd friends and cattle. When Krishna and his friends finally arrived at the spot, Krishna said that he would go into the river for a swim. The boys did their best to stop him, but Krishna was stubborn. Taking off his clothes, he climbed up a tree on the banks of the river and dived into the poisonous water. He did not come to the surface of the water for a very long time. The cowherd boys were consumed with fear. They could not imagine their life without their dear Krishna. Such was their love for him! They called out to Krishna, all the while shedding copious tears of despair.
Finally, Krishna appeared on the water’s surface and following him, Kalinga the venomous serpent came out with flames of fire erupting from his eyes and poison spurting from his mouth. Kalinga followed Krishna through the waves and caught him. Meanwhile, the cowherd boys were terrified as they looked on helplessly at this frightening scene. Some of them ran to tell Nanda and Yashoda (Krishna’s foster parents) about what was happening. Immediately, Nanda summoned all the milk maids and cowherds as well as every other person in their village to come to Krishna’s aid. Only Krishna’s elder brother Balarama remained calm as he knew that Krishna was a divine incarnation and nothing could ever hurt him. He then spoke to everyone present there and requested them to stay calm.
The village folk who had gathered, watched with bated breath with their hearts pounding. They saw the terrible serpent wrapping its coils around Krishna and mercilessly dragging him into the deep water. They stared in horror at Krishna struggling to come to the surface. They began to pray for his victory over Kalinga. Suddenly, to everyone’s astonishment, they saw Krishna growing bigger and bigger in front of their eyes. He was becoming tall and big. To everyone’s glee, the serpent had no choice but to release its coils one by one.
At last, the serpent Kalinga was exhausted and gave up the fight. Krishna caught Kalinga by its tail and after whirling it in the air, beat it hard on the water surface. A great effort was needed by Kalinga to keep his many heads above the water. Krishna then did the most unexpected thing! He jumped on top of the serpent’s many heads’ and started dancing. It was an unbelievable sight! A sight that will be etched in every ones minds for a very long time. Truly, only Krishna could do such an extraordinary act. The serpent was about to die! The people on the banks of the river started shouting with joy in jubilation. Suddenly, the wives of Kalinga rose to the surface and pleaded with Krishna to save their husband. They said that he had indeed learnt his lesson and his arrogance was shattered. Krishna relented and granted their wish but with a strict instruction that Kalinga should never ever hurt anyone again. He should learn to live in peace with others. He should also promise not to poison the river.
From this lovely tale, we understand that there are many Kalingas polluting the water bodies. Many people do not think twice before throwing garbage like plastics, sewage etc. into the water. We should remember that there are many aquatic animals and plants in the water whose life will be in danger if the water is polluted. Our own life will also be in danger! It is important that we should take measures to keep the water bodies clean. We should also take a pledge not to throw wastes, chemicals, plastics etc. into the water bodies.